O's From the Booth 7/4 - O's Win Series Finale in Seattle Behind Brilliant Effort from Chris Tillman

Happy 4th of July O's fans. The O's did not create too many fireworks in Seattle but got enough to win with a unbelievable pitching performance from Chris Tillman.

Chris was called up to make this start and boy did he make the most of his opportunity. Chris went 8 1/3 innings and gave up 0 earned runs He took a one-hit hit shutout into the ninth. He probably should have had the complete game shutout but Robert Andino booted a Michael Saunders ground ball allowing him to reach in the ninth.

John Jaso followed with a double putting runners on second and third with one out. Buck came out and called on Jason Johnson to finish it out. Jason got Kyle Seager to ground out to second base but Saunders scored from third ending the shutout and Jaso advanced to 3rd base. Justin Smoak then singled knocking in Jaso to make it 4-2 and the tying run came to the plate, Miguel Olivio.

Olivio homered earlier in the series. Jason was able to get him to fly out to deep right field to end the game. Tillman gave the Orioles just what the doctor ordered. He got them all the way to the ninth allowing the bull pen to rest and also helped a struggling offense as he did not need many runs to win.

Adam Jones hit his 20th home run of the season to get the scoring started for the O's. They scored two in the third inning on a Chris Davis RBI single and a JJ Hardy ground out to score the other. Mark Reynolds and Robert Andino started the inning with singles and were moved over on a Xavier Avery sac bunt. The same two started the fifth inning with hits. Reynolds doubled and Andino singled to drive him in. Maybe Mark Reynolds can start hitting and up his trade value for the Orioles before the break. 

The day belonged to Chris Tillman though. You could see how much different of a pitcher he was from last year. His wind up is completely different. He was throwing 95+ in the ninth inning effortlessly. He even hit 97 in the ninth. He had no hit kind of stuff today. His curve ball was nasty. He got Ichiro to strike out to end the eighth on a vicious hook. You do not see Ichiro look bad too often but he did on that swing. Lets hope Tillman can continue that kind of effort in his next start. The O's truly need that with the struggles of Matusz, Arrieta, and Tommy Hunter.

The O's now head to Anaheim for a four-game weekend series with the Angels. The Angels have not been to good to the O's this year taking four-of-five so far. If they can manage a split it would be huge for the O's heading into the break. They can get Markakis back.

We will see how long Roberts is out with this groin issue. I just don't know about him. He is just a walking lightning rod. He just can't stay on the field at all. I love Brian but I just do not know how much he will be able to help this team if he just continues to be so injury prone. We will see. This is a big four-game series as both teams are neck and neck in the Wild Card race. Lets hope the O's can keep it going, Go O's!!!!!!