Orioles News - 8/25/07 - Radhames Liz debuts - O's fall again

The Baltimore Orioles fell again last night, 8-1 to the Minnesota Twins. The game was full of missed oppurtunities for the O's. The O's stranded multiple runners against Matt Garza, the Twins starter, 3 times. And, the O's stranded runners on third base three times. The Orioles finally broke through in the third inning when Nick Markakis drove in a run. That was the only run of the day for the O's. However, the big story was Radhames Liz. He is an Orioles starting pitcher, and he made his Major League debut last night. He is just like his mentor, Daniel Cabrera. He has a dominant fastball but his command isn't great. Liz walked 3 batters in the game and all 3 wound up scoring. Three of the five runs he gave up came on 1 swing. Liz led off the third with 2 walks. A bunt from Nick Punto advanced the runners to third and second base. After a groundout, Jason Bartlett hit a two-out two-run single to left field. After that, Liz set down 6 straight batters in innings 4 and 5. Then Liz lost control again. He gave up a single to the first batter in the 6th inning, and then a walk. Torii Hunter then came up and ripped a 97-mph fastball for a home run. The Twins scored 3 more times off of the Orioles bullpen to score the final runs. The O's have been outscored 59-17 in the last 5 games. We are in desperate need of some run support, as we have the young pitching, but we just don't score the runs...Oh well. At least we can all watch now as the battle for fourth in the AL East heats up between the O's and Tampa Bay Devil Rays....-John T.