The Baltimore Orioles are feeling the Royals’ heat

The adage that all hits look alike in the box score isn’t flying with the Orioles. It can’t, not if the team wants to remain in a good frame of mind after dropping the first two games to the Royals in the American League Championship Series.

The Royals’ ninth-inning rally in Saturday’s 6-4 victory in Game 2 started with Omar Infante’s infield dribbler. Their first runs came courtesy of Eric Hosmer’s broken-bat bloop single.

“An infield single, a couple of bloop hits, it’s frustrating,” Orioles reliever Zach Britton said. “It’s a hit, and people say, you’ve given up a hit and runs come in, but they’re good pitches. They’re sneaking through a hole.

“When you’re a hot team, those things go your way.”

The team that ran away from the East Division pack never led in the two losses at Camden Yards. Each game, the Royals jumped to early leads, the Orioles battled back forge ties, only to lose it in the end. They dropped Friday’s opener 8-6 in 10 innings.

“Sometimes you spend so much energy and concentration trying to get back to that point, it’s hard to take that next step,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said.

The Orioles’ best chance Saturday came in the seventh inning. The game was 4-4 when Nick Markakis opened with a grounder fielded by Hosmer at first. He pitched it to reliever Kelvin Herrera, but Herrera took a bad route to the base and never touched it.

Herrera walked Alejandro De Aza, and Showalter had a choice here: have Adam Jones, who had homered and singled in his previous two at bats, bunt or swing away. Jones didn’t square around and struck out.

Nelson Cruz appeared to have saved the frame when he rolled a single through the left side. But third base coach Bobby Dickerson held Markakis at third.

Showalter defended the move, knowing three-time Gold Glove winner Alex Gordon was on the fielding end of the play.

“I don’t know if anyone is a more accurate thrower than Gordon,” Showalter said. “Obviously the Gold Glove is warranted, but I think it has a lot to do with what a good thrower he is.”

Steve Pearce popped up to Gordon, too shallow for a sacrifice fly, and J.J. Hardy’s drive to right was tracked down by Lorenzo Cain.

A lead by the home team might have changed the feel of either game.

“It seemed like when we got some momentum, they got it right back,” Britton said.

It’s left the Orioles, who have lost consecutive home games for the first time since late June, in a deep hole, but not an unmanageable situation. The Orioles believed they played well enough in their home park that with a break or two, both games could have fallen their way.

“We’re bummed they took the home series,” Pearce said. “I think we’re back to being the underdogs, and we’ve been good at fighting back all season. They still have to win four.”

Wei-Yin Chen is set to start for the Orioles in Game 3 with Miguel Gonzalez the likely Game 4 starter. Chen is 1-0 with a 2.84 ERA in two career starts at Kauffman Stadium.

The Orioles starters in the first two games, Chris Tillman on Friday and Bud Norris on Saturday, didn’t get out of the fifth inning.

“We’ve got a challenge in our face,” Jones said. “That’s how we’re going to look at it. That’s how you have to look at it. We’ve been a pretty good road team this year. Let’s go to Kansas City and see what happens.”

This story was originally published October 11, 2014 at 10:51 PM with the headline "The Baltimore Orioles are feeling the Royals’ heat."