Final
  for this game

Mets-Orioles Preview

Jun 18, 2009 - 4:54 AM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

New York (33-29) at Baltimore (27-37), 7:05 p.m. EDT

A fielding error by Aubrey Huff contributed to the Baltimore Orioles' loss in the opener of their interleague series with the New York Mets. He redeemed himself with his performance at the plate in the next game.

The last-place Orioles look to win their third straight series against NL foes on Thursday night when their series with the Mets concludes at Camden Yards.

Baltimore (28-37), which has already taken two of three from Washington and Atlanta this year, fell 6-4 on Tuesday as Huff dropped a pop up down the right-field line in the seventh inning leading to two unearned runs.

On Wednesday, though, Huff had an RBI single in his first trip to the plate and added a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh en route to the 6-4 victory. It was just his ninth this season and first since May 26 in a 7-2 win over Toronto.

"It felt longer than it really was, going as bad as I was as far as power numbers," said the first baseman, who had a career-high 32 homers with Baltimore last year. "Just to get that out of the way felt really nice."

Highly touted rookie Matt Wieters went deep for the first time and knocked in the first two runs of his career. The Orioles' catcher was batting .234 (11 for 47) with no RBIs in his first 13 games since being called up from Triple-A Norfolk on May 29.

"It's tough to give up someone's first big league home run by six inches, especially on a ball right over the wall," said the Mets' Tim Redding, who surrendered the two-run shot that snapped a 1-1 tie. "But a home run is a home run. Two runs are two runs, We lost by two runs."

Gary Sheffield had two hits, including a solo homer for New York (33-30), which trails NL East-leading Philadelphia by three games. David Wright's 11-game hitting streak was snapped with an 0-for-5 effort, but he's still batting .397 on the road and .357 overall this season.

The Mets have alternated wins and losses on the first five games of their swing, and will go with Livan Hernandez (5-1, 4.33 ERA) to close out the trip.

The right-hander looks to rebound from a 9-8 loss to the New York Yankees on Friday when he allowed six runs and six hits - including three homers - over 5 1-3 innings.

Hernandez is 3-1 with a 3.94 ERA in five career starts against the Orioles. Huff is 5 for 8 with two homers when facing him.

Nick Markakis is just 1 for 7 lifetime versus Hernandez, but matched a career-high with four hits Wednesday. The right fielder is 6 for 8 with a homer, two RBIs and a stolen base in the series.

Baltimore rookie right-hander Jason Berken (1-3, 7.32) will try to get off to a better start than he did in a 7-2 loss to Atlanta on Friday. He allowed a single to Nate McLouth and a two-run homer to Yunel Escobar to lead off the game.

"Aside from that pitch, through the first four innings, I felt pretty good," Berken told the Orioles' official Web site after yielding four runs and eight hits in 4 1-3 innings. "I thought my stuff was pretty good, and as we got to the end of the fourth and into the fifth, my fastball was up a little bit and stuff started staying up."

Berken has lost his last three starts since winning his major league debut May 26 .








  • ML
    FINAL
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
    - - - - - - - - - - - -
    NY METS 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 4 9 0
    BALTIMORE 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 2 5 12 1 (FINAL)

    BATTERIES: NYM - LIVAN HERNANDEZ, PEDRO FELICIANO (8TH), SEAN GREEN (8TH),
    FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ (9TH) AND OMIR SANTOS
    BAL - JASON BERKEN, DANYS BAEZ (7TH), MATT ALBERS (9TH)
    A

    Jun 18 9:59 PM


  • ML
    AT BALTIMORE - SCORING UPDATE
    SINGLE BY AUBREY HUFF SCORED NOLAN REIMOLD.
    FINAL SCORE: BALTIMORE 5, NY METS 4

    Mets 4, Orioles 5  Bot 9, 0 OutsJun 18 9:59 PM


  • ML
    AT BALTIMORE - SCORING UPDATE
    BASES LOADED WALK TO ADAM JONES SCORED FELIX PIE.
    SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, A JONES ON FIRST, B ROBERTS ON SECOND, N
    REIMOLD ON THIRD, 0 OUT
    CURRENT SCORE: NY METS 4
    BALTIMORE 4 BOTTOM, 9TH
    DUE UP FOR BALTIMORE: N MARKAKIS (.294, 0-FOR-4)

    Mets 4, Orioles 4  Bot 9, 0 OutsJun 18 9:55 PM
  • 109
    roots
    RUWTbot Added 74 roots (Close Finish)

    Mets 4, Orioles 4  Bot 9, 0 OutsJun 18 9:55 PM


  • ML
    AT BALTIMORE - SCORING UPDATE
    GROUND OUT BY LUKE SCOTT SCORED AUBREY HUFF.
    SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, M MORA ON SECOND, 2 OUT
    CURRENT SCORE: NY METS 4
    BALTIMORE 3 BOTTOM, 8TH
    DUE UP FOR BALTIMORE: T WIGGINTON (.242, 2-FOR-3)

    Mets 4, Orioles 3  Bot 8, 0 OutsJun 18 9:30 PM
  • 35
    roots
    RUWTbot Added 35 roots (Close Finish)

    Mets 4, Orioles 3  Bot 8, 0 OutsJun 18 9:30 PM


  • ML
    AT BALTIMORE - SCORING UPDATE
    SINGLE BY CARLOS BELTRAN SCORED DANIEL MURPHY.
    SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, C BELTRAN ON FIRST, 2 OUT
    CURRENT SCORE: NY METS 4
    BALTIMORE 2 TOP, 7TH
    DUE UP FOR NY METS: D WRIGHT (.354, 0-FOR-2, SF, RBI)

    Mets 4, Orioles 2  Top 7, 0 OutsJun 18 9:10 PM


  • ML
    AT BALTIMORE - SCORING UPDATE
    DOUBLE BY DANIEL MURPHY SCORED ALEX CORA.
    SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, D MURPHY ON SECOND, 2 OUT
    CURRENT SCORE: NY METS 3
    BALTIMORE 2 TOP, 7TH
    DUE UP FOR NY METS: C BELTRAN (.333, 1-FOR-3)

    Mets 3, Orioles 2  Top 7, 0 OutsJun 18 9:02 PM
  • 0
    roots
    RUWTbot Took away 37 roots

    Mets 3, Orioles 2  Top 7, 0 OutsJun 18 9:02 PM


  • ML
    AT BALTIMORE - SCORING UPDATE
    SINGLE BY RYAN CHURCH SCORED CARLOS BELTRAN.
    SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, R CHURCH ON FIRST, G SHEFFIELD ON THIRD, 2 OUT
    CURRENT SCORE: NY METS 2
    BALTIMORE 2 TOP, 6TH
    DUE UP FOR NY METS: O SANTOS (.274, 0-FOR-2)

    Mets 2, Orioles 2  Top 6, 0 OutsJun 18 8:41 PM


  • ML
    AT BALTIMORE - SCORING UPDATE
    SACRIFICE FLY BY DAVID WRIGHT SCORED ALEX CORA.
    SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, C BELTRAN ON FIRST, 2 OUT
    CURRENT SCORE: NY METS 1
    BALTIMORE 2 TOP, 6TH
    DUE UP FOR NY METS: G SHEFFIELD (.272, 0-FOR-2)

    Mets 1, Orioles 2  Top 6, 0 OutsJun 18 8:35 PM


  • ML
    AT BALTIMORE - SCORING UPDATE
    DOUBLE BY BRIAN ROBERTS SCORED MATT WIETERS.
    SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, B ROBERTS ON SECOND, R ANDINO ON THIRD, 1 OUT
    CURRENT SCORE: NY METS 0
    BALTIMORE 2 BOTTOM, 5TH
    DUE UP FOR BALTIMORE: A JONES (.314, 0-FOR-2)

    Mets 0, Orioles 2  Bot 5, 0 OutsJun 18 8:17 PM
  • 37
    roots
    RUWTbot Added 37 roots

    Mets 0, Orioles 1  Bot 5, 0 OutsJun 18 8:10 PM


  • ML
    AT BALTIMORE - SCORING UPDATE
    SOLO HOME RUN BY ROBERT ANDINO (1) TO LEFT CENTER WITH 0
    OUT IN THE 3RD OFF LIVAN HERNANDEZ.
    CURRENT SCORE: NY METS 0, BALTIMORE 1
    DUE UP FOR BALTIMORE: B ROBERTS (.286, 0-FOR-1)

    Mets 0, Orioles 1  Bot 3, 0 OutsJun 18 7:44 PM