Orioles' fall prey to the Tigers as unbeaten run ends with 7-3 loss



BALTIMORE // The Baltimore Orioles weren't going to go unbeaten this season anyway, so after their first loss they turned their sights toward more realistic goals.

Derrek Lee hit his first homer with Baltimore and Vladimir Guerrero got his initial RBI, but the Orioles couldn't muster any more offence against Justin Verlander and fell to the Detroit Tigers 7-3.

Baltimore came up short in a bid to match the franchise's record 5-0 start of the 1970 squad that went on to win the World Series.

"You're going to have those nights," third baseman Mark Reynolds said. "I don't think there's been any team to go 162-0, right? So, we'll come back (Thursday), get ready to go and hopefully come out of here with a series win."

__________________

Also
• Orioles look to buck a trend
• A major challenge for Tiger Woods
__________________

Baltimore opened the season with a sweep of Tampa Bay, and taking two of three from Detroit would mark a solid turnaround for a team that started 2-16 last year.

Alex Avila homered and had a career-high five RBIs, and Verlander allowed four hits over eight innings for the Tigers. Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez also connected for Detroit, the first team this season to score more than one run against Baltimore.

Lee's two-run homer made it 4-2 in the fourth inning. That, however, was as close as the Orioles would get.

"It felt good to square up a ball and get it over the fence," Lee said. "But it's kind of a moot point when you lose a game."

The loss left Texas and Cincinnati as the only unbeaten teams in the majors.

Avila, who came in batting .100, doubled in two runs in the fourth inning, hit a two-run homer in the fifth and added an RBI single in the eighth.

Verlander (1-0) gave up three runs, struck out nine and walked two. He is 6-0 with a 2.64 ERA in eight career starts against Baltimore, including 4-0 at Camden Yards.

"Same thing we've been seeing for a while," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "He's one of the best pitchers in the game."

Baltimore starter Brad Bergesen (0-1) allowed four runs, two earned, and five hits in 3 2-3 innings. His performance raised the ERA of the starting staff from 0.69 to 1.21.

"It was tough. I just never seemed to get into any type of groove tonight," the right-hander said. "It seemed like I went full count on almost everyone, or deep counts, so that part really hurt."

Bergesen pitched in place of Jeremy Guthrie, who was released from the hospital Wednesday after being treated for a high fever. Guthrie hopes to rejoin the rotation Sunday against Texas.

Baltimore made only one error in its first four games, then committed two in the second inning to provide Detroit with a 2-0 lead. After second baseman Brian Roberts dropped a two-out popup to short right field, Bergesen walked Jhonny Peralta and threw wildly to second on an attempted pickoff. Avila followed with a double off the right-field scoreboard.

Prior to that, the Orioles had not trailed this season.

After Avila's homer made it 4-0 in the fourth, Lee connected in the bottom half following a one-out walk to Nick Markakis.

Cabrera and Martinez homered in succession in the fifth inning off Josh Rupe.

Guerrero made it 6-3 with an RBI single in the sixth, but he was thrown out by Avila trying to advance on the throw to the plate.

RESULTS (home team in CAPS):

LA Angels 5 TAMPA BAY 1
Pittsburgh 3 ST LOUIS 1
TEXAS 7 Seattle 3
Chicago White Sox 10 KANSAS CITY 7 (12 innings)
Arizona 6 CHICAGO CUBS 4
COLORADO 7 LA Dodgers 5
San Francisco 8 SAN DIEGO 4
TORONTO 5 Oakland 3

COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid

● Based: Dubai, UAE

● Industry: M&A

● Funding size: Bootstrapped

● No of employees: Nine

COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlmouneer%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dr%20Noha%20Khater%20and%20Rania%20Kadry%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EEgypt%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E120%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBootstrapped%2C%20with%20support%20from%20Insead%20and%20Egyptian%20government%2C%20seed%20round%20of%20%3Cbr%3E%243.6%20million%20led%20by%20Global%20Ventures%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A

Electoral College Victory

Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate. 

 

Popular Vote Tally

The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Tree of Hell

Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla

Director: Raed Zeno

Rating: 4/5

Kill%20Bill%20Volume%201
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20Quentin%20Tarantino%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20Uma%20Thurman%2C%20David%20Carradine%20and%20Michael%20Madsen%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%204.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Green ambitions
  • Trees: 1,500 to be planted, replacing 300 felled ones, with veteran oaks protected
  • Lake: Brown's centrepiece to be cleaned of silt that makes it as shallow as 2.5cm
  • Biodiversity: Bat cave to be added and habitats designed for kingfishers and little grebes
  • Flood risk: Longer grass, deeper lake, restored ponds and absorbent paths all meant to siphon off water 

Middle East Today

The must read newsletter for the region

      By signing up, I agree to The National's privacy policy
      Middle East Today