Last night the Orioles got a great effort from Jake Arrieta in their 3-2 win at Kansas City. The great thing about the game from that perspective was that Arrieta did appear to be just a bit shaky in the early innings, however he definitely got stronger and stronger as the game went along. However it was what Adam Jones did - or didn't do - that saved the game for the O's late. With Jim Johnson pitching in the last of the eighth and Alcides Escobar at first (with one gone), Mike Aviles sent a deep line drive to center. The ball ended up lodging itself underneath the wall as Adam Jones and Felix Pie approached to throw it back into the infield. However when Jones saw the ball was stuck under the wall, he immediately threw his hands up and ceased playing to indicate that there was interference with the play.
MASN's Gary Thorne and Jim Palmer both said that they had never seen a player do that, which I found funny. I've seen numerous outfielders do exactly what Jones did. I've also seen numerous outfielders dig the ball out from under the wall which would ultimately result in runs. (In fact, not only did Escobar score from first on the play, Aviles circled the bases for what could have been an inside-the-parker.) So from Thorne and Palmer's perspective, Jones might have been have been having what they call a blonde moment. Instead, Jones probably saved the game by doing what he did. At the time, the O's had a 3-1 lead. Had Jones fished the ball out from under the wall, Escobar would have definitely crossed the plate, and odds are Aviles would have ended up at third base. So the score would have been 3-2 with one gone and the tying run at third. Instead, umpire Tim Welke correctly ruled that the wall had impeded Jones' ability to field the ball (similar to fan interference), and awarded a ground-rule double. That meant that the Royals ended up with two runners in scoring position and one out (with the game at 3-1). Escobar ended up scoring on a fielder's choice, and the Orioles got out of the inning surrendering only one run.
Adam Jones did exactly what outfielders are told to do in that situation. The other thing was that he stood by his decision. At first he threw his hands up to show that there was interference. However the base runners continued running, both of them eventually crossing the plate. Odds are that was an attempt to get Jones to fish out the ball; had he done so, the Orioles probably still would have argued interference. However it would have been more difficult to justify because Jones would have fished the ball out, and the umpire could have ruled it an inside-the-park homer. Instead Jones stood by his decision, whcih made it fairly open-and-shut in terms of the umpire's decision. Kansas City skipper Ned Yost made an obligatory protest, however that was very short-lived.
Arrieta's final pitching line in the game was as follows: 7 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 2 BB, 8 K. (The one run came on a Jeff Francoeur homer.) Eight strikeouts is pretty impressive. After this game, opponents are hitting .231 off of Arrieta. Again, pretty impressive. Even in his final inning (the seventh), Arrieta was still hitting 93 MPH on the gun. Nick Markakis also seemed to get back on track in this game with two hits and two RBI, including his third homer of the year. That solo HR ended up being the winning run, as Kansas City tacked on the above-mentioned run in the eighth.
The Orioles were unable to tack on any runs after Markakis' homer, however they did get a great starting effort from Arrieta, and they did enough to win. Perhaps more importantly, they had Adam Jones make a heads-up mental play in the field, whereas in the past it seems like they've had guys think their way out of wins. If this Oriole team can put together good games mental "non-lapses," there's no telling how far they can go. The O's wrap up the series in Kansas City (and the roadtrip) with an afternoon game today with the Royals before heading home to play Tampa this weekend, and Seattle next week at Camden Yards.
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