Baltimore Orioles: New players lead to sweep of Royals

After a sweep of the Kansas City Royals in Camden Yards, the Baltimore Orioles inch ever closer to the .500 mark as their new record is 53-54.

The newest additions to the Baltimore Orioles roster contributed solid pitching and timely hitting to help the team get the win.

Along with the Jeremy Hellickson and Tim Beckham, several veteran O’s contributed to the 6-0 win over the tough Royals.

Holding the Royals to minimal runs

In the three-game series, the most notable stat for the O’s involved the pitching staff. In the first game, the O’s won with a 2-1 walk-off. On Tuesday, the Dylan Bundy got the win with a score of 7-2 and today, no Royals crossed home plate. Throughout the series, the O’s pitching staff only allowed the Royals to score three runs!

To understand the O’s accomplishment, the Royals in their previous series against the Boston Red Sox scored 17 runs and won two out of three games. Before that, the Royals swept the Detroit Tigers and scored 24 against them. So, holding the Royals to three runs was quite a feat, especially by a pitching rotation that has been struggling most of the season.

Dominating with timely hits

On the flip side, the offense completely dominated the second and third games. With 13 runs scored in those two games alone, it was clear that the Orioles came to win.

Manny Machado has found his groove as he has now reached first base for 15 games in a row and has pushed his average to .250. Unfortunately, he still hasn’t found his power as he has gone more than 80 at-bats without a home run. But, it will come. (Maybe #10,000 will break him out of his slump?)

Trey Mancini went two for three with a walk and two runs scored. He may not get the same press as Aaron Judge, but Mancini is having a rookie season worth noting. If it weren’t for Judge, Mancini would have much more attention from the national press. He has been such a force that he was intentionally walked so Jason Vargas could pitch to Chris Davis instead. Mancini’s performance put his batting average back over .300.

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Davis did deliver, although not after the Mancini intentional walk. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Jonathan Schoop walked and was followed by a Trey Mancini double. With one out, Davis hit his own double earning RBIs from Schoop and Mancini. Then, to pack on the runs, Tim Beckham hit a triple and scored Davis.

The new guys contribute

Fittingly, Beckham drove in the first run of the game. In the bottom of the second inning, Mancini singled and after a Davis ground out, he moved to second. Then, Beckham hit a double and a RBI in his first at-bat in an Orioles uniform. Caleb Joseph refused to leave Beckham on base and knocked him in with a line-drive home run to bring the score to 3-0 Orioles.

Along with the exciting offense, the pitching was spectacular. In a memorable first outing in black and orange, Hellickson pitched seven innings and allowed only five hits while striking out three. The Royals walked once as Hellickson hit Melky Cabrera.

Next: Orioles: Pitching trends show improvements

As if the game weren’t fun enough for fans in Birdland, Mike Moustakas and Ned Yost were ejected after arguing balls and strikes with the home plate umpire. It was a fitting ending to the Royals’ three games in Baltimore.