Liz gets the win and Sherrill a save as O's beat KC, 7-5
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Ramon Hernandez and Adam Jones had two-run singles in the Orioles four-run third inning and the Birds went on to a 7-5 win over Kansas City Tuesday night. The Orioles even the series at one win each and improve to 23-13 at home.
KC scored two in the 9th and got the possible tie run to the plate, but George Sherrill struck out Alex Gordon with a man on, for the game's final out and his 27th save.
Winning pitcher Radhames Liz, now 3-0, gave up three runs over six innings and Adam Loewen pitched two scoreless innings in his first action with the Orioles since April 24th.
Five different Orioles drove in runs as the Birds snapped Kansas City's six-game road winning streak. The Orioles are 26-8 vs. the Royals since 2004.
Brian Roberts' solo homer in the 7th added to the O's lead and made it 7-3. It's Roberts 6th homer of the year and first since June 15th.
The Orioles scored four times vs. Luke Hochevar in the third to open a 6-1 lead. Royals shortstop Mike Aviles helped the rally by fielding a Kevin Millar grounder and trying to get Nick Markakis out at second, but both runners were safe. He would have easily gotten the out at first if he had thrown in that direction.
With two outs in the inning, Hernandez and Jones hit back-to-back two-run singles. Both players now have 31 RBI.
The Royals cut the lead to 6-2 on Mark Teahen's leadoff homer in the fifth. They went on to load the bases with one out, but Radhames Liz got the next two outs to strand three runners and maintain a four-run lead. Teahen's sac fly in the sixth made it a 6-3 game.
The O's took a 2-1 lead in the second. Jones was hit by a pitch with two outs and Brandon Fahey hit an RBI double to left for the lead.
The Orioles tied the Royals, 1-1, in the bottom of the first. Brian Roberts drew a leadoff walk, stole second and went to third on a groundout. He scored on Aubrey Huff's single to center, which was his 47th RBI.
Alex Gordon's long solo homer in the top of the first gave KC a 1-0 lead. His 11th homer of the year appeared to hit the Warehouse on one bounce. It came on a 1-0 pitch from Radhames Liz and traveled 425 feet onto Eutaw Street.
KC 5-10-0
Balt 7-8-0
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Postgame Notes
Sherrill Gets Save #27
After George Sherrill came on in the ninth, he did allow two inherited runners to score and the Royals closed the gap to 7-5. But this time, even after he got ahead 0-2, Alex Gordon, who had hit a monster homer earlier in the night, struck out. Save number 27 was in the books and, on George Sherrill T-shirt night, the orange-clad crowd went home happy. Even Dave Trembley was wearing a Sherrill shirt under his O's jersey tonight.
After the game, Sherrill talked about his outing and the support he got from the fans when he came to the mound.
Liz Goes to 3-0
Radhames Liz smiled when reminded he is now 3-0 in the big leagues. This was his first quality start in his sixth try. Early offense helped and he pitched out of a big jam in the 5th. He is now 3-0 with an ERA of 5.46.
Final Notes
Aubrey Huff went 2-4 tonight and is batting .397 with 16 RBI over his last 18 games.....Ramon Hernandez was 2-4 with a 2-RBI single and is batting .333 over his last 15 games......He now needs 18 hits for 1,000 in his career.......Nick Markakis went 1-4 and is batting .333 during his current nine-game batting streak.....Adam Jones was 1-3 and is 10-21 (.476) over his last five contests.
The Orioles snapped the Royals' six-game road winning streak and improved to 23-13 at home by winning at Camden Yards for the 7th time in 9 games.......The O's are 11-2 vs. KC since the start of the 2007 season......the Orioles improve to 6-10 in two-run games.
Key Quotes
Dave Trembley on the win
"Liz had the best command since he's been with us.......Loewen did a tremendous job; his mechanics were really improved and that's a real boost for him and our team......Sherrill used his fastball more......It was not a tough decision at all to go to him tonight."
Dave Trembley on his talk with Sherrill earlier today
"I wanted to talk to him about situations that occurred last night, not his pitching......If you notice I wore Sherrill's shirt under my jersey tonight......The message to George today was when you come in the game, don't try to trick anybody.....It's you and him, throw your fastball, don't get beat on your second and third pitch. I'm sure if he had last night over, not the pitch, but the way he acted, he would take it back."
Sherrill on his 27th save
"It meant a lot to see the fans react the way they did......It's time to move on from the last two outings.......The last pitch was a slider, a good one.......It meant a lot (the fans cheering when they announced his name)."
Reimold's Big Night
Nolan Reimold has two homers and three RBI tonight and is 4-4 as Double-A Bowie leads Harrisburg 8-4 in the late innings. Reimold also homered last night. Matt Wieters is 1-3 with a double tonight.
Loewen's Two Innings
In his first action in a big league game since April 24th, Adam Loewen pitched a scoreless seventh and eight innings.. He allowed two hits and a walk in the 7th but got a key double play grounder as well. He had a 1-2-3, 8th frame. It had to feel good for him to be back and put up two zeros.
Liz Was Solid
Liz with a solid outing tonight, especially piching out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fifth. It's the second time in six starts he has gone six innings. He could be 3-0 by the end of the night. It's his first quality start of the year.
Liz tonight: 6IP, 7H, 3R-ER, 1B, 4K, 2 HR.........80 pitches, 55 strikes.
Will Liz Go Long?
One of the next steps for Radhames Liz in his developement is to get deeper into games. In his five starts this year he has pitched 5 1/3, 5, 6 1/3, 2 and 5 innings. Only once has he pitched as many as six innings.
Tonight he threw just 42 pitches through the first four innings and, working with a 6-1 lead, this should be a night where he goes deep into this game.
Royal Mess (up)
Royals SS Mike Aviles made a mistake in the last of the second, helping the O's to a run and a 2-1 lead. With Adam Jones on first and two outs, Brandon Fahey hit a liner near the left-field line. Aviles took the relay throw and first looked at Fahey who was running safely to second. By the time he looked and threw home his toss was too late to get Jones. Had he looked home first, Jones probably would have been out by a big margin.
Luke and the Longball
Major League Home Run Leaders Since May 13
Adam Dunn, Cincinnati 14
Luke Scott, Baltimore 13
Major League Leaders, Slugging Percentage Since May 13
JD Drew, Boston .703
Alex Rodriguez, NYY .669
Luke Scott, Baltimore .664
Over his last 18 games, Scott is batting .328 (19-58) with seven homers, 12 runs and 11 RBI.
More On Gordon
He hit a belt high fastball from Liz 425 feet onto Eutaw Street. It's the 5th Eutaw Street homer of the year and 4th by an oppoent. Jason Giambi has two, Lance Berkman and now Gordon. Nick Markakis is the only Oriole to do it this year. It's the 45th Eutaw Street blast in OPACY's history. It's also Gordon's 6th homer in his last 20 games.
O's and Royals Underway
Game two of this series is underway. First pitch was at 7:08 p.m. and it's 80 degrees. The O's need a win to stay above and not fall back to .500. They haven't been at an even .500 mark since they were 34-34 on June 15th. Monday's loss was the O's first when leading after 8 innings, now 33-1.
Check back here during tonight's game for updates and news from the Yard.
Starting Lineups
Royals
SS Mike Aviles
2B Mark Grudzielanek
3B Alex Gordon
LF Jose Guillen
RF Mark Teahen
DH Billy Butler
1B Ross Gload
C Miguel Olivo
CF Joey Gathright
P Luke Hochevar
Orioles
2B Brian Roberts
RF Nick Markakis
1B Aubrey Huff
DH Kevin Millar
LF Luke Scott
3B Melvin Mora
C Ramon Hernandez
CF Adam Jones
SS Brandon Fahey
P Radhames Liz
Trembley's Pregame Press Conference
When he met reporters before today's game, Dave Trembley basically admitted the O's right now are a team without a regular shortstop. He has not committed to either Freddie Bynum or Brandon Fahey as his regular, now that Alex Cintron is on the DL.
"I'm going to play it game-by-game. I wrote the lineup today with Fahey in, if he does well, I'll play him--it's that simple. To be honest with you, we didn't get a whole lot of offense out of Freddie. Cintron was giving us some offense. Both guys here now (Fahey and Bynum) are similar."
Trembley said the Orioles are still looking for a shortstop outside of the organization.
"Yes we are (continuing to look around). It's been a difficult project. A lot of our pro scouts are continuing to look, it's a priority, maybe even more now because of what happened to Cintron."
Trembley said he could use George Sherrill tonight, even though he has pitched two straight days. Sherrill had not pitched in five days before his outing on Sunday.
Trembley is now dealing with some bullpen shuffling with Matt Albers out and Jamie Walker now on the DL.
"I'm concerned about filling Matt Albers' role. The brief time he has been out we've seen how valuable he was. He probably would have come in last night. Now we have to bump guys up in roles and use them earlier in the game. Guys like Bukvich, Loewen, Sarfate, those guys have to step it up now and do what Albers did for us."
Pitcher Matt Albers will meet with Dr. Andrews tomorrow in Birmingham, Alabama to get a second opinion on his injured shoulder.
Trembley was asked his take on his team's 41-40 record at the season's midpoint.
"I dare say most would have taken this back on February 15th. I'm never satisfied, nor is the team. We won some games we shouldn't have and lost some we should have won, but I think we have made significant improvement in our approach and energy exhibited on a regular basis. But to stay competitive in the second-half, our starting pitching has to get better. It all comes down to pitching as the season goes on."
Bynum Is Back
Nine days after he was designated for assignment, Freddie Bynum is back with the Orioles. He cleared waivers and played five games at Triple-A since he was designated on June 22 and went 6-15 for the Tides.
Bynum has started more games at short, 29, than any other Oriole this year, but he has hit just .192-0-5 and batted just .136 in June.
Cintron Confident For Quick Recovery
Alex Cintron went on the 15-day DL today with a strained left hamstring and feels confident he will be ready to play when his DL time is up.
"It's not that bad. I don't think it will be a long time, maybe ten days I should be ready."
Cintron was 2-3 Monday, but got injured running out an infield hit in the seventh inning.
"I was starting to feel more comfortable playing every day after four years of not playing everyday. Then this happens. It's kind of frustrating. But there are a lot of games left and I look forward to getting healthy and helping this team."
Cintron made 17 starts at short and was hitting .275-1-7.
Game Preview
Kansas City (38-45) at Orioles (41-40)
If there was one aspect of the game that the Orioles had little to worry about for most of this season, it was their closer.
The O's George Sherrill was 26-29 in saves through Saturday night. But he has suffered back-to-back blown saves and the Orioles have lost two straight in extra innings.
The last two games, the Orioles have been within a strike of victory. But Ronnie Belliard's two-run homer in the last of the 12th Sunday gave Washington a 3-2 win. Pinch hitter Miguel Olivo hit a homer Monday night with two outs in the 9th to tie the game 5-5, and KC won in 11 innings.
With last night's game, the Orioles reached the 81-game middle point of the season. It was mostly a success, but as they begin to play the next 81 they must try to regroup, starting tonight.
The Birds led Monday's game 5-1 after five innings, but the O's typically reliable bullpen allowed 5 runs in the last 6 innings. Meanwhile, the O's got five runs off KC starter Zack Greinke, but nothing off the Royals pen.
The Orioles ended June at 15-12, falling one win short of posting their most wins in the month since 1994.
The O's have lost three of their last four by a combined four runs. They are 22-13 at home and have won 6 of their last 8 at Camden Yards.
Kansas City now has a six-game road win streak and has won 12 of its last 15 games.
Pitching Match-Up
RHP Radhames Liz (2-0, 5.70) tonight makes his 6th start of the season, his 2nd at home, his 10th career start and his first vs. the KC Royals.
Last Thursday, Liz was the winning pitcher in Chicago vs. the Cubs. He pitched five innings and gave up four runs, two hits, four walks and two strikeouts while throwing 98 pitches.
Liz has pitched six innings or more just once and does not yet have a quality start.
On the season, in 23 2/3, he has allowed 20 hits with 13 walks and 18 strikeouts. In 14 career games, 9 starts, he is 2-2, 6.33.
Right-handed batters hit .255 vs. Liz while lefties hit .194 off the righty. When he pitches with runners in scoring position he has allowed five hits in 12 at bats, an average of .412. In one home start, he is 0-0, 5.68.
Liz has never pitched vs. Kansas City.
RHP Luke Hochevar (5-5, 4.60) tonight is set to make his 14th start of the season, his 8th on the road and his second of the year vs. the Orioles.
Hochevar has won two of his last three starts and is 2-0, 3.60 in that time. He has not been the losing pitcher in any of his last five starts. He picked up his 5th win last Wednesday night, beating Colorado, 4-2. He pitched a career-high eight innings allowing two runs on seven hits.
Hochevar was the first player selected in the 2006 draft out of the University of Tennessee. He began this season in Triple-A and pitched to an ERA of 2.60 in 17 1/3 innings before he was called up.
Right-handed batters hit just .223 vs. Hochevar, while lefties bat .322 against him.
He was the losing pitcher May 8 in KC against the Orioles. He gave up four runs and five hits in seven innings. He allowed a three-run homer to Nick Markakis that day. That's his only career appearance vs. Baltimore.
In 14 career starts, he is 5-6, 4.25. This season in seven road starts, he is 2-3, 5.23. His home ERA is 3.89.
June was a good month
The Orioles went 15-12 in June, posting their most wins in that month since they were 15-12 in 1997. One more win would have given the O's 16 wins in June for the first time since 1994.
The team batted .281 in June, scoring 5.4 runs a game with 34 homers. The team ERA was 4.80 in June.
Orioles Hitters, June 2008
Cintron: .245-1-6
Fahey: .250-0-1
Hernandez: .273-3-9
Huff: .337-5-16
Jones: .323-2-12
Markakis: .339-3-16
Millar: .250-3-19
Mora: .190-3-10
Payton: .294-2-15
Quiroz: .167-1-4
Roberts: .342-1-12
Scott: .333-8-13
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