Orioles still stalling with RISP (Young's hustle delivers tying run, Davis homers)

The Orioles went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position last night. They were 10-for-48 (.208) in the first eight games of the homestand. One inning into today's game and they were already 0-for-3. Nick Markakis singled and Manny Machado doubled off Blue Jays knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. Second and third, no outs and the heart of the order coming up. The Orioles didn't show a pulse with RISP. Adam Jones flied to shallow center, Chris Davis lined to short and Nelson Cruz popped up. The Orioles went 16-for-38 (.421) with RISP during the last four games of their road trip, but the momentum didn't carry over to Baltimore. Markakis' hit was the 1,454th of his career, one behind Ken Singleton for sixth on the club's all-time list. He's batting .415 in the first inning this season. Machado has five hits in his last three games. He's 4-for-11 lifetime versus Dickey. Five of the first eight Blue Jays reached against Orioles starter Bud Norris, and they took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Josh Thole's bases-loaded walk. Norris gave up back-to-back singles to Edwin Encarnacion and Juan Francisco with one out, and he hit Brett Lawrie. Norris has hit nine batters this season, second in the American League behind ex-Oriole Scott Feldman (10). Thole walked on five pitches. Norris struck out Anthony Gose and retired Jose Reyes on a bouncer to the mound. He threw eight pitches in the first inning and 26 in the second. In his last start, Norris shut out the Red Sox over eight innings to tie his career-high. When he's on, as Showalter explained, he taps into a third pitch. "It all works off the command of the fastball, to start with, and he's got some late action," Showalter said. "He's got two of them. But when he gets the third pitch, the changeup going, then he's got a lot of thoughts going through guys' heads. "I could tell that guys around the league are talking about it because it's not a pitch he's thrown a lot in the past. It's something that Dave (Wallace) and he really challenged each other to try to make more useful. Now, he hasn't had it every time out. Last time he did. And we all know what a good slider he's got. And it really helps him defend himself against left-handed hitters. And he doesn't always have to. Just the thought that it's there and he will use it." Update: The Orioles tied the game in the fourth on singles by Delmon Young and Ryan Flaherty and Nick Hundley's sacrifice fly. That's the bottom third of the order. Young went from first to third on Flaherty' bloop single into right-center field, hesitating for a moment and outrunning the throw. He tagged and scored on Hundley's fly ball to center. Showalter noted Young's improved conditioning at the January mini-camp, and it really showed today. Update II: Chris Davis broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning with his 11th home run of the season after Adam Jones reached on an error. Jones collided with first base umpire Hunter Wendelstedt and gave him just enough of a shove to knock him down. Comical, to say the least. And Davis followed by launching a 79 mph knuckleball into the home bullpen. Tommy Hunter made a nice catch. A web gem, for sure. Norris has thrown only eight pitches in the first and fifth innings.