#1. Machado homers twice to lift Gonzalez to win
#2. O's fan ends up with both of Mahcado's homers
#3. Fan talks about snagging both Machado homers
#4. Gonzalez dominates eight for 4th win.
#5. Quintanilla goes deep for two-run homer
#6. After homering twice, Machado earns first pie.
#7. Machado launches his second homer of the game.
#8. Machado launches his first two career homers.
If reaching 60 wins quicker than any year since 1998 and being well ahead of schedule to snap a streak of 13 consecutive losing seasons isn't enough evidence, Manny Machado is here to drive the point home.
"It's a new era," Machado said. "We haven't won in a long time and this ball club has been winning without me. And hopefully now that I'm up here, I can contribute." If his performances going forward look anything like Friday night's, "contribute" is a monumental understatement. In just his second career game, the Orioles' top position player prospect launched his first two Major League home runs, as the Orioles beat the Royals, 7-1, to even the series at Camden Yards. The win was the O's sixth in their past seven games, ensuring that their place atop the American League Wild Card standings is secure for at least another day."[Manager] Buck [Showalter] brought me up for a reason, and it was to help this team," Machado said. "So, I'm going to do anything I can to help this team and try to make a playoff [game]."Machado -- just 20 years and 35 days old -- became the youngest player in Orioles history to record a multi homer game. Both blasts landed in the exact same spot in the left-field stands, and each came on a hanging breaking pitch from Royals starter Luke Hochevar. In the fifth, Machado belted a hanging slider on the inner half for a solo shot to push the Orioles' lead to 3-1. "It was the best feeling ever," Machado said. "The crowd here loves me, and for them to support me like that, after my first home run, it just felt great."Machado took another hanger from Hochevar -- this one a curve ball over the heart of the plate -- and hit it to the very same fan in the sixth, a three-run blast that all but put the game away as the Orioles took a 7-1 lead. After a little prodding from Adam Jones, Machado stepped out of the dugout for a curtain call, waving to the crowd of 17,277 that was giving him a standing ovation and chanting his name. "I've dreamed about that my whole life," Machado said.
In his first two days, Machado has passed every test, and made quick work on the record books. His first homer marked the youngest by an Orioles player since Hall of Famer Jim Palmer did it as a 19-year-old on May 16, 1965. His second -- which also scored Wilson Betemit and Nate McLouth -- amazingly landed in the same spot: Adam Corder's hands. Corder, 15, is a Millersville, Md., native who currently lives in the United Arab Emirates and caught both of Machado's homers from section 78, row 14 at Camden Yards.
"I was surprised," said Machado, who met with Corder after the game and exchanged some autographed balls and a bat for his first home run ball. "I heard it in the dugout somebody told the officer the same kid caught both balls. I was like: 'What? That's crazy.'"
Baltimore Orioles News, by Gregg Luca
Today, Eddie Murray (legendary Orioles hall of famer) will have his statue un-veiled in the garden of statues today at 5:15 P.M. The O's had better win for'im. GOOO ORIOLES AND MANNY!!
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