Earlier this week, our own Drew Bonifant wrote about the tale two innings for Mychal Givens. Bonifant pointed out that Givens, who many expected to serves as the Orioles closer, has excelled in the eighth inning while struggling to close out games in the ninth. Tonight, Brandon Hyde called on Givens to pitch both.
As the splits predicted, Givens worked his way through the eighth without any trouble. He returned to the mound with the Orioles holding a two-run lead in the ninth, and then things got interesting. Givens allowed doubles to Leury Garcia and Jose Abreu that cut the lead in half.