Highlights and lowlights from the Orioles' 7-6 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
UP -- Jesse Garcia: Bounces game-winning, two-run single up the middle in the eighth inning, and sees his chances of making the club improve dramatically.
EVEN -- Doug Linton: Another terrific outing, but an 11-man staff can't be good news.
EVEN -- Lenny Webster: Endures a brutal fourth inning with a passed ball and a throwing error, but also delivers two-run single in the fifth for a 3-2 lead.
EVEN -- Esteban Beltre: His error allows run to score in the sixth, but he also goes 2-for-3 with an RBI.
EVEN -- Jerry Hairston: The good: Two hits, a stolen base and a run scored. The bad: Rochester-bound.
DOWN -- Brady Anderson: Overruns a ball in center field in the sixth that allows one run to score and sets up another.
The bats
Beltre and Hairston combined for four of the Orioles' 10 hits. Doubles by Beltre and Mike Bordick were the only extra-base hits. Anderson, Garcia, Webster, Charles Johnson and B. J. Surhoff had singles, with Johnson driving in an eighth-inning run on a checked-swing liner. Anderson scored twice. Chris Hoiles walked twice and scored from second on Webster's single to center. Albert Belle had a sacrifice fly in the fifth, his eighth RBI this spring.
The arms
Linton allowed two runs, one earned, in five innings. He gave up three hits, walked three and struck out two. He threw 65 pitches, then another 19 in the bullpen. Doug Johns didn't pitch as poorly as the numbers indicate: four runs (two earned) and five hits in two innings. He didn't get adequate support, and one of the run-scoring hits was a bloop single to right by Shawon Dunston. David Evans picked up the win with a scoreless eighth, striking out two, and Heathcliff Slocumb struck out one in a perfect ninth for his second save.
The rest
Rich Amaral swung a bat again yesterday as he draws closer to returning from a strained back. Will Clark was given yesterday off. Hoiles started at first base and hit a long drive with the bases loaded and two outs in the third that reached the warning track in center. Lyle Mouton was caught stealing in the fourth. The Orioles stranded 11 runners. Former Oriole Kent Mercker walked seven in 4 2/3 innings. He allowed three runs and five hits.
Quote of the day
"I think my legs are still in Cuba." -- Linton, who admitted being fatigued.
Pub Date: 3/30/99