Orioles soak up delayed victory

Rain can't stop O's from earning 3rd straight win

By Dan Connolly | Sun reporter

12:33 PM EDT, May 11, 2008

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Not even 25 mph winds, whipping rain and an empty bench could end the Orioles' inexplicable dominance of the Kansas City Royals.

On a night when heavy rain caused a delay of nearly two hours after the top of the first inning, the Orioles ran their winning streak against the Royals to 12 games with a 6-5 victory.

Behind a yeoman's effort from rookie Garrett Olson (2-0) and a three-run homer from first baseman Kevin Millar, the Orioles (19-18) crept above .500 with their third straight win after limping into Kansas City with a five-game losing skid.

"You had to play it pitch by pitch. The conditions obviously were less than desirable and I thought they got worse as the game went on," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. "Our guys really hung in there. I thought it was probably one of the better team games we've played all year from the standpoint of what we had to ask our guys to go through."

The Orioles haven't lost to the Royals (15-21) since July 25, 2006, the longest streak in the majors against one opponent and the longest by the Orioles since beating the Minnesota Twins a dozen consecutive times in 1980 and 1981.

"Someone said it the other day and I was like, 'What?'" said Millar, who had three hits, including the first-inning homer against Kansas City starter Brett Tomko (1-4) that gave the Orioles a lead they never relinquished.

"It's really just timing. It's not easy to beat one team that many times."

It certainly wasn't easy on a sloppy Saturday night that didn't end until 5 hours and 13 minutes after the first pitch, when Orioles closer George Sherrill (13th save) got Mark Grudzielanek to ground out with the tying run on second base.

"It was tough, tough defensively," Millar said. "There were some big winds out there and it was really windy on the field and from the dugout you couldn't tell. ... And that misty wind just hit your face. And it was cold."

The Orioles took a 6-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth, but the Royals cut it to three on a RBI single and a RBI groundout.

The Royals drew closer in the seventh when Orioles reliever Jamie Walker surrendered a wind-aided triple to David DeJesus and two singles to the three batters he faced. Clinging to a 6-4 lead with two runners on and no outs, rookie Jim Johnson again came up big. He struck out Butler and Mark Grudzielanek, and then second baseman Luis Hernandez made a nice sliding stop of a ground ball for the third out.

The Royals drew closer in the seventh when Orioles reliever Jamie Walker surrendered a wind-aided triple to David DeJesus and two singles to the only three batters he faced. Clinging to a 6-4 lead with two runners on and no outs, rookie Jim Johnson again came up big. He struck out Billy Butler and Grudzielanek and then second baseman Luis Hernandez made a sliding stop of a ground ball for the third out.

"I've been in some other situations earlier this year, but that was a another one I haven't been in," Johnson said. "I'll just try to continue to get outs."

And Trembley will continue to put Johnson, who has allowed two runs in 21 2/3 innings this season, into key spots.

"The guy has stepped up to the plate for us and has done an incredible job," Trembley said about Johnson. "The team has confidence in him. And I am not afraid to put him in there in the middle of innings because I have seen him in there."

Olson (three runs earned in 5 1/3 innings) won his second start since being recalled from Triple-A Norfolk, but he wasn't sharp, battling early control issues and the weather. Following a one-hour and 52-minute rain delay after the top half of the first inning, Olson took the mound and threw six straight balls before finally getting a called strike. He threw 14 pitches in the first, and only five were strikes. A double-play line out and a groundout helped him escape the jam. Olson allowed at least one baserunner in each inning he pitched.

"I thought the best thing he did tonight was he kept his focus," Trembley said. "I thought it was easy to lose your focus You get yourself ready to pitch and then all the sudden you have got to wait a couple hours. He had to make some pitches and he got us to where we needed to be."

The Orioles won without having anyone fully healthy or available on their three-man bench after the third inning. Catcher Ramon Hernandez was scratched pre-game because of a sore left wrist that he injured on a check swing Friday. Guillermo Quiroz took over in the starting lineup, and Trembley said Hernandez could have been used if necessary. Hernandez is listed as day-to-day.

So is second baseman Brian Roberts, who singled to lead off the first and scored on Millar's homer. But he never returned after the rain delay due to a left foot contusion that he said happened during Friday night's game. He had treatment on it Saturday, and said he felt recurring pain in the first inning. He said he'll likely be off Sunday, but expects to play Tuesday against Boston.

In the third, the Orioles lost left fielder Jay Payton who was thrown out arguing a check-swing third strike. Trembley was forced to insert his only healthy reserve, Luke Scott, into left to replace Payton.

It didn't become an issue because the Orioles never trailed. Although it looked like the game might be headed for extra innings when Butler crushed a ball against Sherrill with two outs and one on in the ninth.

Held up by the wind, the ball hit the scoreboard wall in left-center, giving Butler a RBI double and the Orioles a tenuous one-run lead, which Sherrill made stick with a game-ending groundout.

"That's all I got, I can't hit a ball better than that," Butler said. "I thought it was gone when I hit it."

dan.connolly@baltsun.com