Kansas City Royals defeat Baltimore Orioles 6-2 – MLB Update
Luke Hochevar pitched into the eighth inning on Wednesday, August 3 to assist in Kansas City Royals’ 6-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles at Kauffman Stadium.
The win brought the Kansas City Royals back in the three-game series.
For every observer who watched the game, it was Hochevar whose magical spell of pitching literally disarmed the Orioles’ offence, resulting into a comfortable win of the Royals.
Subject to deep introspection after some early setbacks in the season, Hochevar has lately been quite forceful in the games he has pitched.
"It gave me time to sit down and look at the things I wanted to do," Hochevar said of his time off. "I just looked down the road, what I wanted things to look like in a month and the things I needed to do to get there.”
For him, the way to prevail is to keep the game simple.
“Just really keeping the game simple and let things come to me instead of just trying so hard, just play the game instead of working at it,” said Hochevar.
Even though Vladimir Guerrero scored a run in the very first inning of Hochevar, the Royals’ starter did not then allow any other hitter to capitalise on early gains made by the Orioles.
Billy Butler was quick to come up with a single to level the score with Jeremy Guthrie on the mound. As Hochevar tossed a shut-out second, Alcides Escobar hit a two-run RBI to take the Royals’ lead to 3-1.
J.J. Hardy came up with a single in the third inning against Hochevar to bring down the lead to 3-2. After that, Hochevar simply did not show any generosity to the Orioles’ hitters as they continued to be contained by the Royals’ starter.
Entering into the seventh inning with a 3-2 lead, the Royals’ Billy Butler had another big hit of the night. This time it was a three-run homer that gave a comfortable lead to the Kansas City Royals, which – from what it seemed, would be defended by Hochevar.
For all the right reasons, Hochevar succeeded in his endeavour. He kept pitching strong innings right into the eighth inning, allowing only two runs to the Orioles’ hitters. Greg Holland came as a closer and was able to wrap up the game.
Holland threw an effective ninth inning to turn the 6-2 lead into victory. After losing the first game by 8-2, the Royals ended the second game with this eagerly-sought victory.
The Royals managed to put in a tremendous effort as they restricted the Orioles’ offence from scoring in the crucial innings. Baltimore will be looking to improve their performance before their next match-up.
Tags: