Baltimore Orioles rally late but fall in Kansas City

A late rally by Manny Machado among others wasn’t enough to bring the Baltimore Orioles back from defeat yesterday in Kansas City. The Birds fell 5-3, dropping three-of-four against the hot and confident Kansas City Royals – who of course swept them in last year’s ALCS. Kansas City starter Ventura kept the Orioles at bay, striking them out 11 times over six innings.

Chalk up a gritty effort for Chris Tillman, who while he didn’t record a quality start was able to keep the O’s in the game. At the end of the day, he was bled to death by Kansas City’s soft hits and broken bat singles – which is par for the course. Tillman’s line: 6 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 1 K. That’s not a terrible line; Tillman was able to get Kansas City to put the ball in play and record outs. Some of those balls just found holes. 

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Following an hour and forty-five minute rain delay at the beginning, the game was a scoreless tie through three innings plus. In the last of the fourth Kansas City’s Perez began their long-standing tradition of soft hits netting runs for the day. Perez hit an incredibly soft, broken bat RBI-single that fell into very shallow left field.

Those are the things that frustrate teams like the Orioles, who try to hit the ball a country mile. I mean…is it really that easy? Again for a team like the Orioles, they might tend to take that very personally in a way. Here they are trying to hit for power, and these guys are almost getting RBI hits by shattering their bat and/or hitting the ball very softly. Orlando would add a sac fly-RBI before the inning ended, and Moustakas would net an RBI-single in the fifth. Orlando would come back to the plate in the sixth and homer to give Kansas City a 3-0 lead.

Courtesy of Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

But the Orioles tried to come back in the seventh. The power finally came through, as Ryan Flaherty hit his second home run in as many days. However remember that adage that a solo homer isn’t going to beat you? That’s kind of how Kansas City was looking at things. But for good measure Moustakas would add an RBI-single in the last of the seventh and the O’s trailed 5-1.

However the Birds would make a comeback attempt with two outs in the ninth. Caleb Joseph would smack an RBI-double, followed by another RBI-double by Manny Machado. But in the end it was too little too late, and the O’s fell once again in Kansas City by the score of 5-3.

A more pressing concern in the immediate interim for the Orioles is the condition of center fielder Adam Jones, who slammed into the wall on a ground rule double in the first inning. Jones appeared dazed, but stayed in the game. However he was lifted for a pinch hitter in the third inning (his next at-bat). Jones said after the game that he expected to play tonight in Texas, although the Rangers’ team doctor is supposed to examine him today at some point. The Orioles don’t feel that he was concussed or really anything more than rattled; x-rays (taken as a precaution) were negative.

The Orioles now head to Texas, where they’ll open up a three-game weekend series tonight. Kevin Gausman will take the ball for the Orioles tonight. He’ll be opposed by Texas’ Cole Hamels. Game time is set for just after 8 PM.

Next: Baltimore Orioles: Will Zach Britton ever return to the rotation?

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