|
 Center fielder Adam Jones belted a tiebreaking home run in the
eighth inning and the Orioles averted a four-game series sweep with
a 3-2 victory over the Houston Astros on Thursday at Minute Maid
Park.
Jones, who had two of the Orioles' four hits in their 3-1 loss on
Wednesday night, smashed a 401-foot shot to left field off Astros
right-hander Chad Qualls (1-3) to snap a 2-2 deadlock. Jones
finished 3-for-4 and scored two runs to help Baltimore (24-29) halt
a five-game skid.
"Efficient, we were efficient," Jones said. "Our pitching staff was
efficient. There was multiple opportunities that they had with men
on third base with less than two outs and I think we recorded five
or six strikeouts with men on third base today.
"So it's a team effort. And if you're efficient and you do what you
have to do and just handle your own and control what you can
control, good things happen."
Orioles first baseman Steve Pearce added an RBI single in the sixth
that scored Jones and erased the Astros' one-run lead. The only time
Jones failed to reach base came in his first at-bat in the first
inning when he struck out just before designated hitter Chris Davis
delivered a run-scoring hit that plated Manny Machado and gave
Baltimore a 1-0 lead.
The Astros (34-21) offered an uneven performance, from ace
left-hander Dallas Keuchel to their defense and their late-inning
offense.
Keuchel, coming off back-to-back complete games and consecutive
American League Pitcher of the Month honors, struggled with
consistency. He needed 108 pitches to complete six laborious
innings, allowing two runs, six hits and one walk while striking out
seven.
"I felt pretty lazy today," Keuchel said. "I was lucky enough to get
through six. I know it could've been a lot worse than that, but I'm
going to battle until I can't pitch anymore."
The second run against Keuchel resulted from a mental miscue by
Astros shortstop Marwin Gonzalez and Jones' quick thinking.
Shifted to the right side of second base, Gonzalez fielded a ground
ball off Davis' bat in the sixth while simultaneously approaching
Jones as he dashed from first to second. Instead of applying the tag
to Jones, who was trapped on the play, Gonzalez allowed Jones to
stop and strangely opted to retire Davis at first. Jones advanced to
second on the throw and scored when Pearce singled to left.
"We talk about it in the spring a lot, but some guys don't execute
it," said Showalter, who was ejected in the second inning by plate
umpire Brian Gorman for arguing balls and strikes. "If he (Jones)
doesn't stop at second base, we don't score that other run. Those
are the little things that baseball players do, and Adam is an
extremely talented guy, but he's also a baseball player. He's a
rock."
[to top of second column] |
In the sixth and seventh innings, the Astros placed the potential
go-ahead runner at third base with no outs yet failed to score.
Orioles left-hander Wei-Yin Chen, who had a season-high nine
strikeouts, escaped the first jam with strikeouts of Chris Carter
and Luis Valbuena.
Right-handed reliever Darren O'Day (2-0) stranded two Astros in
scoring position by fanning right fielder George Springer before
second baseman Jose Altuve hit a harmless fly ball to Jones to close
the seventh.
"We need to find a way to scratch a run across and get some momentum
on our side," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. "Some missed
opportunities there and it's unfortunate because the game was there
to win."
NOTES: Orioles RHP Bud Norris and C Matt Wieters completed rehab
assignments on Wednesday with Triple-A Norfolk and will rejoin the
club in Cleveland on Friday. Norris, placed on the 15-day disabled
list with bronchitis on May 11, struck out two in four hitless
innings against the Gwinnett Braves. Wieters, on the 60-day DL after
Tommy John surgery last season, served as the catcher in the opener
and the designated hitter in the second game of the doubleheader. He
had three hits, a walk and two runs. ... Royals manager Ned Yost
named Astros first-year manager A.J. Hinch to the American League
coaching staff for the All-Star Game, set for July 14 at Great
American Ball Park in Cincinnati. ... Orioles SS J.J. Hardy was held
out of the starting lineup for a fourth consecutive game (sore left
side) but entered as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning.
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
