Zach Britton on O's Game 2 loss to Kansas City, plus other clubhouse quotes

It was another Orioles loss in this American League Championship Series followed by O's relievers talking about giving up late runs.

Zach Britton gave up a groundball RBI double to Alcides Escobar in the ninth tonight that put Kansas City ahead 5-4. Lorenzo Cain added an RBI single for a 6-4 lead and win for the Royals as they take a 2-0 lead in the ALCS.

"They put the ball in play and make you work from a defensive standpoint," Britton said. "They make contact and they can find holes. The infield single to lead off the ninth, that's a great pitch - you can't do anything about it. You make good pitches and you can't control whether they find a hole.

"The hot team makes things go their way. They are hot, they beat Anaheim, a good team, and they are continuing that right now. We scored some runs and we're not able to shut them down. The big key, if we want to win this series, is when we get that momentum, keeping it on our side."

After the Royals got three runs in 5 2/3 innings off the Orioles bullpen in Game 1, they scored two in 4 2/3 innings off Baltimore relievers tonight.

"We've played some good baseball and they have, too," Britton said. "Just one team is capitalizing off mistakes. Seems like we are unable to keep the momentum on our side when we get it, they get it right back which is what a team on a hot streak does.

"We've played them tough. They've just kind of gotten some breaks here and there. The majority of it is just us making mistakes from a pitching standpoint. Throwing some pitches to hitters that maybe we shouldn't have. They are one young team playing well right now and they have all the confidence in the world."

Catcher Caleb Joseph said Britton had a good sinker for most of the ninth tonight, but that pitch Escobar hit was not one of them.

"It was a sinker outside and kind of elevated a little bit which allowed him to get the barrel on it," Joseph said. "Which was unfortunate because 10 pitches later, he threw incredible sinkers. The one that got left up, got punched into right field.

"Zach kind of executes what he needed to and it's a ball shot down the right field line. You are seeing some odd things so far, things you don't normally see during the season. Like a right-hander taking Zach's sinker down the first base line. They are finding holes and, at some point, we have to try and road block that and counter it.

"Zach got two ground balls. There is no doubt he is one of the guys we want at the end of the game. He's been rock solid for us all year and we believe in him. No need to hit the panic button right now, he's good."

In the last of the seventh, in a 4-4 tie, the Orioles had one out and bases loaded and did not score. A big chance was missed.

Steve Pearce hit a fly ball with one out, but it was much too shallow to plate a run.

"Yeah, we've been coming through all year in those kind of situations. That was a great opportunity for us and we didn't take advantage of it," Pearce said.

"(Kelvin Herrera) throws 100 miles an hour. He starts it down the middle and that thing runs. Would have been nice to get the sac fly there. We are battling up there but things are not going our way. But they still have to win four, so it's not over yet."

Bud Norris got the start tonight and allowed four runs over 4 1/3 innings. In the top of the first, he gave up a broken-bat bloop two-run single to Eric Hosmer as K.C. took the lead.

"My hope was J.J. (Hardy) could catch that, but it was out of his reach," Norris said. "That was the pitch I wanted to make and it broke his bat. They won Game 1 on a broken bat that was a game changer. Have to let it go.

"They can hit and play small ball. A lot of balls fell in today and and I made a couple of mistakes I wish I could have back. Hope I get another opportunity to help this team out," he added.

Nelson Cruz gave the Royals credit for taking a 2-0 lead.

"The way they have been playing defense, they've cut off some of our momentum, especially in the oufield," Cruz said. "They have an electric bullpen and we couldn't score late.

"But this isn't over. I trust my teammates and I believe in what we have here. We can get it done."