BALTIMORE ORIOLES GAME NOTES Oriole Park at Camden Yards 333 West Camden Street Baltimore, MD 21201 Thursday, May 17, 2012 Game #39 Road Game #18 Baltimore Orioles (24-14) vs. Kansas City Royals (15-21) LH Brian Matusz (2-4, 5.50) vs. LH Luke Hochevar (3-3, 7.20) ODDS & ENDS TONIGHT’S GAME: The Orioles and Royals meet in the finale of their two-game set and the second game of a five-game road trip that will see the Birds head to Washington D.C. after visiting the City of Fountains…The Home 12-9 Orioles are coming off a 4-5 homestand which saw them go 1-2 vs. TEX, 2-1 vs. TB and 1-1 vs. NY. Away 12-5 Day 9-2 VS. KANSAS CITY: The Orioles lead the season series, 1-0 after last night’s 15-inning win…Baltimore won the Night 15-12 season series 5-4 in 2011, going 3-0 in Baltimore and 2-4 in Kansas City…The Orioles lead the all-time series, vs. LHP 5-3 250-190 (133-83 in Baltimore and 117-107 in Kansas City)…Since the start of the 2004 season, the Birds are 21- vs. RHP 19-11 13 at Kauffman Stadium…The O’s have won the season series in six of the last eight seasons. Series Record 8-3-1 ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The Birds improved to 5-2 in extra inning contests and have won each of their last five First game of series 7-6 games that have gone into extra fames, all on the road…The Baltimore bullpen has pitched to a 0.76 ERA Last game of a series 8-4 (35.2IP, 3ER) in those five games…It is the first time since 1996 that an Orioles team played multiple 15+ Last 10 games 5-5 inning games in the same season (the 2009 Braves and Padres were the last teams to do it)…Each of the last three extra-inning games have gone 13 innings or more…Kevin Gregg recorded his first win since September 12, Win/Loss streak W2 Longest win streak 5 (5/1-6) 2010 against Tampa Bay. Longest losing streak 3 (4/9-11) RARE FEAT: Adam Jones hit his 12th home run of the season to win last night’s game in the 15th inning…Jones Most games over .500 10 (3x, 24-14) also homered in the 17th inning on May 6 in Boston, becoming the first player since Mark McGwire in 1988 Most games under .500 0 (-) to hit a home run in the 15th inning or later in multiple games in the same season…The Birds are now 11-1 Extra innings 5-2 when Jones goes deep…Nine of his 12 homers this season have tied the game or given the O’s the lead. Shutouts 2-0 GET IT DONE: The O’s are 4-1 in series finales on the road (8-4 overall) and with a win today would move to 11 One-run games 6-3 games over .500 for the first time since June 24, 2005 when they were 42-31. Two-run games 7-1 ROAD WARRIORS: The Orioles have won six straight road contests, their longest such streak since also Lead after 7 innings 15-0 winning six straight, August 29-September 4, 2004…A win today would give them their longest road win Tied after 7 innings 3-2 streak since winning 10 straight, August 29-September 24, 1999…The Orioles have recorded back-to-back Trail after 7 innings 6-12 Lead after 8 innings 17-0 winning road trips for the first time since August and September of 2010, when they were 4-2 on a trip to Chicago Tied after 8 innings 4-2 and Los Angeles (August 24-29) and 4-2 on a trip to New York and Detroit (September 6-12). Trail after 8 innings 3-12 TRENDING UPWARD: The O’s are 10-0 on ther road when scoring four or more runs (19-4 overall) and are 8-1 Orioles score first 16-6 on the road when their starter goes six innings or more (19-4 overall). Opponent scores first 8-8 Score four or more runs 19-4 VS. CENTRAL DIVISION: The Orioles are 7-1 with a 2.42 ERA (78.0IP, 21ER) in eight games against the Score fewer than four runs 5-10 central division this year…In their last 17 games against the Central, dating back to August 14, 2011, the Birds are 14-3 (3-1 vs. Chicago, 7-0 vs. Minnesota, 3-2 vs. Detroit and 1-0 vs. Kansas City). Orioles homer 23-9 Out-hit opponents 16-1 CLOSE CALLS: The O’s are 13-4 in games decided by two or fewer runs…The Birds are 11-3 in games decided Equal hit total 3-3 in the seventh inning or later (won 10 straight from April 13-May 11)…The O’s have won their last five extra Outhit by opponents 5-10 innings games (all on the road) after losing their first two (both at home). Most hits in a game 14 (4/28) Fewest hits in a game 5 (7x, last: 5/10) NEVER SAY DIE: The O’s have already surpassed last season’s win total when trailing after 7.0 innings, thanks to last night’s 9th inning comeback and eventual 15-inning victory (6-12 in such games this year)…Baltimore was No errors 12-3 With one error 6-8 5-83 when trailing after seven in 2011…The Birds are 3-12 when trailing after 8.0 innings after going 2-85 in th With two errors 4-1 2011…The Orioles’ 26 homers in the 7 inning or later leads the majors. With three or more errors 2-2 BULLPEN BULLIES: The Orioles’ bullpen is second in the majors with a 2.18 ERA (132.1IP, 32ER) despite vs. AL 24-14 allowing 16 earned runs in 28.2IP in the nine games before last night…RH Jim Johnson has converted his last 21 vs. AL East 13-7 save opportunities dating back to August 14, 2011, including all 13 chances in 2012. vs. AL Central 7-1 vs. AL West 4-6 IMPRESSIVE STRETCH: Since September 12, 2011, the Orioles are 12-3-2 in their last 17 series (and vs. NL 0-0 guaranteed themselves at least a split in the current series vs. KC with a win last night), going 35-20 in those 55 Largest home crowd 46,773 (4/6) games with a 4.01 ERA (513.1IP, 229ER)…The Orioles have won 16 of their last 23 games. Largest road crowd 39,360 (5/2) LATE DECISIONS: The O’s have played 14 games that were decided in the seventh inning or later in 2012, CURRENT ROAD TRIP going 11-3 in those games…All three losses were against the Yankees (12-inning loss April 10, 10-inning loss April 11 and Monday’s loss in which the Yankees took the lead in the 7th)…The O’s won 10 straight games Record 1-0 th decided in the 7th inning or later in between those losses before winning their 11 such game last night at KC. Team Average .246 (14-57) Runs per Game 4.0 (4R/1G) THE BOMB SQUAD: The Orioles are the only team in baseball to have seven different players with five or more home runs…The Yankees are second with six players with five or more…Birds with five or more homers: Wilson Fielding Errors 1 Betemit, Chris Davis, J.J. Hardy, Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, Nolan Reimold and Matt Wieters…The Team ERA 1.80 (15.0IP, 3ER) Orioles lead the majors in homers against right-handed pitching (47) and are second in road homers (29)… Matt Wieters hit his eighth homer on May 13 (35th game) after not hitting his 8th of 2011 until July 5 (game Starters W-L 0-0 83)…Wieters’ homer Sunday was the 50th of his career. Starters ERA 2.57 (7.0IP, 2ER) SOLO MISSION: The Orioles have hit 40 solo homers on the year, the most in the majors…Thirteen of the last Bullpen W-L-S 1-0-1 17 Orioles homers have been solo shots…Seven of J.J. Hardy’s nine homers, nine of Adam Jones’ 12 homers Bullpen ERA 1.13 (8.0IP, 1ER) Saves/Opps 1/1 and five of Nick Markakis’ six have been solo shots. Best homestand 5-1 (4/24-29) NOCTURNAL BIRDS: The Orioles have hit 44 of their 60 homers at night, the second-most in the majors behind Worst homestand 4-5 (5/7-15) Texas’ 45…Seven of Matt Wieters’ eight home runs and five of Nick Markakis’ six homers have come at night. Best road trip 5-1 (4/30-5/6) Worst road trip 6-4 (4/13-22) HE’S BACK: Kevin Gregg has made 6 straight scoreless apps (8.1IP) lowering his ERA from 12.27 to 3.75. THE STROPPER: Over his last nine appearances, Pedro Strop has worked 11.0 scoreless innings, allowing five hits and six walks while striking out seven…He is 1-0 with two saves during that span with opponents batting .147 (5-34) against him...The two saves (April 24-25) were the first of his career. A GOOD RUN: In their recently completed stretch of 15 games against the Yankees (5 games), Red Sox (3 games), Rangers (4 games) and Rays (3 games), the O’s went 9-6…They went 3-2 against New York, 3-0 against Boston, 1-3 against Texas and 2-1 against Tampa Bay…Against those teams in 2011, the O’s were 23-37.