Sweeping to .500

The Orioles took the win in the bottom of the 12th competing the sweep of the Royals and bringing their season record to an even 24-24. This moves them up to 4th place in the AL East and now they’re only 3 games back from the Yankees and Boston, who are tied for first.

Guthrie got the start today but wasn’t on his game. He did go 7 innings but gave up 9 hits and 5 runs, 4 of them earned. He also struck out 4 and didn’t give a single free pass. 4 of his 7 innings were perfect, but he had a bad 2nd inning, giving up 4 runs. He also gave up a run in the 4th, allowing back-to-back doubles. But, that would be the last run the Royals scored in the game because of the bullpen.

Clay Rapada came to the mound at the top of the 8th to get his one out followed by Koji who also pitched the 9th and gave up one hit while striking out 3. In the 10th, Kevin Gregg came in and of course walked 2 guys, one of those was intentional, and gave up a hit but got out of the inning without giving up a run. Jeremy Accardo pitched the 11th and 12th going 1-2-3 in both and ended up getting the win, thanks to the clutch offense in the bottom of the 12th.

The Royals starter, Jeff Francis, had almost the same exact outing as Guthrie. He pitched one less inning, but gave up 9 hits and 5 runs while striking out 4, and he walked one whereas Guthrie didn’t walk anyone. After Guthrie’s 4-run 2nd inning, Nolan Reimold hit a solo shot. He ended up getting on base every at-bat, going 4 for 5 with a walk and 4 RBIs. More on him later. In the bottom of the 3rd, Mark Reynolds hit an RBI single. This was after Andino and Jones reached on an infield single and infield bunt, respectively. Nolan Reimold delivered again, hitting his 2nd homer of the game, a 3-run shot allowing the O’s to take the 5-4 lead. However, the Royals quickly tied it back up at 5 in the next inning.

The game was tied for 8 more innings until the bottom of the 12th. Andino got a lead-off double but Adam Jones bunted out. Markakis was intentionally walked. Vladdy came up and camed through again with a walk-off single showing that the O’s made a good choice in signing him and showing the fans that he’s still got it in him.

The Orioles are looking like they did in the first week and a half of the season and are on their way to having an even better winning streak than they did then. The bats are alive and coming out in almost every game as of late, the starters haven’t given up too many runs to allow the team to still be in the game, and the best part of the last 5 games is the bullpen, which has gone back to being solid. All in all, the Orioles have begun to be a well-rounded team. All the parts- offense, defense, and pitching- work well together every night unlike earlier when only one part would be playing well. Showalter has gotten his team back into its end-of-last-season and beginning-of-this-season groove and it’s definitely a great thing to watch as a fan. Let’s just hope the wins keep on coming.