BALTIMORE (AP) -Not long after Paul Shuey allowed the final nine runs in a 30-3 loss to the Texas Rangers, his cell phone started ringing.
“I had one buddy call and ask me if I was trying. I said, ‘Yeah, I really was,”’ Shuey said.
The day after the Baltimore Orioles yielded an American League-record 30 runs, the players and manager Dave Trembley were still trying Thursday to make sense out of the debacle.
Shuey pitched two innings, allowing seven hits – including two home runs. His ERA swelled from 6.75 to 9.49.
Under different circumstances, Trembley would have mercifully pulled him from the game. But it was only the opener of a doubleheader, so Shuey took one for the team.
“It was one of those times when you really try to conserve the rest of the bullpen, your main guys, so we had a good shot to win the second game,” the right-hander said.
Trembley, meanwhile, experienced one of baseball’s all-time up-and-down days. Hours after the team announced his contract extension into 2008, the Orioles gave up 29 hits in the most lopsided loss in franchise history.
“I didn’t get back to my apartment until maybe about 1:45,” he said. “I think my wife was more upset about it than I was. I was glad she was here.”
Trembley held a team meeting Thursday afternoon before the Orioles opened a four-game series against the Twins.
“Our focus was to review Minnesota,” he said. “But if there was a key element of the talk, it was called pride.”
The 36-year-old Shuey hadn’t pitched in the majors since 2003 before joining the Orioles on June 19. He underwent hip surgery two years ago and is still working to find a comfort zone on the mound.
It didn’t happen Wednesday.
“That was the ugliest outing I’ve ever had, but at the same time I’m still kind of trying to come back and trying to get my stuff together. I treated it that way and just tried to battle through it,” Shuey said. “I actually feel pretty good today for going through that. I was happy the other guys didn’t get penalized and were in position to succeed in the next game.”
But what about that inflated ERA? More than one-third of the 26 runs he’s allowed this season came during that horrid two-inning appearance.
“To be honest with you, my numbers weren’t great before the outing yesterday. I agree, it’s not going to be pretty to look at,” he said. “But at the end of the day that’s more of a pride factor.”
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