Mancini ends homerless stretch and second-round pick makes big debut

The Orioles reminded themselves how it can look when pitching and hitting come together in the same game. They scored six runs before they made a single out last night in beating Texas 12-1 at Camden Yards yesterday.

Chris Davis hit a two-run homer during the Orioles big first inning and added his eighth career grand slam in the fourth as the Orioles built the early 10-1 lead.

The Orioles had 16 hits, including two doubles and four homers and went 5-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

It was nice to get a blowout win.

"It was great," Trey Mancini said. "Kind of an unleashing. I think it was a long time coming. Everyone put up good at-bats, so it felt good to put a lot of runs up on the board and help Dylan (Bundy) do his thing."

Mancini has been maintaining a .300-plus batting average but had no homers and just two RBIs his previous 17 games when he connected for a two-run homer in the first. He hit a 1-0 slider from Tyson Ross 388-feet to left field.

"If you haven't hit one in a while it is kind of in the back of your mind," Mancini admitted. "They usually come when you least expect it. When you are not really trying to hit home runs. I think that goes for everyone in here, you just try to have a good approach and think small. Home runs are often thrown, they are not hit. Pitchers make mistake pitches and you have to put a good swing on it."

The Orioles offense had produced just six runs and two homers the previous three games. They matched those numbers in the first six batters of the last of the first inning.

Davis drove in a career-high six runs. He had been 1-for-14 in the second half until this game and came up with his 19th career multi-homer game.

"I think as a hitter, any time you've been working hard for a feeling or with one thing in mind, you like to see the results, obviously. I've taken a lot of swings in the last couple of days to get my rhythm and timing back. I was really proud how we hit throughout the lineup," he said.

Chris Tillman recorded a quality start Monday night and Bundy did so last night, allowing one run over six innings. This is the first instance of back-to-back quality starts for the Orioles since June 1-2. O's pitchers allowed 27 runs and 41 hits in three games against the Cubs. Now they've given up just nine hits and two runs in two games versus Texas.

The Sisco kid and new kid excel on the farm: In the second round of the draft last month, the Orioles selected prep shortstop Adam Hall out of A.B. Lucas Secondary School in Ontario, Candada. That was with the No. 60 overall selection. Hall made his pro debut Monday with the Gulf Coast League Orioles and is 6-for-9 in his first two games.

On Monday he went 3-for-4 with a triple and an RBI. Yesterday he went 3-for-5 with three runs, a double and an RBI. Pretty nice start.

The Orioles top pick, prep pitcher DL Hall, has still not made his debut. That could come sometime next week in the GCL.

The Orioles third pick in this draft was lefty pitcher Zac Lowther out of Xavier University, taken 74th overall. He got the win last night for short season Single-A Aberdeen, as the IronBirds beat the Lowell Spinners, 9-1. He went five scoreless with five strikeouts. Through four starts, Lowther is 1-0 with an ERA of 0.63. Over 14 1/3 he has allowed nine hits with two walks and 19 strikeouts.

In Game 1 of a doubleheader for Triple-A Norfolk last night in a win over Scranton, catcher Chance Sisco went 3-for-4 with three doubles and four RBIs. Sisco is now batting .287. After he hit .321 in June, Sisco is batting .423 (11-for-26) with eight RBIs in July. Baseball America released its midseason Top 100 prospects list on July 7th and the publication rated Sisco as the No. 29 prospect in all of baseball.