On a beautiful sunny and 80-degree day at Camden Yards, the Orioles improved to 4-0 to start the season by beating the Detroit Tigers 5-1. This marks the best start for the O’s since 1997.
Starter Jake Arrieta provided the fourth quality start in a row for the birds yielding only one run in six innings, allowing only six hits and striking out three. Outfielder Felix Pie robbed the Tigers of at least two hits, helping Arrieta out of some tough spots. Arrieta came out throwing first-pitch strikes and stayed ahead of hitters with quality pitches.
Catcher Matt Wieters provided the first run, hitting a double in the second inning, taking third on a long fly-out by Adam Jones and later stealing home on a wild pitch. Wieters would also hit a single RBI in the fifth that scored Nick Markakis, who had three hits on the day.
The big shot of the night was yet another three-run home run by lead-off man Brian Roberts, who took Tigers starter Rick Porcello deep in the fifth inning to give the birds a 4-1 lead. Relief pitcher Jason Berken provided two innings of shutdown fastballs, while Koji Uehara closed out the game with a one-two-three ninth inning. The Orioles will be off tomorrow when they are expected to announce their starter for Wednesday’s game. Jeremy Guthrie, who pitched an amazing game against Tampa Bay on Friday has been hospitalized with pneumonia and is expected to miss tomorrow’s scheduled appearance.