Matthew Taylor: O's will need unlikely contributions if they're going to win big

Here's to the unlikely. The Orioles have cornered the market on defying expectations in recent years, outlasting meager predictions on their way to two playoff appearances and a division title. If the O's are going to contend for the AL East in 2016, they'll need plenty of unanticipated happenings again this season. In other words, they'll need more nights like Thursday night.

The O's won their first matchup of the season with the New York Yankees in dramatic fashion, using eight shutout innings from Kevin Gausman and some surprising offensive efforts in extras to walk off with the series-clinching 1-0 victory. It was the first time since the Orioles arrived in 1954 that they shutout the Yankees in an extra-innings game.

This was not the type of game you would have expected from the Orioles at the outset of the season, nor even just a couple of weeks ago.

Consider this:

- The Orioles beat the Yankees without hitting a home run. That ends a five-game losing streak for the O's when they don't homer. The team is now 4-5 in games this season when they have failed to go deep.

- The O's won with a starter going eight shutout innings for the first time in 2016. Only two starters, Chris Tillman and Ubaldo Jimenez, have completed seven innings so far, and neither one of those was a scoreless outing. Overall, it was the first time the Orioles shutout any opponent this season.

- The Orioles won for the first time when they scored less than three runs. Coming into the game, the O's were 0-7 in games when they scored fewer than three runs.

- Finally, the O's won with unlikely contributors in the 10th inning.

Hyun Soo Kim, he of the rejected minor league assignment and the boos from the home crowd on opening day, singled to start the home half of the 10th inning. Kim is now batting .556 in limited action this season. Meanwhile, spring training and early-season hero Joey Rickard has seen his star fall a bit. His getting doubled off as a late-innings pinch runner served as the latest growing pain we've witnessed.

Jonathan Schoop followed Kim's single with one of his own to set the stage for the game winner in the 10th inning. Schoop, who carried high expectations into 2016, has struggled mightily at the plate thus far, batting .237. He joined Matt Wieters, who's batting .234, as the only O's with multiple hits on Thursday.

Pedro Alvarez continued to push his disappointing early returns into the rearview mirror with the game-winning sac fly. Alvarez is batting .196 on the season; however, he has been on a tear the past week with a .368 average and uncharacteristic .381 on-base percentage. He is known to run hot and cold at the plate. The heat appears to be coming on.

All of the aforementioned efforts were delivered on a night when Manny Machado, second in the AL for batting average, and Mark Trumbo, fourth in the AL for home runs, went a combined 0-for-7 with one walk.

One of the only things that went according to script on Thursday was that Orioles beat the Yankees. Once considered a highly unlikely outcome, the O's have now won seven of their last eight games versus New York and are 9-5 versus the AL East in the early going. Can they keep it up? If it seems unlikely, that's the Orioles' specialty.

Matthew Taylor blogs about the Orioles at Roar from 34. Follow him on Twitter: @RoarFrom34. His ruminations about the Birds appear as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our site. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.