Showalter on a doubleheader sweep

The Orioles' magic number was Cal Ripken Jr. to start the day and Brooks Robinson to end it. It's been that kind of season. The news of Chris Davis' 25-game suspension didn't slow them down. They completed their doubleheader sweep of the Yankees with a 5-0 victory in Game 2 before 43,707 at Camden Yards. The Orioles are 29 games above .500 and 11 1/2 ahead of the Blue Jays in the American League East. They've won a season-high six games in a row. Alejandro De Aza had two RBI triples in Game 2. He's the 16th Oriole with a two-triple game and the first since Jay Payton in 2007 against the Yankees. Orioles starters didn't allow a run in 14 innings in the doubleheader. The rotation continues to thrill and amaze. Let's hear from manager Buck Showalter: On the satisfaction of sweeping a doubleheader "The game usually gives you back kind of what you put into it. Everybody's putting something into it. We pitched well for 20 innings. Real well. Bud (Norris) was good and bullpen finished it up. A lot of quality pitching really on both sides. There weren't a whole lot of runs scored. Good pitching solves a lot of problems, issues, whatever you might want to call it. That's usually where it starts." norris-pitching-front-gray-sidebar.jpgOn Norris "A piece that was missing was his ability to defend himself against left-handed hitters. That was a lot of left-handed hitters tonight and that was about as good as I've seen him. Changeup, cutter, breaking ball enough, a little late-life fastball. One of our points of emphasis this spring was to defend himself better against them and he's done a good job with it." On winning Game 2 without usual regulars in lineup "Stevie's (Steve Pearce) been playing seems like every day, Jon's (Jonathan Schoop) been up here all the time, David's (David Lough) been with us since Day 1, Nelson (Cruz). I think we played every position player here in both games and that's what I came in here this morning and went to bed last night planning on doing today. I wasn't going to pitch anybody twice in the doubleheader. Fortunately I did that but only because we've got some skilled people that can do a job. Versatility and depth we had down in Norfolk, we brought up some people that can do things. It's kind of been kind of who we are." On De Aza "You never really know. He hasn't been with the White Sox his whole career, but he's had his success in the big leagues there. Anytime you kind of change atmosphere, so to speak, you're never 100 percent sure, but we talked to a lot of people. Jeff Manto, his hitting coach last year. We felt like we had a good chance to get lucky with him and we have so far." On difficulty of the last 24 hours "In the whole scheme of life in the world and the country, it's all relative. I guarantee there's a lot of people having a lot tougher 24 hours than I just had, I can tell you that. It's kind of what you do. I've told you before, many times I come here and think we have a great pitching matchup, everybody's swinging the bat well, and you go home at the end of the night and you go, 'Geez, what happened? That wasn't supposed to happen.' Or you come in here and just the opposite, and you go home and play a good, crisp, solid baseball game and win. That's why we come to the games and see what happens. I've had a headache since 8 o'clock last night, I can tell you that. That's why I'm looking at you real... but probably for a different reason."



Thoughts on Davis' suspension and today's game
O's complete their first doubleheader sweep of Yan...
 

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