The Orioles, coming off an impressive three-game sweep in Texas against the Rangers, got off to a hot start in the first of a four-game set in Kansas City, blasting the Royals 9-2 on Monday night.
However, lost in the blowout was an eerie harbinger of things to come for the O’s offense, which appeared on the surface to be clicking on all cylinders.
In the top of the seventh, with the game already comfortably in hand at 9-2, Nate McLouth tripled to lead off the inning. The tenth run should have been just a formality at this point, right?
Not so fast.
Manny Machado grounded out softly for the first out.
Nick Markakis struck out swinging for the second out.
Adam Jones grounded out to end the inning.
And, the O’s had failed to get a runner home from third base who had reached 90 feet from home with no outs. Still, this is hardly the kind of thing that gets noticed in an easy win.
Unfortunately, the O’s started a nasty little habit here.
Trailing 3-1 on Tuesday night, with their five-game winning streak on the line, the bats started to fight back in the top of the ninth. Markakis singled off tough KC closer Greg Holland. Jones followed with an RBI triple, and the O’s had the tying run at third with, again, nobody out.
Chris Davis struck out swinging for the first out.
J.J. Hardy grounded out for the second out.
Henry Urrutia grounded out for the third out.
This time, stranding that runner on third – who had found his way there with none down – was a bit more costly.
The trend continued last night. Leading off the first inning, McLouth doubled. Machado gave up his AB, bunting Nate over to third base with one out. A Markakis pop out and a Jones fly out later, and Dash was again stuck on third base.
In the second, Davis led off with a walk, and Matt Wieters reached on an error. Hardy grounded into a double play, but Davis reached third, this time with two outs. It would take a hit to get him in, and Urrutia was again not up to the task.
For the third consecutive inning going back to the previous night, the O’s stranded a runner on third base (the first two coming with no outs). McLouth would later be stuck on third AGAIN, when Davis popped out to end the top of the eighth, leaving the bases loaded with what would turn out to be crucial potential insurance runs. In the bottom of the same inning, KC would tie the game, and then, of course, go on to win in the bottom of the ninth.
According to @DJC_Sports on Twitter, the Birds have now stranded 16 runners on third base through six games since the All-Star break, so they’re quite fortunate to be 4-2 in that stretch. Those two losses were extremely frustrating one-run losses, where the stranded runners came back to haunt the team in a big way.
The sooner the O’s stop letting that little white square 90 feet from home plate be their very own Bermuda Triangle (Square?), the sooner this little hiccup on their climb up the ladder in the AL East will continue.
