Machado's postgame props for Coolbaugh and other notes

After Manny Machado had a huge game with two homers and six RBIs in a win over Tampa Bay last night, he took time to throw some props to his hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh.

Machado said this during a live interview on MASN: "Working with Coolbaugh has been the key to the success this year. Going in the cage and doing my routine every day. Coolbaugh gave me the approach that I need. Staying on top of me every day and trying to stay with a routine. With him helping me out every day it's paying off in results on the field."

After hitting his eighth grand slam and producing his fourth career game of six or more RBIs, Machado is now batting .354/.440/.667 with 12 homers and 35 RBIs. He is on a pace for 51 home runs and 149 RBIs.

Machado hit career homers 149 and 150 last night. At age 25 years and 309 days, he became the youngest Oriole ever to get to 150 home runs.

"It is a great accomplishment," Machado said. "Beyond grateful. Words can't even describe how exciting that is in reaching that milestone. Doing it with this organization and the team I've been doing it for. Couldn't be any happier that we came out with a win. At the end of the day milestones will never be forgotten and I'm glad it happened here at home."

By games, the fastest Oriole to get to 150 homers is Chris Davis in 587 games, followed by Rafael Palmeiro (623), Frank Robinson (689) and Machado (802).

After Friday's game, Machado is one homer short of leading all three Triple Crown categories in the American League. He ranks first in batting at .354 and with 35 RBIs. He is tied for second with the 12 homers, one behind league leader Mookie Betts of Boston.

Trumbo's take: Mark Trumbo hit his first homer last night and his bat has been a welcome addition since he came off the DL on May 1. He has hit safely in eight of 10 games since his season began, batting .325. He has five multi-hit games and said he is focusing mostly on making solid contact.

"Yeah, that was my goal this winter. I wanted to put more pitches in play. Foul off a few less. So far, the pitches I've gotten to hit, most of them I've put into play. The results have been a little bit better," Trumbo said.

The Sisco kid: O's catcher Chance Sisco is trying to get his bat going and he homered off a lefty last night to complete the scoring in the eighth versus the Rays. He is 3-for-7 with a double, homer and three RBIs the past two nights. His double on Thursday night gave the Orioles a 7-6 lead in the fourth inning.

Sisco knew there would be plenty of ups and downs facing big league pitching.

"It's tough. You just have to stick with your approach and hope good things will happen sooner than later," he said.

The Orioles offense produced four homers last night. The batters have produced seven games this year of three or more homers with three coming in the last four games.

In the four games on this homestand the Orioles are batting .331 with seven doubles, 11 homers and 32 runs. They are batting .429 (12-for-28) with runners in scoring position.

An MLB debut: Right-hander David Hess will make his MLB debut in Game 1 of today's doubleheader versus Tampa Bay. A fifth-round draft pick out of Tennessee Tech in 2014, Hess had a big finish to his season last year at Double-A Bowie and followed that with a strong start this year. He's earned this chance.

He went 11-9 with a 3.85 ERA at Bowie in 2017. But his ERA was 2.25 over his last six starts. In six starts this year for Triple-A Norfolk he is 2-0 with a 2.12 ERA. He's allowed one run or less in five of those six starts. Lefty batters have hit just .131 of him. He has allowed just two hits in 20 at-bats (.100) when pitching with runners in scoring position.

Hess features a fastball that usually ranges from 91 to 95 mph, sitting mostly in the 92, 93 range. He rates his slider as his best secondary pitch and also throws a curveball and changeup. When he is commanding his stuff, it's an intriguing four-pitch mix. Before the 2018 season he was ranked as the Orioles No. 14 prospect by ESPN, No. 15 by Baseball America and No. 18 by MLBPipeline.com.

When he was added to the Orioles 40-man roster last November, I wrote this profile of Hess.

On the farm: Double-A Bowie lefty Keegan Akin had another strong start Friday night as the Baysox routed Hartford 13-0. Akin pitched 6 2/3 scoreless on four hits with a walk and six strikeouts. The lefty is 4-3 with an ERA of 2.75 in seven starts. Over his past five starts he is 4-1 with a 1.48 ERA.

Manny Machado's 150th career home run was GRAND! #Birdland pic.twitter.com/NGjVS4HgyG

-- Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) May 12, 2018

A 2-R homer. A grand slam. An amazing double play to end the game.

Machado had an unreal night, now hear from the man himself. pic.twitter.com/LQQRe9AYSb

-- Orioles on MASN (@masnOrioles) May 12, 2018