The Baltimore Orioles stunned Pittsburgh with two dramatic walk-off victories sweeping the Pirates and completing a happy home stand much to the delight of the fans at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
The O’s went 6-3 in their latest home stand. They took two of three from the Yankees, split a four game set with the Red Sox without any drama and finished it off by taking two from the Bucs.
They are currently alternating between second and third place with the Red Sox as both teams are battling the first place Yankees in the hotly contested AL East division race.
In the second game of the Pirate series and easily the most satisfying win of the season the O’s were down 6-2 in the ninth before staging a dramatic rally and amazingly winning 9-6.
Baltimore began their comeback in the eighth with a homer by Adam Jones which made the score 6-2. Ninth inning RBIs by Joey Rickard and J. J. Hardy made the score 6-4 and set the stage for pinch hitter Trey Mancini.
His two-run homer tied the game in the ninth 6-6 and sent the game into extra innings. The game went into the 11th inning and Mancini ended it with a thrilling three-run bomb giving the Orioles a 9-6 victory.
His teammates greeted him at home plate with a shower and pats on the back and he was all smiles after his walk-off blast and two-homer five RBI night off the bench.
In the first game of the Pittsburgh series the O’s were again down in the ninth before coming back to win 6-5 in 10 innings.
This time it was second baseman Jonathan Schoop who tied the game 5-5 with a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning.
That hit was important but the play of the game was when center fielder Adam Jones tagged up on a warning-track catch of a Manny Machado near-game winner and got in scoring position at second base.
The next batter Mark Trumbo came to the plate and had a great at bat. He waited patiently for a pitch he could hit and his single up the middle was just deep enough to plate Jones with the winning run and a 6-5 victory.
It was his turn to get the pats on the back as his teammates engulfed him as he came around first base while his hit provided a bit of foreshadowing of an even more exciting comeback the next evening.
