Johnson Serves a Crticial Ninth Inning Homer; O's Lose to Tribe, Callups...

Jim Johnson has been suitable in relief this season; however, his 2009 campaign is lacking some of the brilliance from last season, and once again – last night – he served up a homer in a relief outing.

This time around, it made the difference in a razor thin ballgame. Baltimore was within one out of grabbing a win against Cleveland – a team that has played well in the second half despite offloading Cliff Lee – but after giving up a single to Matt LaPorta, Andy Marte golfed a two-run homer that barely got over the left field wall to give them a 5-4 lead.

Watching on TV, the ball hit by Marte actually looked catchable, as it didn’t have much lift over the wall (which is only 7 feet high) – assuming Reimold was in the vicinity of where it was hit. Reimold – to the best of ability – rushed over track the ball; however, it was to the left of him.

Baltimore rallied and got two men on base – Felix Pie beat out an infield single, and he ended up on third after a Reimold base hit—however, closer Kerry Wood struck out Nick Markakis with a breaking ball close to the dirt and ended the game.

Yet another one-run loss.

Kerry got his 17^th save on the year, while Rafael Perez – who pitched in relief – got the victory for the Indians. Johnson, gave up the game-winning homer – took the loss.

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