Trey Mancini had help for his slump buster, plus other notes

It was a slump, but it didn't last long. All hitters go through them and Trey Mancini recently found that he was dealing with one.

Before the series with Oakland that started Monday and ended yesterday, Mancini was 2-for-26 his previous seven games. He went 0-for-11 in the series versus the Angels. His average dropped from .297 to .282.

But manager Buck Showalter has said each time this year when Mancini has been challenged by a cold streak at-bat it didn't last long. He always broke out of it. So on Monday versus Oakland, he went 1-for-2 and reached base also on a walk and hit by pitch. Tuesday he went 2-for-4 and reached on an error. Yesterday he blasted a three-run homer to break a 0-0 tie in the fourth inning as part of a 1-for-4 day where he also reached on a walk.

Mancini went 4-for-10 against Oakland. His three-run shot to center that went 403 feet ended a run of seven straight games where he didn't homer or drive in any runs.

What has allowed Mancini to ride out a slump and then get right back to hitting again?

"A lot of factors," he said in the postgame clubhouse. "You go through this a lot and kind of realize how to get yourself out of it. But it's not easy. Mentally it is tough to go through stretches like that.

"But luckily having people around here to help is big for me. Leaning on older guys like Caleb (Joseph) and Mark (Trumbo). And all the coaches. Cooly (Scott Coolbaugh), Howie (Clark), Brady (Anderson). I could go on and on. There have been so many people that have talked to me over the past week and that truly is what helped me a lot."

On a day the Orioles held leads of 6-1 in the sixth and 7-5 in the ninth, they needed third baseman Manny Machado's walk-off homer in the 12th to give them an 8-7 win yesterday over the A's. It was their first series win since they swept three from Kansas City July 31-Aug. 2.

"Probably not exactly how we drew it up but we kept competing and kept fighting and pulled out a win against a good team over there. Those guys can hit. I'm impressed with their approaches and they've got a young team," Mancini said.

Mancini's first-pitch homer Wednesday was his 22nd of the year. He now ranks tied for third in most homers by an Orioles' rookie.

The top homer seasons by an Orioles' rookie:
28 - Cal Ripken Jr. in 1982
27 - Eddie Murray in 1977
22 - Mancini, Curt Blefary in 1965, Sam Bowens in 1964 and Ron Hansen in 1960.
21 - Jim Gentile in 1960

Of the names on this list, Ripken, Murray, Blefary and Hansen won American League Rookie of the Year awards.

It finally ended: The longest streak of consecutive converted saves in American League history ended at 60 in the top of the ninth Wednesday when the A's scored twice against Zach Britton to tie the game 7-7. During Britton's streak he posted a 1.14 ERA with 95 strikeouts over 95 innings. It was his first blown save since Sept. 20, 2015 against Tampa Bay.

Britton converted his last two saves of the 2015 season, all 47 last year and all 11 in 2017 until the A's got three hits and two runs off him in just 1/3 of an inning. Could he tell at some point that it would not be his day?

"No. You don't really think about that," he said. "I knew that I didn't have good command and I wasn't making quality pitches, so it was going to be a battle. That's a team that they're young and they got some veteran guys too, but it seems like they put together good at-bats all the way through a game. Some credit to them too, but I didn't make quality pitches today and that's the gist of it really. If you get beat with good pitches, I think it's a different feeling. But, you know, today just wasn't sharp at all from the get go."

After ending the game with his 28th home run, Machado talked about Britton's streak ending.

"It was unbelievable, something I'm going to tell my kids I was a part of that, a part of his history," Machado said. "He's done a hell of a job the last two years since he's become the closer. That's why he's one of the best in the game. I'm lucky and blessed I get to watch him and play behind him when he goes out there and gets on that mound."

Later today Britton will have an MRI on his left knee which has been bothersome for him in recent weeks. It could turn out to be nothing but it also could be something that has been impacting his command, even Britton admitted to that possibility last night. So what happens off the field with Britton over the next day or two could prove to be rather significant.

Homer notes and more: Machado's walk-off homer was the fourth of his career and second in six games on the just-completed homestand. He started it with a walk-off grand slam last Friday against the Angels and ended it in the 12th Wednesday versus the Athletics.

Over his past 11 games, Machado has hit seven homers with 18 RBIs. Over his past 17 games he is batting .342 with nine homers and 28 RBIs. In 22 games in August, Machado is batting .340/.340/.722 with five doubles, a triple, 10 homers and 31 RBIs. His 31 RBIs in the month exceed his combined total of 28 for June and July.

The Orioles hit four homers last night and have hit four or more two times in the past three games and four times in the last 10 contests. They hit nine homers in the series versus Oakland, have hit 15 in six games and 40 in the last 19 games.

The Orioles have 48 multi-homer games this year, games where they have hit two or more home runs. They are 36-12 in those games.

The O's offense produced 19 runs in three games against Oakland and the Orioles have scored 66 runs their last 11 games.

The O's are 10-2 in extra innings after this latest win. They have the best extra innings winning percentage (.833) in MLB and rank third in extra innings wins.

Chris Davis hit his 20th homer last night and now has six straight 20-homer seasons. That is tied with Rafael Palmeiro for fourth-most in club history. Cal Ripken Jr. had 10 in a row, Eddie Murray nine and Adam Jones currently has seven in a row.