Quick Hits: The Game Yesterday and the Rundown...

It was fight night in the Motor city --- um, almost.

Our boys in black and orange are in an ugly stretch right now, as they lost to the Detroit Tigers 8-4. The Orioles have lost 8 out of their last 9 games, after a hot start to the year.

The team started of the year doing the little things right and getting timely pitching in; however, now the pitching has been very inconsistent, and the offense has just been plain listless.

Of course, if you missed the highlights or didn’t hear about it, it nearly turned into Monday Night Smackdown. Daniel Cabrera hit Gary Shiffield in back during the third inning as a pitch got away from him, and then as retribution, Jeremy Bonderman (the starting pitching for Detroit) hit Miguel Tejada in the ankle.

Both benches and the bullpens cleared as Tejada and Bonderman got into it and catcher Ivan Rodriguez had to restrain Tejada.

The starter last night for the O’s, Daniel Cabrera was very inconsistent as he walked 6, struck out 5, and allowed 5 runs to come in, in which 4 of them were earned.

Of course, Gary Sheffield got revenge on Daniel Cabrera by hitting a 400+ foot homer to left field in the fifth inning.

The two men glared at one another.

Once again, walks and allowing free passes killed the Orioles and it is becoming a recurring theme.

It looks like Jay Gibbons is coming out of his slump, as he hit his first homer in the 6^th inning off Bonderman, and Miguel Tejada, Ramon Hernandez and Cory Patterson each drove in a run to supplant the offense.

John Parrish came into relieve Daniel Cabrera, but gave up 3 runs in the 7^th inning to perhaps put the game out of reach for the Orioles.

Chad Bradford and Jeremy Guthrie came into the game in the 8^th and 9^th innings, respectively, to finish it up.

Tonight, it will be Adam Loewen (2-0, 3.20 ERA) vs. Chad Durbin (1-1, 6.65 ERA).

***

Spencer Fordin of the orioles.com has a recap of last night’s game, as does the Baltimore Examiner.

Once again, Jaret Wright will return to the DL due to his recurring shoulder issues; therefore, the Orioles brought up reliever Kurt Birkins. As well, Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun reports that it’s uncertain when Jaret Wright will return. Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post reports that Wright has a sore arm.

Well, we all knew this was going to happen – Kevin Millar is frustrated from the lack of playing time. With Jay Payton playing everyday, there was going to sadly be a fight between Millar and Jay Gibbons for time at DH. Sam Perlozzo sure isn’t taking Aubrey Huff out of the lineup at this point…