MLB

Orioles’ McLouth makes plays at bat and in the field

Like a pain-in-the-neck neighbor, the State Farm sign was there when Nate McLouth made the defensive play of the game.

With one out and Russell Martin on first in the fifth last night, Jayson Nix sent a shot into the gap and out to the wall in left center. McLouth, who homered in the top of the fifth for the first run in the Orioles’ Game 5-forcing 2-1 ALDS victory over the Yankees, raced over and made a terrific leaping catch at the wall. He threw to shortstop J.J. Hardy, who relayed a clothesline to first doubling off Martin by a wide, wide margin. But McLouth noted he was virtually blinded for an instant by the bright red State Farm Insurance sign.

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“That’s the deep part and I knew it was going to be close to the wall,” McLouth said. “I took my eye off the ball for a second and it was kind of weird because when I took my eye off the ball, I looked right into a bright red State Farm sign and it almost blinded me. I wanted to check where the wall was and I just happened to look right at that sign. It threw me off for a second but I was able to pick up the ball again when I looked back.”

Of his homer, off a 1-2 Phil Hughes fastball, McLouth, hitting .333 in the series, said simply, “I was trying to put the ball in play in that situation and it was a pitch that caught a lot of the plate and I was able to get enough of it.”