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Royals rally for 6-5 win in 11 innings against Baltimore
By BOB DUTTONThe Kansas City Star
Olivo cracked a two-out homer in the ninth inning that kept the Royals afloat before José Guillen delivered a game-winning RBI single in the 11th inning. Throw in six innings of scoreless relief, and the result was a rousing 6-5 comeback victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
“That’s a good feeling,” Olivo said, “to hit a home run to tie the game in the ninth inning.”
An unusual one, certainly.
The Royals were 0-40 this season when trailing after eight innings before Monday’s comeback. Zack Greinke got taken off the hook for a loss and marveled at that feeling.
“I’ve heard that said like eight times now,” he smiled. “I’d never heard it before. Now, I know what that is.”
Olivo’s homer stuck closer George Sherrill with a second straight blown save and pulled the Royals even after they once trailed 5-1. Guillen’s RBI single came after reliever Chad Bradford issued an intentional walk to Alex Gordon.
“That’s the perfect situation for (an intentional walk),” Guillen insisted. “You’ve got a ground-ball pitcher on the mound. First base was open. They were hoping I’d hit a ground ball, but it worked out well for us.”
Once they had the lead, of course, the Royals handed the game to Joakim Soria, and the Mexicutioner calmly retired three straight hitters for his 22nd save in 23 opportunities.
“You feel comfortable when you get it to him,” Guillen said.
Ron Mahay, 4-0, got the victory after working two scoreless innings. The Royals also got one scoreless inning from Horacio Ramirez and two from Ramon Ramirez after Greinke bailed on the short end of a 5-1 deficit.
“Our guys dialed it up,” Mahay said. “Our guys came back and chipped away. My job was to hold them there for the ninth and 10th after Miggy had a huge home run.”
Mike Aviles opened the 11th inning with an infield single against Bradford, 3-3, and went to second on Mark Grudzielanek’s sacrifice bunt. Next came the intentional walk to Gordon.
“I probably would have done the same thing,” Royals manager Trey Hillman said, “but it’s dangerous because Hosey (Guillen) makes such good adjustments. That was a great adjustment, pulling his hands in and using the right side of the field.”
Guillen collected his 61st RBI of the season by slicing a single to right. The Royals blew the chance to pad their lead when Esteban German grounded into a double play.
It didn’t matter, though. The Royals had a lead for Soria, who sandwiched two strikeouts around a soft grounder to second.
The Royals were down to their last strike when Olivo rocketed a 0-2 slider from Sherrill over the left-field wall. It was the Royals’ first pinch homer since Grudzielanek hit one here on Sept. 24, 2007, in a 3-2 loss.
Sherrill also blew a save Sunday in a 3-2 loss to Washington in 12 innings.
Olivo’s blast snatched a victory away from Brian Burres, who had limited the Royals to one run and five hits in five-plus innings.
“What Kansas City did tonight after they scored,” Orioles manager Dave Trembley said, “they put zeroes (on the board); they had shutdown innings. After we scored four, we didn’t do that and let them back in the game.”
Greinke allowed five runs and seven hits in just five innings. Three runs scored on successive two-out hits.
“There were a couple of good pitches that were hit,” Greinke said, “and a couple of bad pitches that were hit. It wasn’t like they were softly hit balls. There were a bunch of (extra-base) hits. All back to back.”
Burres departed with that 5-1 lead after Mark Teahen’s leadoff single in the sixth.
The Royals then scored twice against former Royal Ryan Bukvich before the inning ended and pulled to within 5-4 when Dennis Sarfate committed a balk with runners at first and third in the seventh.
Aviles nearly pulled the Royals even with a high drive to deep left with one out in the eighth against Jim Johnson, but the ball hooked foul. Aviles then struck out, and Johnson ended the inning by retiring Grudzielanek on a close play at first.
That replays suggested Grudzielanek was safe only heightened the Royals’ frustration. Sherrill retired the first two hitters in the ninth before Olivo tied the game with his ninth homer.
“He’s got great stuff,” Olivo said. “He’s been pitching great all year. And those first two pitches — nobody can hit a nasty pitch. But then I saw a hanging breaking ball. In that situation, I’m going to swing the bat.”