Baltimore Orioles down Kansas City Royals 4-3 after Matt Wieters’ heroics - MLB Update
The Baltimore Orioles made a good return to home turf after a long west coast road trip beating Kansas City Royals 4-3 at Camden Yards courtesy of some really good hitting display by catcher Matt Wieters.
The birds went ahead in the first inning as they scored three runs courtesy of an Adam Jones’ RBI single and a Matt Wieters two-run RBI double. However, the bats remained silent for much of the ballgame afterwards and the Royals were able to slide back with
a single run in the third and the tying two runs in the seventh.
The O’s scored on a last ditch effort courtesy of a line drive by Matt Wieters which allowed Adam Jones to reach home plate. The lead was enough for the O’s and Jim Johnson was able to get his 12th save for the season after he retired the last
three without any hits.
Buck Showalter, the manager for the Orioles believed that it was some good pitching that kept them in the game. He commented on the fact that walks were not given away played a big role in the win.
"We didn't walk anybody, I believe, which was key," Showalter said. "You don't want to put -- as good an offensive team as they are -- people out there. Bend a little, but didn't break. We got some big outs."
The game was opened by Wei-Yin Chen who could not get a result though he had a decent day on the field. The win was recorded in the name of Tommy Hunter who pitched over an innings.
Tommy was excited by the result and urged the fans to not leave the ballpark even in adverse conditions. This was his second win for the season and now stands at a 2-1 win-loss record.
"Nobody should ever leave the stadium, I'll tell you that much, under any circumstances," Hunter said.
Adam Jones expressed his pleasure at the fact that the whole unit was playing as a team and showing a decent fight against some good opposition. He saw the team helping each other out when the going was tough.
"It's 25-man team," Jones said. "We're a team. We all are picking up each other. Good thing is, we're resilient, and we came back the next inning and put some pressure on the Royals, and [were] able to squeak one out."
The win puts the O’s second in American League East with just a game away from Boston Red Sox. With their current form, they could well be taking the top slot soon. However, these are early days and the season is still a couple of months away from when the
positions matter.
The Orioles will certainly be hoping that that better crowds show up at home games. The 12,000 plus crowd was certainly not as sizeable as they would have liked.
Tags: