The old, uncontrollable Daniel Cabrera resurfaced for the Orioles Sunday, as the pitcher threw a club record four wild pitches and allowed five walks in a 9-5 loss to the Washington Nationals.
An announced crowd of 27, 680 booed Cabrera as he left the mound with two outs in the fourth inning. In total, the hard-throwing 25-year-old gave up six runs. He was essentially one-dimensional, throwing fastball after fastball because his curveball was ineffective and wild.
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“Basically, we tried to call as many fastballs as we can to try and get ahead of the count on hitters, but he still couldn?t throw for a strike,” Orioles catcher Javy Lopez said.
The Orioles were never really in the game, having fallen behind 2-0 in the third inning and 6-0 by the end of the fifth.
“It certainly wasn?t the start we were expecting out of him today,” Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo said. “The first two innings, I thought we were in business ? he minimized his pitches and got through the innings well ? and the next 2 2/3, he just kind of lost everything. Couldn?t locate his fastball, couldn?t get his breaking ball over ? he struggled.”
Cabrera did not stay after the game to comment on his performance tothe media.
The Birds got two runs in the seventh when Corey Patterson drove in Lopez. A few batters later, Patterson scored on a sacrifice fly from third baseman Ed Rogers to cut the lead to 8-3.
In the bottom of the ninth, Jeff Conine hit a two-run home run off Saul Rivera. It was too little, too late for the Orioles.
Cabrera?s pitching woes came a day after the Orioles finalized a deal with free agent Russ Ortiz to join the starting rotation for this season. In order to make room for Ortiz, the team demoted star prospect Adam Loewen to AAA Ottawa.
The Arizona Diamondbacks released Ortiz June 14 after he went 0-5 this season but is 108-76 during his career.
Ortiz will re-team with Orioles pitching coach Leo Mazzone, with whom he got 21 wins for the Atlanta Braves in 2003.
Ortiz said he was looking forward to working with the touted pitching coach again.
“Leo being here was a huge part in deciding where I wanted to play,” Ortiz said.
For Loewen, the demotion was clearly a disappointment, but said he would use the demotion as an opportunity to work on the command of his pitches.
