O's-Vacs Al East Showdown Series Recap

Here is a recap of the 4-game series between Augusta and Baltimore, the battle for AL East Supremacy.



Game 1

Augusta 10 Baltimore 2

Ace Rich May squared up against probably the weakest O’s starter Todd Baxter and the mismatch was quickly revealed as the Vacs scored 4 runs in the 3rd inning and never looked back. Baxter got into trouble in the 3rd by walking Adam O’Malley and John Rolen to start the inning. After a Russ Flanagan strikeout and Flip Hill popout it appeared Baxter was out of trouble. However, Harold Martin found a hole and delivered a big 2-out single that plated O’Malley setting the stage for Felipe Castro who nailed a 3-run bomb to left center. That was enough for May (10-3) who allowed 2 runs in 6 innings. Super reliever Vic Ordonez tossed a solid 3 innings allowing to innocent singles for his 7th save. Flanagan, Hill and reserve Guillermo Mosa all added solo HR’s later in the game to seal the deal and take game 1.

WP- May (10-3)
LP- Baxter (4-8)
SV- Ordonez (7)

HR- Julio (18), Rosa (8), Flanagan (22), Hill (20), Castro (16)

Game 2

Augusta 6 Baltimore 3

Great pitching has been the staple of the Augusta franchise but what goes unnoticed at times is their ability to hit the long ball. With Baltimore’s Willie Rios cruising through 6 innings of 2-hit shutout baseball, he made a mistake and walked the Vacs Harold Martin to open the 7th. Catcher Felipe Castro then strolled to the plate, wasting no time, nailed the 1st pitch he saw over the left field fence to tie the game at 2. It was the second big dinger by Castro in two games. That was enough to chase Rios as O’s skipper jfribush went to Ryan Crosby. Crosby who has been sensational was coming off one of his poorer outings of the season as he gave up 3 runs in just 2/3 of an inning the previous game against the Vacs. This is when the circus suddenly came to town in the form of third basemen Julio Julio. Crosby retired the first batter he faced and then got Jordan Lee to hit a routine ground ball to 3rd that Julio booted. With one down, Ned Corey then hit a double play ball to Julio who wasn’t able to handle the easy 2-hopper and was credited with his 2nd error of the inning. Crosby should have been innocently out of the inning with the game knotted at 2. He wasn’t and John Rolen hit a towering fly to center that just cleared the wall and the leaping efforts of CF Al Melo that gave the Vacs a 5-2 lead. To make matters worse, slugger Russ Flanagan nailed a solo shot to right on the very next pitch to give the Vacs a commanding 6-2 lead. Julio then went for the hat trick successfully booting the routine grounder that Flip Hill. 3 errors in the inning an essentially the game was lost and Augusta was back in a 1st place tie with the O’s. Vacs starter Pablo Mesa (10-3) went 8 strong innings allowing just 6 hits while striking out 3.

WP- Mesa (10-3)
LP- Crosby (10-5)

HR- Cardona (22), Rolen (7), Flanagan (23), Castro (17)

Game 3

Baltimore 9 Augusta 5

The O’s could have hung their heads and thought… “oh well, lets go for the wild-card” after the demoralizing loss of Game 2. Instead, their offense picked up the slack and exploded for 9 runs on 17 hits to take Game 3 and regain sole possession of 1st place. All Star Matty Gibson was on the hill for the O’s and allowed yet another HR to Felipe Castro to fall behind 1-0 in the 2nd inning but then the O’s bats came alive against Vacs veteran starter Cookie Whang. Whang (6-7) allowed 3 runs in the 3rd, 1 in the 4th and 2 more in the 5th before departing. Julio Julio chased Whang in the 5th after crushing his 19th HR of the year, a 2-run shot that gave the O’s a 6-1 lead. 7 O’s players had multi-hit games led by C Esteban Crespo who went 4-5, Julio who went 2-5 with 2 runs and 2 RBI and Phil Ludwick who connected for his 10th HR of the year, a solo shot in the 9th. Gibson went 6 innings scattering 5 hits while allowing 2 HR’s, the other to Kenneth Cannon. Ryan Crsoby pitched 3 innings for his 2nd save and allowed 2 unearned runs, thanks again, to the stone hands of 3-bagger Julio who made 2 more errors making it 5 in 2 games.

WP- Gibson (11-4)
LP- Whang (6-7)
SV- Crosby (2)

HR- Julio (19), Ludwick (10), Castro (18), Cannon (3)


Game 4

Augusta 6 Baltimore 4

It had to happen sooner or later, but the timing could not have been worse for O’s closer Felipe Cora. Cora entered the game with 1 out in the 9th inning with the O’s clinging to a 4-3 lead and Vacs slugging catcher Felipe Castro coming to the dish. Castro who has had just a phenomenal series hit a-3 run jack the opposite way to take the game and the series away from the O’s who lost 3 out of 4. 2 of the losses, the O’s have to think they coulda, or shoulda won. O’s starter Jerry Butler pitched into the 9th inning but ran out of gas. He retired Russ Flanagan on an easy pop to center to start the inning but Harold Martin singled to right and Flip Hill walked on 4 pitches setting up the Cora-Castro confrontation. The O’s Douglas Cardona smacked a solo HR off of the left field foul pole in the 8th off Vacs reliever Vic Ordonez that broke a 3-3 tie. Reliever Gordon Howington (6-1) tossed one pitched in the 9th and was the winning pitcher. Butler fell to (8-6) with the loss and Cora blew his 1st save. Both teams are now 60-35 and just have a 3-game series remaining at Baltimore the last week of the season.

WP- Howington (6-1)
LP- Butler (8-6)

HR- Cardona (23), Killebrew (6), O'Malley (14), Castro (19).