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Royals rally to clip Orioles

Jul 1, 2008 - 6:17 AM By Sean Burns PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- Miguel Olivo hit a pinch hit home run to tie the game in the ninth inning and Jose Guillen drove in the winning run in the 11th as the Kansas City Royals posted a 6-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Monday.

After Kansas City chipped away at Baltimore's 5-1 lead over the final three innings, Guillen capped the rally with an 11th inning single that brought home Joey Gathright.

"That's a nice come-from-behind one to get," Kansas City manager Trey Hillman said. "We made some good swings, and we got fortunate with a couple of balls left up [in the strike zone]."

The hit, which came off reliever Chad Bradford (3-3), was Guillen's second of the game and gave the Royals a 6-5 lead, which closer Joakim Soria was able to hold on to with a perfect 11th.

Ron Mahay (4-0) earned the win, giving up one hit in two innings of work as Kansas City's bullpen held Baltimore scoreless over the final six innings after starter Zach Greinke departed following a four-run Oriole outburst in the fifth.

"Our guys battled to come back from down 5-1, my job was to hold it for the ninth and 10th," Mahay said. "[Olivo] had a huge home run to tie the game for us...it could have gone either way after that, so we were fortunate to get this one."

After rallying to bring the game to within a run going into the ninth, Kansas City was down to its final strike against Oriole closer George Sherrill, but Olivo hit the lefty's 0-2 offering into the left field stands to forge a 5-5 tie.

The blown save was the second straight for Sherrill, who took the loss Sunday against the Washington Nationals when he gave up a two-out, two-run walk off home run.

"(Sherrill) has got good stuff, he's been pitching great all year, he just left one up," said Olivo, who was Sherrill's teammate when both played in Seattle. "That's baseball. I just tried to go out there and see one, and make it work."

"I didn't worry yesterday, I don't worry today," Baltimore manager Dave Trembley said of his closer.

Kansas City started the comeback in the sixth, with John Buck and Mike Aviles knocking RBI singles to bring the visitors within two.

With two outs in the top of the seventh, Oriole pitcher Dennis Sarfate let the ball slip from his glove for a balk, which brought Jose Guillen in from third to make it a one-run game, leading to Olivo and Guillen's heroics.

After struggling for four innings against Greinke, the Orioles took their big lead off five hits in a six batter stretch. Alex Cintron and Aubrey Huff had RBI doubles hits for the Orioles, while Nick Markakis and Kevin Millar added RBI singles after Adam Jones got things started with a one-out triple.

"I made some good pitches, and some bad ones," Greinke said. "[In the fifth], if it wasn't a perfect pitch, they hit it hard. Now I know what it's like to be bailed out."

Oriole catcher Ramon Hernandez hit his seventh home run of the season in the third inning.