Orioles bullpen outshines Tigers relievers in Game 1
BALTIMORE -- Buck Showalter is a stickler for preparation.
Thus, the veteran manager feels good about his Baltimore Orioles being ready any time their starting pitcher has a shaky outings. Their relievers had a 2.91 ERA in the regular season, ranking third in the American League.
So when starter and winner Chris Tillman needed 105 pitches to get through five innings Thursday night, Showalter did not hesitate to call on his bullpen early.
Four relievers combined to allow only one run - a solo homer by Miguel Cabrera off Darren O'Day in the top of the eighth inning that drew the Tigers within a run - in four innings as the Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers 12-3 in Game 1 of their American League Division Series.
The Orioles turned a one-run game into a rout with an eighth-run eighth. The final score betrays the pivotal outs Orioles relievrs recorded in higher-leverage situations before then.
Showalter said it helped that the Orioles has three days off after their regular-season finale last Sunday.
"All those things through the year where you don't bring them up, and you're not double-barreling everything," Showalter said. "This is the time of year you're able to reap some of those benefits."
Showalter brought left-hander Andrew Miller on in relief of Tillman to start the sixth inning, one inning earlier than usual. Miller rewarded the veteran manager by striking out three in 1 2/3 scoreless innings to preserve a 3-2 lead.
Tigers manager Brad Ausmus wasn't surprised to see Miller make an appearance in the middle innings.
"Andrew Miller has had an excellent year," Ausmus said. "He's pitched extremely well for Baltimore. Heart of order was coming up, so it's understandable he would bring him in at that point."
Showalter also called on closer Zack Britton to get the final out in the eighth inning with the score 4-3 and would have used him in the ninth; the eight-run inning made that unnecessary, and Showalter was concerned he might get hurt if he pitched again after sitting out a long bottom of the eighth.
"We talked about things change, it's the postseason," Showalter said. "We've talked to them since the (regular) season was over about how this was going to work. There aren't guys strolling down there after the fifth inning, like some of them do. They know it's all hands on deck now."
The Orioles had 211 home runs in the regular season and added two more in Game 1. Nelson Cruz's two-run homer in the first inning opening the scoring and J.J. Hardy's solo shot in the seventh gave Baltimore a 4-2 lead.
Both came off Max Scherzer, who took the loss after going 18-5 in the regular season. The Orioles scored five runs off last year's AL Cy Young winner in 5 1/3 innings with six strikeouts and one walk.
Manager Brad Ausmus said pitching coach Jeff Jones found a flaw in Scherzer's delivery in the early innings and corrected it.
"There were immediate results," Ausmus said.
The Tigers also got their other two runs on solo homers when Victor Martinez and J.D. Martinez connected back-to-back in the second off Tillman to tie the score at 2-2.
The Orioles went ahead for good at 3-2 in the bottom of the second on an RBI single by Nick Markakis, who has spent his nine-year career with Baltimore and was playing in his first postseason game. The right fielder missed the Orioles' trip to the postseason in 2012 because of a broken hand.
Markakis has played in 1,365 regular-season games without appearing in a postseason game. The only current players who has played more is Texas Rangers outfielder Alex Rios with 1,586.
Markakis and rookie second baseman Jonathan Schoop hit two-run doubles in the eighth when the Orioles ran their lead to 12-3. They were two of five Baltimore players with two hits along with Cruz, Alejandro De Aza and Steve Pearce.