Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Matt Moore got to know Orioles rookie Joey Rickard when the two were teammates with the Triple-A Durham Bulls for about a month while Moore was on a minor league rehabilitation assignment last year.
Rickard has come a long way since then, and Moore found that out the hard way Wednesday night, when the Orioles’ Rule 5 pick hit a three-run homer off his old teammate to give the Orioles a 3-1 win over the Rays at Tropicana Field.
Before Rickard took Moore’s first-pitch sinker about 10 rows deep into the left-field seats of Tropicana Field, he had just two hits in 22 at-bats, scuffling through the first slump of his major league career.