Baltimore Orioles get unexpected walk-off win against the Royals

Baseball is a strange game and this Baltimore Orioles‘ win certainly proved it.

With a roster full of All-Stars, the Baltimore Orioles get a win thanks to Ubaldo Jimenez and Craig Gentry.

In fact, Jimenez pitched an absolutely fabulous game against the tough Kansas City Royals who just added power-hitter Melky Cabrera to their roster.

Jimenez pitched in seven innings instead of his usual six. He allowed five hits and one earned run. He struck out six and walked two. This game brought his ERA down to 6.56. One more start like this and his ERA could be rounded DOWN to six rather than UP to seven.

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Outstanding pitching

Jimenez threw an even 100 pitches before Buck Showalter called in the relievers. Mychal Givens continued his dominance in relief as he struck out two and forced Lorenzo Cain into a ground ball out to end the inning. And, in typical Zach Britton fashion, he closed out the game and ended up getting the win after his defense helped him with a double play before he struck out Salvador Perez. Givens and Britton each threw 16 pitches to three batters to get out of their innings.

Minimal offense on both sides

Offense was at a premium today. Kansas City got the early lead when Cain doubled. He later scored when Eric Hosmer switched places with him with his own two-out double.

The O’s didn’t get on the board until the fifth inning thanks to Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop. Machado doubled to Cabrera who was in right (he played left with the White Sox). Then, Jonathan Schoop singled to center field so Machado could race home.

The game remained tied until the bottom of the ninth. In an unexpected turn of events, the bottom of the order got the job done. Chris Davis started the inning with a ground out. Then, Caleb Joseph singled to center field. Joey Rickard couldn’t get the job done as he flied out to Cabrera in right. With two outs, Ruben Tejada put Joseph in scoring position after hitting his own single. That left it up to Gentry and his single to Cain in center field was enough to get Joseph across the plate.

Honors for the Skipper

Gentry earned his sixth RBI and Schoop earned his 77th. Without any home runs, the Orioles did not get any closer to the 10,000th. But, there was one notable statistic that occurred with today’s win. The Skipper now has 1,480 wins as a manager.

Showalter is now tied for 24th win Earl Weaver and with the next win he will own that position for awhile. The next milestone for the highly respected manager is 1,493. Surprisingly, Showalter is not the winningest active manager. Three other managers are ahead of him: Mike Scioscia, Dusty Baker, and Bruce Bochy. Connie Mack still holds the record with 3,731 wins as a manager.

Next: Analyzing the Orioles as a playoff team

The Orioles meet up with Royals against tomorrow as Ian Kennedy will face Dylan Bundy.