O'S NEED EXTRAS BUT SNAP 18-GAME 'L' STREAK
4-Run 11th is Difference; A's Strand 15
OAKLAND, Aug. 26 (AP) - The second longest losing streak in the major leagues
came to an end this evening as the Baltimore Orioles broke a tie with a four-run
11th inning, defeating the Oakland Athletics, 5-3 at Network Associates
Coliseum. The Orioles hadn't won since August 7 when they defeated the
Minnesota Twins, 3-2, in Baltimore.
The Orioles scored first when they pushed a run across in the top of the opening
inning against A's starter Rich Harden. Brian Roberts led off by reaching
on an infield roller and scored when Luis Matos doubled off the left field
wall. But Harden immediately righted the ship, retiring 16 of the next 17
batters, and held the Orioles scoreless for the rest of his stint, which
continued through the seventh inning.
Harden's counterpart, Baltimore starter Jason Johnson, worked in and out of
trouble, surrendering six hits and three walks before departing one batter into
the bottom of the seventh, but kept the A's off the scoreboard. Johnson's
night came to an end when he allowed a single to Mark Ellis opening the
seventh. B.J. Ryan replaced Johnson but walked Chris Singleton to put
runners on first and second. Scott Hatteberg came on to pinch hit for
Billy McMillon and sacrificed the runners to second and third. Kerry
Ligtenberg took over for Ryan and retired Jose Guillen on a pop fly to
second. John Parish then became the fourth Orioles pitcher of the inning
and got Eric Chavez on a fly ball to center, ending the inning with the 1-0 lead
intact.
But Oakland tied the game in the bottom of the eighth. Parrish walked
Miguel Tejada and Erubiel Durzao to start the inning. Ramon Hernandez then
drove a Parish offering to the wall in left and Larry Bigbie made a leaping
catch at the wall to rob Hernandez of extra bases. Tejada tagged and
advanced to third on the play. Terrence Long followed and laced a double
into left-center field, scoring Tejada to tie the game and advancing Durazo to
third. Parish came back to strike out Ellis and pinch hitter Eric Byrnes
to prevent further damage.
In the 11th, the Orioles broke the game open. Facing reliever Mike Wood,
Bigbie drew a lead-off walk and advanced to second on Dievi Cruz's sacrifice
bunt. Brook Fordyce then bounced a single into left field, scoring Bigbie
with the lead run. Roberts flied to left for the second out but Matos
doubled Fordyce to third and B.J. Surhoff doubled into the right field corner,
scoring both runners. Jeff Conine followed with the team's third straight
two-bagger, this one to left field, scoring Surhoff and giving the Orioles a
seemingly safe 5-1 lead.
But for a team on an 18-game losing streak no lead is safe. Rick Bauer,
working his second inning of relief, yielded a lead-off double to Byrnes in the
bottom of the 11th and then uncorked a wild pitch, moving the runner to
third. Hatteberg grounded to second and the Orioles willingly traded the
run for the the out. But Guillen followed with a double to left-center and
Baltimore manager Mike Hargrove replaced Bauer with Jorge Julio who immediately
surrendered a single to Chavez, advancing Guillen to third. The A's
brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Tejada, but he flied to
shallow left, with the runners holding. But Durazo brought the potential
winning run to the plate by dropping a single into shallow center field, scoring
Guillen and moving Chavez to second. Hernandez, however, ended the game by
rolling into a 6-4 fielder's choice.
The win was welcome relief for the Orioles who had come within two games of
matching Detroit's 20-game losing streak earlier in the season. Even with
the win, the Orioles find themselves immersed in an extended horrific
stretch. Since June 20, the club has posted a 14-47 record.
8/26/2003, Bal03-Oak03, Network Associates Coliseum 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E LOB DP 2003 Orioles 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 5 9 1 3 1 2003 Athletics 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 3 11 0 15 0 Orioles AB R H BI AVG Athletics AB R H BI AVG Roberts,B 2b 5 1 1 0 .289 McMillon dh 3 0 1 0 .284 Matos,L cf 4 1 3 1 .340 Hatteberg ph 2 0 0 1 .243 Surhoff dh 5 1 2 2 .313 Guillen,J rf 5 1 1 0 .347 Conine 1b 5 0 1 1 .248 Chavez,Er 3b 6 0 2 0 .269 Gibbons rf 5 0 0 0 .252 Tejada ss 4 1 1 0 .350 Batista,T 3b 4 0 1 0 .238 Durazo 1b 4 0 1 1 .270 Bigbie lf 3 1 0 0 .312 Hernandez,Ra c 6 0 1 0 .264 Cruz,D ss 3 0 0 0 .240 Long lf 5 0 2 1 .261 Fordyce c 4 1 1 1 .296 Ellis,M 2b 3 0 1 0 .226 38 5 9 5 Singleton cf 2 0 0 0 .246 Byrnes ph 1 1 1 0 .268 41 3 11 3 Orioles INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Johnson,Ja 6.0 6 0 0 3 1 101 52 4.70 Ryan,B H 8 0.1 0 0 0 1 0 9 4 4.37 Ligtenberg H 14 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3.53 Parrish BS 2 2.1 1 1 1 4 5 47 25 4.50 Bauer W 6-1 1.1 2 2 2 0 0 25 18 5.81 Julio S 20 0.2 2 0 0 0 0 13 8 7.04 11.0 11 3 3 8 6 196 108 Athletics INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Harden 7.0 4 1 1 1 6 100 64 2.05 Mecir 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 14 11 1.25 Foulke 2.0 1 0 0 0 3 22 18 3.96 Wood,M L 0-2 1.0 4 4 4 1 0 19 13 13.50 11.0 9 5 5 2 11 155 106 Oak: Hatteberg batted for McMillon in the 7th Byrnes batted for Singleton in the 8th Byrnes moved to cf in the 9th E-Roberts,B. 2B-Matos,L 2(21), Surhoff(22), Conine(33), Guillen,J(22), Long 2(21), Byrnes(27). RBI-Matos,L(54), Surhoff 2(29), Conine(62), Fordyce(37), Durazo(73), Long(51), Hatteberg(50). SB-Roberts,B(16), Matos,L(11), Ellis,M(7). CS-Surhoff, Batista,T, Tejada. K-Roberts,B 2, Matos,L, Conine, Gibbons, Batista,T, Bigbie 3, Cruz,D, Fordyce, Guillen,J, Chavez,Er, Durazo 2, Ellis,M, Hatteberg. BB-Matos,L, Bigbie, Tejada 2, Durazo 2, Ellis,M 2, Singleton, Byrnes. SH-Cruz,D, Hatteberg. HBP-Guillen,J. HB-Johnson,Ja. WP-Bauer. GWRBI: Fordyce Temperature: 74, Sky: clear, Wind: out to center at 10 MPH. Attendance: 31,491 Game Time: 3:35