Jason Hammel helps Baltimore Orioles thrash Kansas City Royals 8-2 – MLB Update
Baltimore Orioles continued their excellent form as they outclassed Kansas City Royals 8-2 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland on Friday, May 25 in the opening game of their three match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
Buck Showalter and company dominated their opponents in almost all departments of the game. Adopting a very aggressive strategy right from the start of the contest, the Orioles put Kansas City under immense pressure.
"It's by design," Orioles manager Buck Showalter deadpanned.
"On the first one, he just outran it," Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. "He got such a good jump that the throw had to be about perfect. On the second one, we had an opportunity."
Adam Jones had another decent outing as he hit a sacrifice fly to left in the first inning to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead. J. J. Hardy had an RBI double in the fifth inning to extend the Orioles’ lead to 3-0. Nick Markakis also displayed some high quality hitting skills as he doubled to deep centre. Chris Davis also scored to cap a five run fifth inning.
Davis continued to swing aggressively and he homered to right in the seventh inning to help the Orioles take complete control of the situation. For the Royals, the only hit came in the eighth inning of the game when Jeff Francoeur hit a two run home run. Credit must be given to Orioles’ starting pitcher Jason Hammel for working out a perfect method to get out of another jam.
"Outstanding crowd tonight," Hammel said in a post game interview. "If they are backing us, we are going to feel even better about ourselves. It's been fun to see the stands filling up now. We want to just continue to play good baseball for them."
"It was huge turning point," he further added.
Hammel pitched six perfect innings and he received standing ovation from a crowd of about 29,000. The fans will be delighted with what they have seen so far after considering the Orioles’ run of 14 straight lost seasons.
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