Orioles grab 2-1 lead in 3rd inning with two-out rally

So much for Andy Pettitte’s Don Larsen impression.

Exactly 56 years ago today, Larsen threw a perfect game in the World Series.

Tonight in Game 2, Pettitte retired the first eight Orioles he faced, with the string finally broken by No. 9 hitter Robert Andino, who parachuted a two-out single into center field. That just seemed like bad luck for Pettitte. But Nate McLouth followed with another single to center, this one struck a bit more firmly. Pettitte walked J.J. Hardy on four pitches. And then Chris Davis laced a single into right field, with both Andino and McLouth scoring.

That made it 2-1, and it took some shoddy baserunning to keep the score right there.

Adam Jones was next, and after a long battle he sent a medium-speed ground ball toward the shortstop hole, where medium-aged Derek Jeter couldn’t quite grab it. Hardy, for some reason, took a peek back at Jeter while heading toward third base. By the time he looked up to see his coaching imitating a windmill, it was too late; Hardy had already slowed down and had to stay a-huggin’ third.

Here, see for yourself:

If he’d just sprinted toward third and kept his eye on his coach, he would have made the score 3-1. But he didn’t, and it stayed 2-1 when Matt Wieters lifted an easy fly to center field.

Pettitte threw a ton of pitches in the frame, pushing his total for the game to 47. Wei-Yen Chen’s thrown 51, and so we can expect to see plenty of both teams’ relief corps.