Game 18 vs. Baltimore

Based solely on the line score, I could have copied the last entry and pasted it in here. Once again the visitors drew first blood. And once again we made a decisive come-back in the bottom of the sixth. But there was a lot more to this game than that.

Manny Machado led off the first with what was ruled a catch at the wall by Lorenzo Cain. On a challenge, however, replay showed that the ball bounced out of Cain’s glove and hit the wall before coming to rest in his grip, making it a ground rule double. We’ve seen a lot of challenges this season, but that’s the first one I can recall where I thought “wow, that really did need to be reversed.” I’m just sorry it went against us, especially as Machado then scored on a two-run homer by Adam Jones.

Despite struggling at the plate in the early going, our guys hung in there. Mike Moustakas in particular was on fire. He made a “!!” play in the fifth and a “!” play in the sixth. Combine that with a home run in the bottom of the sixth, and he was definitely the guy of the game.

Speaking of the sixth, we batted around plus two. Omar Infante even hit his first of two triples in the game. Dramatic stuff!

ORIOLES (3) AT ROYALS (8)

ORIOLES              AB  R  H BI  ROYALS               AB  R  H BI
Manny Machado         4  1  1  0  Alcides Escobar       5  1  1  0  
Gerardo Parra         4  0  0  0  Ben Zobrist           4  2  2  0  
Adam Jones            4  2  2  2  Lorenzo Cain          5  0  3  2  
Chris Davis           3  0  0  0  Eric Hosmer           4  1  1  1  
Steve Clevenger       3  0  1  1  Kendrys Morales       3  0  0  0  
Matt Wieters          3  0  0  0  Mike Moustakas        4  1  1  2  
Jonathan Schoop       3  0  1  0  Salvador Perez        4  1  1  0  
Henry Urrutia         2  0  0  0  Alex Rios             4  1  2  0  
 Steve Pearce         1  0  0  0  Omar Infante          4  1  2  2  
Ryan Flaherty         3  0  0  0                                    
TOTALS               30  3  5  3  TOTALS               37  8 13  7

ORIOLES                       200 100 000 -- 3  
ROYALS                        001 007 00x -- 8  

LOB--ORIOLES 0, ROYALS 7. ERR--Ryan Flaherty. 2B--Steve
Clevenger, Manny Machado, Alex Rios, Eric Hosmer. 3B--Omar
Infante (2). HR--Adam Jones, Mike Moustakas.

 ORIOLES                         IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR
Ubaldo Jimenez                 5.67   10    7    7    1    3    1
Brad Brach                     1.00    2    1    1    0    0    0
Jorge Rondon                   1.33    1    0    0    1    2    0
 ROYALS                     
Kris Medlen                    6.00    5    3    3    0    6    1
Franklin Morales               2.00    0    0    0    0    0    0
Luke Hochevar                  1.00    0    0    0    0    2    0

SO--Gerardo Parra (2), Chris Davis (2), Matt Wieters (2),
Steve Clevenger, Manny Machado, Alcides Escobar, Lorenzo
Cain, Mike Moustakas, Salvador Perez (2). BB--Kendrys
Morales, Ben Zobrist.