Pen Makes It Interesting, But O's Hold On

Mark Hendrickson didn't look very good, but he got the job done. Only giving up the one run and putting the team in position to win was big after the loss to New York. The bullpen gave up a couple of home runs (by JJ and Sherrill, respectively) though Baez looked very impressive again, striking out four in 1.2 perfect innings. He may find himself pitching at the end of games at some point this season. The offense continued their patient approach, drawing four walks against a guy in Sonnastine who walked just 1.7 per nine last year. Amazingly, every Oriole reached base for the second time in four games (and 8 of 9 guys did it in another game). The 5-4 win moves the O's record to 3-1, which ties them for first-place in the AL East pending the finish of Toronto's game.

As an aside, Evan Longoria homored twice and is making that contract the Rays gave him (which was decried by many at the time) look smarter by the day.