The Baltimore Orioles took two of three from the Kansas City Royals as they try to get back into the playoff hunt at Orioles Park at Camden Yards.
With a record of (69-73), the Birds are in fourth place in the Wild Card race. At this point they have to win almost all of their remaining 20 games to have any chance of post season play.
After splitting the first two games of the series, the Birds walloped four home runs on their way to a 8-2 series-clinching win against one of the best teams in baseball.
Baltimore’s slugger Chris Davis hit his major-league leading 42nd homer while second baseman Jonathan Schoop hit two solo shots to give hime 14 for the season. Adam Jones added a two-run homer, his 27th of the season to the winning effort. He went 2-4 with four RBIs including his 24th double of the year.
Meanwhile, Oriole’s starter Wei-Yin Chen allowed six hits, two runs and struck out two in seven innings of work. He improved to (9-7) and has a 3.44 ERA.
In the first game of the series, a 14-8 Baltimore beatdown, they rallied for a season-high 10 runs in the eighth inning, including two Grand Slams, one each from Nolan Reimold and Steve Clevenger.
Two grand slams in the same inning have only happened eight times in Major League Baseball history. The Orioles are the only team to do it twice. The last time they did it was the 1986 season.
The game also featured Oriole’s manager Buck Showalter getting throw out of the game after he came to the defense of Davis who was hit by a pitch in the back after homers by Manny Machado and the second grand slam. Upset, Davis slammed his bat on the ground and broke it in two on the way to first base. He glarred at reliever Franklin Morales, who Showalter argued should have been thrown out of the game.
The Oriole’s responded with Clevenger’s grand slam which gave them a 14-6 lead. Birds starter Mike Wright gave up four runs, four hits, while walking and striking out two in five innings of work. He now has a 5.45 ERA.
The 10 runs were the most scored in one inning this season.
In the middle game of the series, the Royals got some payback by hitting their own grand slam on their way to a 14-6 victory. Nine of the runs were provided by Royal Mike Moustakas, who had the grand slam and a three-run homer on his way to a franchise-best RBI day.
The Royals scored five runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to put the game away.
The O’s were led by Jones who went 2-4 including a three-run homer in the third inning, which gave his team a short-lived 4-1 lead. Reimold hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning but the Royals responded with three runs in the ninth to complete the rout.
Oriole’s starter Chris Tillman allowed four runs and four hits while striking out three and walking two in five 1/3 innings of work. He now has a 5.21 ERA.
