It took fifteen innings, but the Orioles finally won tonight against the Kansas City Royals. Strong performances by both starting pitchers were almost forgotten by the time this one ended thanks to a homer in Adam Jones' 7th at bat and a phenomenal job by two unlikely pitchers in the bullpen.

Tommy Hunter pitched a very effective game, and although he looked like he was losing it a couple times, I'll take seven innings and two runs every day of the week.

Through the first three innings, Hunter faced just nine batters thanks to two double plays. The Royals were chasing the ball and Hunter got through those three innings with just 25 pitches thrown. It was looking like the beginning of a very good start by Hunter, but the fourth inning got a little dicey. With one out and runners on first and second (courtesy of a lead off walk and a line-drive single), Alex Gordon smoked a ball, and I mean he killed it, towards first base. Luckily for the Orioles it was right at Chris Davis's head, so his choice was to catch it or die. He caught it and easily doubled off Butler at first. Hunter only threw 11 pitches in the inning but the Royals were hitting the ball hard and he lucked into the double play.

The only two runs Hunter allowed on the night came in the fifth inning. Jeff Francoeur started the inning for the Royals and he popped a ball up behind home plate. Matt Wieters couldn't find the ball in the high sky and when Davis realized he raced in towards the warning track behind home plate. It was a valiant effort, but he couldn't quite get there. Given new life, Frenchy lined a double to right field. After Mike Moustaskas popped out, Hunter hit Alcides Escobar on a 3-2 count. Chris Getz grounded to Davis at first, who bobbled the ball but got the second out as the runners moved up.

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Tie game top of the 12th! Let's go O's!

The Orioles need to stick it to the Royals in the same way that Texas stuck it to the Orioles. They have emerged on the far side of the 15-game tough stretch with a few scratches, still far better than I anticipated. Now they have to keep their collective foot on the accelerator, because the injury-plagued Royals need to have their Duke-blue butts beaten silly by a team that has designs on emerging as a power in the AL East, or at least as a decent baseball team.

In order to accomplish this, someone who has thus far had a lackluster 2012 is going to need to step up his game. That player's name is Tommy Hunter. He's the Orioles starter tonight. He's given up like a million home runs. That was an exaggeration; Hunter has actually given up ten home runs in his 42 innings, still a fairly absurd total. Of fly balls that opposing batters have hit against Hunter, slightly over one in five have been home runs. Keep it on the ground, Tommy! No, that's just not your game. You are a contact pitcher and some of it is hard contact. So at least stop walking guys. Tommy's sporting a 2.79 BB/9 which is the highest of his career.

The O's have three players with 8 or more home runs. The Royals do not have a player with more than 6 home runs. That doesn't mean that hitters like Billy Butler and Mike Moustakas will not crush mistakes. Also be on the lookout for Eric Hosmer, who's only batting .182 but also only has a .175 BABIP. His luck could start to even out.

Starting for the Royals is Felipe Paulino. He has made two starts in MLB in 2012 and thus far has not sucked, managing a 3.09 ERA. Paulino's struck out over a batter per inning - and this is not a significant departure from his career K/9 of 8.32. His walk rate is also down substantially, which may not be a problem for a team that doesn't walk much, like the Orioles. Paulino hasn't given up a lot of homers since the 2009 season in Houston, a sign that he may have evolved as a pitcher. But of course if he's prone to give up some bombs tonight, the Orioles have more than a few batters who will be glad to send balls into deep and unplayable territory.

Paulino is right-handed, so against him the Orioles are sending out members of the "sucks against lefties" contingent like Nick Johnson, Wilson Betemit and Chris Davis. All of those three fellows could stand to pump up their stats with a breakout game. Whether they are capable of having one against Paulino tonight is something we will find out.

This is a game the team needs to win if they want to maintain their position in the standings for more of the season.

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GC24 watched the Wei-Yin Chen and the Orioles shut down the New York Yankees last night from section 12.

Baltimore Orioles (23-14, T-1^st AL East) @ Kansas City Royals (15-20, 4^th AL Central)

After a rather grueling homestand against some of the American League’s better teams, the O’s hit the road for five games. They’ll start with two games in Kansas City. The Royals are currently 15-20 (winners of 4 straight and 7-3 in their last 10), but they sport the MLB’s worst home record at 4-13. Can the Orioles end the winning streak and extend their home woes?

The O’s survived Monday’s poor showing (both defensively and from the pitching) and recovered to deal CC Sabathia his first loss of the season. The victory ensured the Orioles kept a least a share of the AL East for yet another day. They also did it free of any known cases of Icy Hot abuse. Sweet deal! Meanwhile, Kansas City has won three straight series (Boston, Chicago, and Texas) with some solid offensive performances. It’ll be up to Hunter and Matusz (plus the bullpen) to quell the uprising.

Tonight’s game will be at 8:10pm (we’re in Central time now!). It’ll boast a pitching matchup of Felipe Paulino and Tommy Hunter. Tomorrow’s game will be at 2:10pm. Probably starters are Luke Hochevar and Brian Matusz.

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The Orioles finish off "the Gauntlet" 9-6. Good stuff. On to Kansas City and then Washington for a battle of some of the most hyped prospects of the last decade.

School of Roch: Getting a charge out of the Orioles' battery Chen! Chen! Chen! Chen!

Steve Melewski: Checking in on a busy day of O's minor league transactions I really think Duquette's got a large device in his office like the George Michael Sports Machine with large "DL", "Option" and "Waive" buttons

Orioles await MLB decision on Nationals' request for rights fees increase from MASN - baltimoresun.com Angelos v. Lerner: Battle of the Beltway.

Luis Ayala, Jim Johnson, Matt Wieters, and the surprising Baltimore Orioles - Grantland This piece generated some heat in the post game thread, so I am re-posting.

Peter Schmuck: Orioles' priority should be keeping Jones and Wieters - opinion - Modbee.com The Schmucker bangs the drum...slowly.

Portland’s versatile Ryan Flaherty realizing a dream by playing for Baltimore Orioles — Bangor Daily News Know your rookie!

PressBox: Ghiroli's Tweets Augment Orioles' Victorious Tunes Know your beat writer!

Sounds like someone put Icy-Hot in Stephen Strasburg’s jock | HardballTalk Flash forward: Jim Palmer's keys to the game...

On this day in 1954, Don Larsen salvaged a split against the Yankees in a doubleheader drawing a record 46,796 to Memorial Stadium. In 1965, Jim Palmer picked up his first win keyed by his own home run off of Jim Bouton; Palmer was released by the Orioles exactly 19 years later. In a 1999 rout of the Rangers, Mike Bordick has 4 hits and Albert Belle hits two home runs; no starter has less than two hits. In 2000, while serving as coaches for the Dodgers, Rick Dempsey and John Shelby become involved in a melee with Cubs fans after one takes Chad Kreuter's batting helmet and hits him in the back of the head.

It's the birthday of Ivanon Coffie and Nick Bierbrodt.

The Orioles snapped their mini-losing streak, splitting the brief two-game series with the Yankees by winning the finale, 5-2. Wei-Yin Chen outdueled CC Sabathia with an outstanding seven-inning gem, holding the Yanks to just four hits and two (controversial) runs. The O's backed him with single runs in five innings, with all but one batter reaching base at least once.

Earlier in the week, the forecast was predicting rain in Baltimore tonight, but as it turned out the weather couldn't have been more perfect. Temperatures in the 70s, not a drop of rain. It was a beautiful night for baseball. And you know what else is beautiful? Wei-Yin Chen. Uh, by which I mean, Wei-Yin Chen's pitching. ...Not that's he not a handsome man, mind you, but...er, that is...let's just move on.

Chen, who pitched well against the Yankees in his major-league debut on April 10, upped his game even more tonight. He was locked in from the get-go, mixing his fastball, changeup, and slider effectively to keep Yankee batters off balance. He mowed through a perfect first inning, then shook off a leadoff walk in the second to keep the runner stranded.

Meanwhile, the O's offense had a tough task in facing half-human, half-walrus CC Sabathia, but they actually managed to hit him pretty well tonight. Adam Jones got the party started, opening the second with a towering homerun into the left-field seats, his team-leading 11th.

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