Bob McCrory had reason to be both pleased and disappointed Tuesday as he made his season debut with the Baltimore Orioles.
McCrory pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, but the team didn”t fare as well by suffering a 6-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at St. Petersburg, Fla.
“The way I look at it, you have a job to do and that”s go out there and try to get outs,” McCrory said. “It”s disappointing we didn”t win, but I had a job to do to go out there and try to get outs. I”m happy I pitched well, but I was disappointed we didn”t win.”
McCrory, a 2000 graduate of Columbus High School, finished up for the Orioles (who are 10-17 and in last place in the American League East) and he allowed one hit and struck out one.
The 27-year old right-hander was summoned with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, and he allowed a two-run single to reigning AL Rookie of the Year Evan Longoria before striking out Carlos Pena to end the inning. The runs were charged to Baltimore starter Koji Uehara (2-3)
“I went in with the bases loaded and two outs and that”s part of being a reliever,” McCrory said. “I had to face Evan Longoria and I got the ground ball that I wanted, but unfortunately it found a hole. Then I got the strikeout to end the inning and that was big.”
McCrory, who threw 15 pitches with nine strikes, finished strong by retiring the Rays in order in the eighth inning, getting Pat Burrell to fly out, Jason Bartlett to pop out and Akinori Iwamura to ground out on a ball he deflected to second baseman Brian Roberts.
“It”s always a confidence builder when you can get them three up and three down,” McCrory said.
McCrory was recalled by the Orioles and joined the team in Toronto on his birthday Sunday.
He was 0-0 with three saves and a 2.25 ERA in nine relief appearances for Baltimore”s Triple-A affiliate Norfolk (Va.) before being recalled.
This is McCrory”s third stint with the Orioles. He was recalled two times last season and was 0-0 with a 15.63 ERA.
Ironically, he made his major league debut against Tampa Bay.
He fared much better against the Rays on Tuesday than he did in his major league debut on April 30, 2008. He allowed two hits and four runs in 1/3 innings in his first game.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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