Kritik und Lob » d out the offence

DETROIT -- The Baltimore Orioles caught Jordan Zimmermann at the perfect time.Saturday, in Zimmermanns first start off the disabled list, the Orioles hit three homers before chasing him in the second inning and moved back ahead of the Detroit Tigers in the AL wild-card race with an 11-3 rout.Thats a very, very good pitcher and we happened to catch him on an off night, Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. I certainly wouldnt want to be facing him in his next start.Adam Jones and Chris Davis homered in the first inning off Zimmermannn (9-6), and Matt Wieters connected in the second and sixth innings.At this point in the season, with us in the race, every win is huge, Wieters said. Obviously, it feels good to hit two homers tonight, but only because they came in a win. If we had lost, it wouldnt have mattered.Baltimore is two games behind first-place Boston in the tightly bunched AL East and one game back of wild-card leader Toronto. The Orioles are one game ahead of the Tigers and New York Yankees for the second wild card.Ubaldo Jimenez (7-11) allowed two runs, four hits and three walks in seven innings.The guys gave me a great start, and I just wanted to get us deep into the game with that lead, he said. My sinker was really good tonight, and I was able to throw all the breaking pitches whenever I needed them.Zimmermannn, bothered by a neck injury, has been on the disabled list three times and was making his first big league start since Aug. 4 and his second since June 30. He allowed six runs and four hits -- including three homers -- and two walks while getting three outs. He threw 42 pitches and faced 10 batters.I was terrible tonight, so this loss is on me, he said. I felt fine physically, but I couldnt locate any of my pitches. I was trying to hit the corner with my fastball, and Id miss five inches outside or five inches over the plate.Between his stints on the disabled list, Zimmermannn has an 8.84 ERA in eight starts since the beginning of June. With the Tigers deep in the race, it isnt clear what his immediate future holds.Were going to weigh a number of factors, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said when asked if Zimmermannn will remain in the rotation. We need to win games, and well decide how we think we can best do that.After an 11-minute rain delay at the start, Adam Jones hit Zimmermannns first pitch on a high arc into the Tigers bullpen in left. After Manny Machado drew a one-out walk, Chris Davis launched a 2-0 fastball deep into the Baltimore bullpen in center.J.D. Martinezs RBI single cut the gap to 3-1 in the bottom half, when Jimenez retired Justin Upton on a grounder to strand runners at the corners.When I got into trouble, Matt came out there and calmed things down, Jimenez said. He just kept calling for all the right pitches and I just had to throw them.Wieters hit a two-run homer in the second, when Blaine Hardy threw a run-scoring wild pitch. Wieters hit a three-run homer off Buck Farmer in the sixth.Ausmus responded by making eight lineup changes for the seventh, changing every position but catcher.TRAINERS ROOMOrioles: Davis said he plans to keep playing despite a sore left hand that has bothered him for most of the season. Orioles manager Buck Showalter has tried to rest his first baseman by taking him out of lopsided games, and replaced him with Drew Stubbs in the seventh on Saturday..LOOK OUTTigers third-base coach Dave Clark was uninjured after being hit on his rear by Erick Aybars hard one-hopper in the fourth inning. Clark, who stands closer to the plate than most third-base coaches, laughed off the incident. Clark took a glancing blow in the eighth inning from a Steven Moya grounder as he tried to pirouette out of the way.In all the years Ive been in this game, I have never seen a third-base coach get hit twice in the same night, Showalter said. Baseball will never cease to surprise you.UP NEXTTigers ace Justin Verlander (14-7, 3.28) faces Baltimores Chris Tillman (15-5, 3.76) in Sundays series finale. Tillman is coming off the disabled list, while Verlander is 6-1 with a 2.09 ERA in his last 11 games, posting a quality start each time. Denver Nuggets Shirts . After dropping their final six games of December, the Wild opened the new calendar year with four consecutive wins. Following a loss to Colorado on Saturday, Minnesota rebounded the following night to blank Nashville 4-0, but then had the tables turned on them Tuesday. Custom Denver Nuggets Jerseys . Jane Virtanen scored two, and Alex Roach and Elliott Peterson rounded out the offence for the Hitmen (40-15-6). Brady Brassart chipped in with three assists. Colton McCarthy scored twice, Brayden Point had a goal and two assists, and Jack Rodewald also scored for the Warriors (15-35-9), who were 2 for 5 on the power play. https://www.cheapnuggets.com/ .J. -- Josh Cribbs was in the Pro Bowl in February and out of a job six months later. Nuggets Jerseys China . "Thank you for the warm welcome," Beckham said on an 80-degree February morning. In this case, it was soccer weather. The sport moved a step closer to returning to South Florida on Wednesday, when Beckham confirmed he has exercised his option to purchase a Major League Soccer expansion franchise in Miami. Denver Nuggets Gear . -- Jimmy Walkers first PGA Tour trophy came with a special gift tucked inside. GUANGZHOU, China -- Defending champion Jelena Jankovic will have another shot at the title after defeating Ana Konjuh of Croatia 7-5, 7-6 (7) in the Guangzhou Open semifinals on Friday.The second-seeded Serb has yet to drop a set this week.Jankovic will take on Ukraines Lesia Tsurenko, who was into her first final since her maiden title in Istanbul in July last year.dddddddddddd.Tsurenko defeated Anett Kontaveit of Estonia 6-4, 6-2 in the other semifinal. ' ' '