Showalter on Machado: "You never take it for granted"

Manny Machado stood at home plate tonight and raised his bat, knowing his fly ball to center field with the bases loaded in the ninth inning would drop on the other side of the fence. The third time was the real charm.

Machado's walk-off grand slam against Angels reliever Keynan Middleton gave the Orioles a dramatic 9-7 win over the Angels before an announced crowd of 26,185 at Camden Yards, setting off more fireworks before the scheduled show.

The Orioles were two outs away from another loss with seven teams ahead of them in the chase for the second wild card, but Machado's third home run of the night allowed them to improve their record to 60-62 overall and 36-23 at home.

Each team hit five home runs, with Mark Trumbo and Caleb Joseph contributing solo shots for the Orioles. Jeremy Hellickson served up a career high five in only 4 2/3 innings, but he was spared the loss.

Rule 5 pick Anthony Santander opened the ninth with his first major league hit in his first game, a single to right field off Yusmeiro Petit. Pinch-hitter Seth Smith walked with one out (Ryan Flaherty ran for him) and Tim Beckham singled off Middleton - his second hit of the night to continue his tear with the Orioles.

Next came Machado, who had a two-run shot off Andrew Heaney in the third inning and a solo shot in the fifth. He took a slider for a strike and crushed a 98 mph fastball, leading to a mob scene at home plate and a pie in the face from Adam Jones.

This is Machado's second career three-homer game. It's also his third career walk-off home run, his fourth walk-off hit, his 12th career multi-homer game and seventh grand slam - including three in the span of 11 games.

Machado batted .230/.296/.445 in the first half. He raised his average tonight to .264 with 26 home runs, 81 RBIs and an .813 OPS.

"You never take it for granted," said manager Buck Showalter. "I cannot tell you how hard it is to do, but there's always that potential when you're dealing with guys like Manny. I know sometimes because of how fluid he is, sometimes people don't know how much he cares and how hard he works. For a young player to go through the struggles he did with that kind of talent, to get back is a real testament to him and his makeup.

"It's about giving guys some space to kind of be themselves and also to, some guys are looking at the order and going, 'I hope this game doesn't come to me,' but very seldom at the big league level. It's not just him.

"Big at-bat by Seth Smith. Of course, Anthony got his first hit there and made a great catch in right field. Can imagine the emotions for him tonight."

The emotions overflowed at Camden Yards as Machado's fly ball eluded Angels center fielder Mike Trout.

"I actually thought the first home run Trum hit, when we got a crooked number up there, kind of made us say, 'OK,'" Showalter said.

"When we got it back within striking distance you felt better about it, but we had to put up some zeroes. How many they have tonight? We each had five? I think Zach (Britton) caught that last ball.

"Bobby (Dickerson) was getting on Flaherty for running with his head down. He said, 'Bobby that ball was gone.' That was fun."

The ball was flying out of the ballpark tonight.

Four batters into his latest start with the Orioles, Hellickson had allowed a double and back-to-back home runs to abruptly fall behind.

One time through the Angels order, he had served up four home runs to set a career high. The Angels ran the total to five before he was removed in the fifth inning. Posters weren't the only souvenirs distributed to fans.

The night began with a 42-minute rain delay. Then came the meteor shower.

"It's like a game where everybody's dunking," Showalter said. "No shots tonight."

Hellickson hasn't been able to sustain the form he displayed in his Orioles debut, when he shut out the Royals over seven innings. He turned in a quality start in his next outing in Anaheim with three runs allowed in six innings, but he's surrendered 13 runs and 13 hits in his last two starts over 9 2/3 innings.

He left tonight after 4 2/3 innings with the Orioles behind 7-4.

Miguel Castro followed with 2 1/3 scoreless innings. The bullpen had 4 1/3 total, including Richard Bleier (two-thirds) and Darren O'Day (1 1/3).

Albert Pujols hit a two-run shot off Hellickson in the first and Kole Calhoun homered on the next pitch. Pujols has 609 home runs to tie Sammy Sosa for most by a foreign-born player.

The Orioles had scored first in eight straight games, and in the first inning in the last five.

C.J. Cron and Kaleb Cowart homered within a span of three batters in the second inning to give the Angels a 5-1 lead. Hellickson retired nine in a row - throwing 11 pitches in the third and 10 in the fourth - but Ben Revere doubled with one out in the fifth and Trout homered.

"I liked the fact that he pitched two sharp innings after that, but it got away from him in the fifth," Showalter said. "I know he was hoping to get into the fifth or sixth and keep it there. It's that time of year where I'd love to get guys a little extra day of rest here or there, but it's what we are trying to do here. But at some point pitching four or five innings as a starter makes it really tough to keep a six-man bullpen intact."

Santander made a diving catch in right field on the first ball hit to him to rob Trout and end the second inning. He popped up and struck out twice before singling in the ninth.

There must have been times tonight when he felt like he was back playing in the Carolina League.

First baseman Chris Davis and catcher Welington Castillo were out of the lineup because of an illness that's also spread to other players and coaches. Castillo stayed at the ballpark because he wasn't running a fever and entered the dugout in the sixth inning, but Showalter sent him back inside, saying he looked terrible.

Another defeat wouldn't have made anyone feel better.

Does a win like tonight's feel more important than others that proceeded it?

"You don't think about what it might have been," Showalter said. "You play again tomorrow and you play the next day and there's an opportunity around every corner. It has that potential always, but it depends on how we pitch tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day.

"You can't ask a club to overcome that every night, but our guys have done a good job with it, especially tonight, obviously."

Especially with a hitter as hot as Machado.

"I got it," he said. "I was looking for a pitch and I got it. I made a good swing on it. Off the bat, I knew it was going to go far."

Let's find out if the Orioles can do the same, if a walk-off slam finally ignites them.