Garlick’s grand slam beats Express
Kyle Garlick hit a grand slam in the eighth inning to boost the Oklahoma City Dodgers to a 7-5 win over the Round Rock Express on Saturday night at Dell Diamond.
Garlick’s blast brought in Tim Locastro, Kyle Farmer and Edwin Rios and gave the Dodgers (48-40) a 7-4 lead.
In the bottom of the eighth, Round Rock (44-48) cut into the deficit with a solo home run by Tony Sanchez.
Corey Copping (1-0) got the win in relief, and Tayler Scott (3-4) took the loss in the Pacific Coast League game. Brian Schlitter struck out Sanchez with runners on first and third to end the game and pick up his 13th save of the season.
Andy Ibanez, Willie Calhoun and Hanser Alberto each had three hits for Round Rock. The Express squandered some scoring chances, leaving 12 runners on base.
Calhoun smashed his eighth home run of the season, extending his careerlong hitting streak to 18 games. His homer in the bottom of the third scored Shaq Matta for a 2-1 lead.
Round Rock added two more runs in the fourth to take a three-run lead. Ibanez singled in Sanchez, and Calhoun’s third RBI of the game, on a single that brought in Alberto, made it 4-1.
Farmer doubled and scored two runs. Connor Joe, Rios and Angelo Mora each had an RBI for the Dodgers.
For well over six seasons, Manny Machado’s value to the Baltimore Orioles has been solely his ability to hit and play the field.
All that has changed, now that the Orioles are looking to receive a huge return for their All-Star shortstop in a blockbuster trade.
Machado homered before being removed on a wet day, Adam Jones hit a three-run double, and Baltimore rallied past the Texas Rangers 6-5 Sunday.
Machado was taken out of the game in the fifth inning by manager Buck Showalter after a 26-minute rain delay. The move was designed to get their star player off a sloppy field, because the last-place Orioles are entertaining offers for Machado before the July 31 nonwaiver trade deadline.
“Obviously there’s a different situation going on with Manny. You all know that,” Showalter said. “That had a lot to do with it.”
Plain and simple, the Orioles can’t afford to have Machado get hurt. Now, more than ever.
“A month ago he wouldn’t have come out of the game,” Showalter acknowledged. “We know that. You know it.”
After being replaced by Jace Peterson, Machado sat in the dugout, wearing a sweatshirt and joking with his teammates.
“I don’t know why (Showalter) did it or not,” Machado said. “He just told me, ‘I’m going to take you out. You had a good first half, and go represent us well in the All-Star Game.’ “
In a matchup between two teams staggering into the break, Texas got a first-inning grand slam from rookie Ronald Guzman but quickly gave the lead away in losing for the seventh time in nine games.
Machado ignited the comeback with his 24th homer, and Jones’ bases-clearing double in the third off Mike Minor (6-6) put Baltimore ahead to stay.
“I’ll be fine,” said Minor, who yielded five earned runs in 22/3 innings. “I’ll reflect a little bit and then get back to it.”
The game ended when Texas pinch-runner Carlos Tocci was thrown out at the plate on a double by Elvis Andrus. Running from first base, Tocci was tagged out by catcher Caleb Joseph after throws by right fielder Mark Trumbo and second baseman Jonathan Schoop.
“Textbook,” Showalter said.
Texas manager Jeff Bannister called it a “situation where they had to throw it on line to throw Tocci out. They executed well.”
Texas broke on top when Miguel Castro issued three straight walks and Guzman sent a one-out drive over the right field wall for his first career grand slam.
It was 4-1 in the third when Joseph hit an RBI double and Jones doubled down the left-field line after a walk to Machado.
Shin-Soo Choo homered in the seventh to get the Rangers to 6-5.
Choo opened the game with a walk, extending to 51 his single-season club record streak of games reaching base via a hit, walk or hit by pitch.
Orioles 1, Rangers 0 (late Saturday): Rookie Yefry Ramirez and four relievers combined on a four-hitter and Schoop drove in a run with a sixth-inning sacrifice fly for Baltimore.