MINNEAPOLIS — Anyone who has watched the Orioles this season has seen how much Adam Jones has struggled at the plate, but manager Buck Showalter also sees how hard Jones has worked to get himself out of his season-long slump.
"The bus leaves [after the game was postponed] and [bench coach] John Russell and I were here and you hear this thump down in the cage," Showalter said. "Adam's here last night after everybody left. He wants to be as good as he's capable of. And that's a feel-good. He's got a great way about him, not taking himself too seriously.
"But you know it's kind of been grinding on him and he really cares," Showalter added. "I've said many times we're not going to have everybody clicking. Adam and Chris, they get to a point where they get real quiet and real get-evenish, so to speak."
Whether Jones' three-RBI night Tuesday in the Orioles' 5-3 win over the Minnesota Twins can get him going again remains to be seen, but it had to help.
Jones' 453-foot solo blast (according to MLB Statcast) into the second deck of Target Field was jaw-dropping. It also had an exit velocity of 109.5 mph. But the way he battled in his final at bat -- coming through in the clutch after Twins closer Kevin Jepsen intentionally walked Manny Machado -- was definitely an at-bat to build on.
The pitch before lacing the game-winning, two-run single into left field, Jones swung at ball three, fouling the pitch high in the air just out of the reach of Twins catcher Kurt Suzuki.
With new life, Jones bore down, lacing a letter-high fastball into left field to score two runs.
"Yeah, that was huge," said Orioles starter Kevin Gausman about Jones' hit. "I was sitting in there watching it. That's the thing. Jonesy's a veteran player and that's the type of thing that's going to get him going, too. Obviously, the home run he hit, too, that was pretty far. But I think more than anything was the hit later in the game. I think that's something that really gets a guy's confidence up. We all know the type of player he can be. It's just a matter of when he's going to start getting it going."
After the game, Jones deflected any attention.
"We've been playing good baseball as a team," Jones said. "As long as we keep winning, it really doesn't matter how it goes. As long as the team wins, that's the main objective, that's the main goal. I'm a team guy. I'm not an 'I, I, I' type of person. I'm just for the team."
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Jones wouldn't have had the chance to win Tuesday's game had rookie left fielder Joey Rickard not started the Orioles' two-out ninth-inning rally with a double to left field.
"I thought the most impressive at-bat of the night was Joey," Showalter said.
During Rickard's eight-pitch at bat, he fell behind in the count and fouled off two 95-mph fastballs with two strikes, took two pitches to work the count full and then hit a 95-mph fastball down the left-field line.
Jones, who was in the hole when Rickard was up, pointed out that Rickard was being heckled mercilessly during the at bat.
"He had some hecklers screaming some very disrespectful obscenities that shouldn't take place in baseball," Jones said. "I'm sure he heard it and he battled his tail off and we were able to shut them up."
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Right-hander Brad Brach, who tossed a scoreless seventh inning and stranded the go-ahead run on second base, might wake up a little sore after taking a comebacker off the back of his right leg.
"We'll see," Showalter said. "He got that flush. I was telling him after the inning, 'You realize that didn't go very far from you.' It didn't feel as bad as it looked. I was talking to him after the game, and some of the adrenaline wears off, he might find himself a little sorer than he thinks. That was a pretty good one. One of our players said, 'You've got to work at it to get Brachie's leg.'"
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