HOUSTON (AP) -- Manny Machado is trying not to make too much of his big game on Sunday that led the Baltimore Orioles over Houston

Still, the slumping All-Star can't help but think it could be a turning point in a season that's off to a tough start.

''I hope so. I really hope so,'' he said. ''(Sunday) was a good day at the plate. Felt good, and my legs are finally getting under me. Feel like I can continue that.''

Machado hit his first career grand slam, David Lough homered and drove in three runs, and the Orioles beat the Astros 9-4.

Orioles slugger Nelson Cruz, leading the majors with 20 home runs and 52 RBIs, left in the third inning with a bruised left hand after being hit by a pitch from Scott Feldman. X-rays were negative and Cruz was listed as day to day.

''Anytime you get hit in the hand you get concerned,'' Cruz said. ''I tried to stay but I wasn't able to grab the bat. So hopefully (Monday) I'll be good.''

Machado's towering shot capped a six-run sixth inning.

The 21-year-old Machado missed the first month after offseason knee surgery and has struggled since his return, prompting manager Buck Showalter to move him from the second spot to seventh in the batting order.

He was back to batting second on Sunday and also doubled, giving him two hits for the second straight game and raising his average to .230. Machado doesn't feel like he's back to last year's form, but he's making progress.

''I feel much (more) comfortable in there,'' he said. ''It was overall a good day. The pitching staff threw well. We're finally getting some hits when we need to. Things are coming into place.''

Wei-Yin Chen (6-2) scattered four hits with one run over 5 1-3 innings. Feldman (3-3) allowed nine runs and 11 hits in 5 1-3 innings.


Machado doubled before Feldman plunked Cruz. Machado and Cruz pulled off a double steal before a sacrifice fly by Adam Jones made it 3-0.

Cruz was replaced in right field for the bottom of the third inning.

He didn't think that Feldman, who was a teammate of his in Texas, tried to hit him and Feldman said it was in no way in intentional.

''I didn't want to hit him,'' Feldman said. ''I checked after the game to make sure he was all right and they said it was just a bruise so that was a little relieving. It happens, it's part of the game trying to pitch inside.''

The Orioles open a series at Texas, where Cruz spent the last eight seasons, on Tuesday. Showalter expects Cruz to try to play when the series begins.

''He's going to be sore,'' Showalter said. ''If I know Nelson, he's going to want to play on Tuesday. It's got nothing to do with who we're playing. He just likes to be there.''

Astros rookie George Springer snapped an 0-for-9 slump with a double that sailed over the head of Lough in right field to start the fourth inning. Chris Carter's two-out single cut Baltimore's lead to 3-1.

Chris Davis, J.J. Hardy and Jonathan Schoop hit consecutive singles to load the bases with no outs in the sixth. Lough hit an RBI single, and an intentional walk to Nick Markakis set up Machado's third homer.

''I got into a situation there in the sixth that really just got out of hand,'' Feldman said. ''Bases loaded and I just couldn't make a good pitch to Machado and left one right over the middle.''

Both teams had nifty plays by an outfielder.

Left fielder Delmon Young robbed Jonathan Villar of a hit when he made a sliding catch shortly after entering the game in the third.

Houston's defensive highlight came when right fielder Springer sprinted to make the catch on a sacrifice fly by Nick Hundley in the sixth. Springer slipped and fell on his backside after making the catch and made the throw in while still on the ground.

NOTES: Showalter said Baltimore RHP Tommy Hunter, on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to May 21 with a left groin strain, felt good after throwing a bullpen session. He will travel to meet the team during its series at Texas and throw another bullpen session there on Tuesday before a decision is made on when he'll begin a rehabilitation assignment. ... Houston recalled RHP Paul Clemens from Triple-A Oklahoma City and optioned LHP Brett Oberholtzer to the minor league team.
sports.yahoo.com/news/machado-hits-1st-career-slam-214454449--mlb.html

Britton Builds Job Security In Baltimore




Tommy Hunter (groin) made it through fielding drills on Wednesday and is scheduled to throw a simulated inning on Thursday -- good indications that he’s less than a week away from returning to the Orioles’ active roster. But the ninth-inning job will not be there for him when he gets back.




Zach Britton tossed a scoreless ninth Wednesday evening in the Orioles’ 6-5 defeat of the Rangers, earning his fifth save since May 15 while also lowering his season ERA to 0.88. The left-hander has just 20 strikeouts in 30 2/3 innings and doesn’t possess the typical arsenal of a dominating closer, but it’s hard to envision O’s manager Buck Showalter abandoning what’s currently working for his second-place club.




Hunter had a 6.06 ERA in 19 appearances before straining his groin, so it’s not like this is robbery.

Wieters To Undergo Tommy John Surgery


The fear regarding Matt Wieters' right elbow became a reality Monday.


After a few weeks of rest in hopes the elbow would show improvement, an MRI taken by Dr. James Andrews on Monday still showed damage to the ulnar collateral ligament in the catcher's right elbow. Given that information, the catcher will undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery on Tuesday.


"You always try to go down the other avenue as much as you can, but we reached a point where we felt like he was going to have to eventually go ahead and have it," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said of Wieters, who will have the palmaris longus tendon near the forearm replace the elbow ligament. "And when it didn't get much better, we'd like to go ahead and take care of the problem. We are fortunate in today's sports medical world ... the risk factor is strong on his side and our side."


Tommy John surgery for position players doesn't carry the year-long recovery time that it does for pitchers, but Wieters is still facing a nine-month rehab process to be ready for the start of next season. With the surgery set for mid-June, that puts Wieters on track to be ready very close to the start of the 2015 season.


The Orioles have leaned on Nick Hundley and Caleb Joseph at catcher, a punchless duo that isn't even worth considering in AL-only leagues, in Wieters' absence, but with Wieters officially done for the season the O's may look for a better offensive option at backstop. Sellers should become clearer in the next few weeks, or the Orioles may strike early in hopes of remaining in the hunt in the AL East. The team may also decide to stick with a defense-first combo at catcher and take the hit on the offensive side of the ball.

The Orioles now within three games of Oakland and the Angels in race for best record in the American League.

Scal


Hopeful for a playoff run, or waiting for the floor to drop out?

You guys may surprise.

Whos taking his at bats?

Scal understood. Theres no powerhouse al team. Its anybodies to grab. Get to the series, ya never know.

Im sorry

Better team won as Orioles sweep
October, 5, 2014
OCT 5
8:09
PM ET
By David Schoenfield | ESPN.com



The Baltimore Orioles are advancing to their first American League Championship Series since 1997. I think it's pretty clear the better team won here. The edge everyone believed the Detroit Tigers had -- starting pitcher -- just wasn't the big edge everyone presumed, not with the way the Orioles' rotation had pitched down the stretch. And the edges that Baltimore had -- bullpen and defense -- proved key in this three-game sweep.

Here are five key moments/thoughts from Sunday's 2-1 victory:

1. Nelson Cruz takes David Price just deep enough.

Cruz didn't crush his sixth-inning home run off Price, who had been in complete control until that point. It's 330 feet down the right-field line at Comerica Park and Cruz snuck it just inside the foul pole and just over the line. Cruz didn't even seem to think it would stay fair, not even running out of the box.

It was a tough-luck inning for Price. Adam Jones had singled on a 1-1 changeup that was low and well off the plate. Jones, a notorious free swinger, managed to get just enough wood on it to sneak up the ball the middle with shortstop Andrew Romine playing Jones to pull. Good pitch, bad result.

The pitch to Cruz was also off the plate, another changeup. It was off the plate and thigh high, maybe not as low as Price wanted, but he wanted it off the plate, as Cruz -- like Jones -- will chase. Again, a decent pitch with a bad result.

As for the cries to tie up Cruz inside, that just isn't Price's style. Check out Price's heat map versus right-handed batters this season:



That's what he does: He pounds the outside corner. As for not allowing Cruz to extend his arms, that's simply not true either. Cruz's numbers this season on inside and outside pitches:

Inside: .255/.352/.516
Outside: .242/.325/.408

With his open stance, Cruz is actually pretty adept at getting his hands in and pulling inside pitches. He does have the strength to hit it out to the opposite field (10 of his 40 home runs went to right field or right-center), but for the most part pitchers do work Cruz outside more often than in. Give Cruz credit here: He just beat Price.

2. Buck Showalter rolls the dice.

This took a serious pair of ... dice.

After Victor Martinez and J.D. Martinez had doubled off Zach Britton to lead off the ninth to cut the score to 2-1, Showalter intentionally walked No. 7 hitter Nick Castellanos. The potential winning run. No matter who the Tigers had coming up, that's playing with fire.

It worked. The Tigers had already used Rajai Davis, their one potential useful guy on the bench (who is battling an injury as it is). Due up were weak-hitting shortstop Andrew Romine and weak-hitting backup center fielder Ezequiel. Brad Ausmus sent up Hernan Perez, who had all of six plate appearances in the major leagues this season after hitting .287 in Triple-A. Tough spot for a guy coming off the bench who hasn't played much in September. Britton induced a 5-4-3 double play and Showalter looked like a genius.

Of course, it also exposed the same weakness the Tigers have played through the past four seasons: A weak bench.

3. Buck Showalter gives the ball to Bud Norris.
Miguel Gonzalez was the assumed Game 3 starter but Showalter told Norris on the flight from Baltimore that Norris would get the Game 3 start.

What prompted the change? From Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun: "As for Showalter’s decision to start Norris in Game 3, he said there were a variety of factors what went into the decision, among them Norris’ dramatic day-night splits, the ability to use him out of the bullpen in a possible make-or-break Game 5 and getting him back on the mound after 10 days off."

That would make sense, except the facts don't line up. This was a day game. Norris had a 5.57 ERA during the day and 2.99 at night. The other assumption is that Norris is a little more excitable than Gonzalez, so pitching him in Game 3, with a 2-0 series lead, would have less pressure than a Game 4.

Either way, you can forget that 5.57 ERA during the day in the regular season. It's now 0.00 after he threw 6⅓ scoreless innings, allowing just two hits. His biggest out came in the third with two outs and runners at second and third when he got Victor Martinez to fly out to shallow center on the ninth pitch of the plate appearance, getting a 95-mph pitch in on Martinez's hands.

4. Andrew Miller comes on.

This guy is starting to look like a huge, huge weapon this October. He replaced Norris with one out in the seventh and faced five batters and retired all of them. Fun matchup for the final out in the eighth: He got Miguel Cabrera. When the Tigers acquired Cabrera from the Marlins back in 2008, Miller was supposed to be the prize catch for the Marlins: The sixth pick in the 2006 draft with No. 1 potential as a starter. He never panned out with the Marlins and moved to the bullpen with the Red Sox. He has found a home there and his ability to go more than one inning has provided Showalter a great bridge between his starters and his closer.

5. Silence in Detroit.


Has the window closed?

The past four years the Tigers won 95, 88, 93 and 90 games, reaching one World Series and two ALCS. But Max Scherzer is a free agent, Victor Martinez is a free agent, Torii Hunter is a free agent, Justin Verlander had a bad season, and the bullpen and bench remain messes. For the years, the Tigers took advantage of a weak AL Central, but the Royals and Indians have had back-to-back solid campaigns and the White Sox and Twins have some young players to build around or are about to arrive in the big leagues.

The Tigers have a had great core of star players, but in the end, this group may go down in history like the 1995-1998 Mariners, who had enormous star power with the likes of Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez and Alex Rodriguez, but never won a title (never even made it to the World Series).
espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/52276/better-team-won-as-orioles-sweep