Izturis sparks O's to win over Royals

By Dan Connolly | dan.connolly@baltsun.com

May 15, 2009

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. - On a rocky plane ride in the early hours of Thursday morning, Orioles manager Dave Trembley attempted to plot his lineup without the club's leading hitter, Adam Jones.

It wasn't just the violent rainstorm hammering the plane that gave him the jitters.

"Last night, my pencil, along with my stomach, was jumping," Trembley said. "Jones is just a tough void in the lineup to fill. But I wanted to balance it as best I possibly could."

The lineup he devised, which included shortstop Cesar Izturis batting in Jones' customary second spot for just the second time this season, delivered in the Orioles' 9-5 win over the Kansas City Royals in the first game of a four-game series.

Izturis paced a 12-hit attack with a two-run triple in a four-run fifth and an RBI single in a three-run sixth. He has eight hits, including three for extra bases, in his past 24 at-bats.

"He made the most of his opportunity tonight, just like everybody else did, but he was a key man tonight," Trembley said. "He got it done, both at the plate and in the field."

Izturis' recent hot hand is one reason Trembley thought Izturis would be the best fit to replace Jones, who is day-to-day after tweaking his right hamstring Wednesday night. The other option was Felix Pie, who replaced Jones in center field, but Trembley didn't want to put any added pressure on the 24-year-old.

"I think [Pie] is making some progress right now and the last thing I want to do is put him in a situation where I expect him to do more," Trembley said before the game. "Izturis is an experienced guy. I think he might be able to handle the bat a little bit better."

The strong offensive night made a winner out of starter Jeremy Guthrie (3-3), who hadn't picked up a victory since April 11, his second start of the season.

He didn't pitch particularly well, throwing 98 pitches in just five innings - matching his second-shortest outing of the year. Three relievers - Danys Baez, Jamie Walker and Jim Johnson - combined to allow one run (a homer by Billy Butler against Walker) in the final four innings.

"It was like we won in spite of me, but it is nice to be in the win column and it is a nice team effort," Guthrie said. "This is a team win. There's a 'W' next to my name but it's not an outing you feel tremendously good about."

Guthrie retired six of the first seven batters he faced before running into trouble with two outs and a runner on in the third.

Coco Crisp tripled over the head of Pie to score Mike Aviles for the game's first run, and David DeJesus followed with a RBI double to give the Royals a 2-0 lead.

Guthrie then struck out Butler to end the threat and steadied himself in the fourth before seemingly losing his command an inning later.

Staked to a 5-2 lead thanks to the Orioles' four-run fifth, Guthrie retired two of the first three batters. But he then walked Crisp and DeJesus - whom Guthrie had down 0-2 before issuing four consecutive balls - to load the bases.

Butler followed with a two-run single to left to cut the lead to 5-4, but Guthrie induced Mike Jacobs to ground out. It was the last batter Guthrie would face. He allowed four runs on six hits and two walks.

" It just seemed like he lost command of his fastball, lost his rhythm," Trembley said. "But the third out he got against Jacobs, that proved to be the big one. That's probably his biggest out because we were seeing the momentum of the game turn back in their favor and we did not want that to happen."

After a perfect first, the Orioles put a runner on base in each of the next two innings against Royals starter Gil Meche (2-4) before finally scoring in the fourth on a 383-foot homer by Aubrey Huff. The solo shot to right was Huff's seventh home run of the season.

It also was the first Meche had given up since he allowed a homer to Cleveland's Kelly Shoppach in September 2008, a span of 67 2/3 innings.

The real damage against Meche came in the fifth, when the Orioles strung together four straight base runners, led by Izturis' two-run triple and Nick Markakis' RBI double.

Markakis' smash down the left-field line chased Meche, who was charged with six hits and five earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.