Orioles Beat Nationals

The Baltimore Orioles defeated the Washington Nationals last night in game one of the beltway series. The Orioles were lead by a tremendous pitching effort as they gave up only one run in 11 innings. Jake Arrieta had his best start in a while as he only gave up 1 run over 7. Arrieta keeps the quality start streak going for the O's. If they can have quality starts every game, they will win the overwhelming majority of them.

The bullpen was absolutely flawless. Darren O'Day went 1 1/3 innings and was perfect as he didn't allow a baserunner. O'Day now has an ERA of 1.37. Troy Patton finished an inning going 2/3 of an inning and was also perfect. Then came Kevin Gregg...Gregg pitched a perfect inning as well. He lowered his ERA to 3.46 and has been perfect for several outings in a row now. What happened here? Kevin Gregg also won the game and now has 2 victories on the year. You know what they say, "every game there's a different star that's the magic of Orioles baseball." Finally, Pedro Strop came in for the final inning and picked up his 3rd save of the season. Strop did give up a hit, but it didn't matter as he preserved the 2-1 victory.

The offense came through for the birds also. Nick Markakis had one of his best games of the year as he had two extra base hits. Markakis had his 9th double of the season and his 7th home run. His power numbers have definitely come up, although his average has dipped. He now is hitting .258 for the season when he is usually around .300. This guy still has plenty of time to bring it up though. The other Oriole outfielders both had 2 hits. Xavier Avery went 2 for 4 with a double, a walk, and a run scored. This guy continues to impress. Avery is now hitting .280. Adam Jones went 2 for 5 with an RBI. Game 2 will feature

-Noland