The Baltimore Orioles trailed the Boston by two runs entering the bottom of the 9th against the Red Sox’s All-Star closer Jonathan Papelbon.
After falling behind in the count, Felix Pie led off the inning with a line-drive to left. Matt Wieters followed with his 3rd hit of the night. Julio Lugo was summoned from the bench to run for Wieters.
Corey Patterson came off the bench to pinch-hit for Reimold. As noted on the telecast, Patterson is an accomplished bunter. He showed that perfected skill with a beautiful bunt which advanced the runners. Ideally, if you were going to ask whomever was batting here to simply advance the runners, Reimold would have been able to lay the bunt down.
Since the team did not have confidence in Reimold being able to lay the bunt, that forces the use of Patterson and removes one of the options on the bench.
Adam Jones was sitting out tonight with the shoulder injury he has been dealing with. He did play last night, and doubled. If he was physically capable of batting tonight, I would have had him hitting for Izturis. Since he was not used, I have to believe he was not going to be used under any circumstance.
Another option would have been pinch hitting with Brandon Snyder. Certainly a tough spot for Snyder to make his Major League debut, but I think I still would have preferred that vs. watching Izturis bat. I certainly would have preferred Fox, Andino, or even Tatum. With Lugo already in the game, he would have simply replaced Izturis in the field if the game had been extended.
A tough inning, but overall the game was not lost here. O’s have to be kicking themselves for letting this series slip away.
Owner
Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.