KANSAS CITY, Mo._Roughly two hours before first pitch of the Kansas City Royals' 5-4 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday night, Bill James strongly rebuked a sabermetrician on Twitter.
Mitchel Lichtman had tweeted about the Royals: "I think this is the worst lineup, offense and defense, I've seen in 30 years of analyzing lineups."
James, the noted baseball analyst who lives in Lawrence, Kan., responded forcibly by writing back: "COMPLETELY wrong, Mitchel; just completely wrong. You are confusing 'unproven' with 'bad'. This lineup is VASTLY better than what they were putting out there two months ago."
The Royals were likely unaware of James' words, but they made him a prophet.
After Royals reliever Jason Hammel had coughed up a lead in the eighth inning, left fielder Whit Merrifield hit a walk-off two-run homer for the Royals in the ninth.
Not bad for a young lineup that featured five rookies, and the No. 2-9 hitters had played a combined 540 career games.
Starting pitcher Heath Fillmyer had a second consecutive solid outing, tying a career high with seven innings. He gave up two runs on nine hits and a walk, and his six strikeouts also tied a career best.
Fillmyer wiggled out of a tough spot in the second inning with minimal damage when the Orioles had three consecutive singles and loaded the bases. But after left fielder John Andreoli hit a sacrifice fly, Fillmyer got catcher Austin Wynns to hit into a double play to end the inning.
In the fourth inning, shortstop Tim Beckham hit a solo homer to give the Orioles a 2-0 lead.
Royals right fielder Brett Phillips got that run back with a solo homer to left-center field.
Two innings later, the Royals kept the line moving long enough to take the lead. First baseman Ryan O'Hearn led off with a walk and scored on a one-out double by Brian Goodwin. That tied the game 2-2, and Rosell Herrera's single brought home Goodwin to give the Royals a 3-2 lead.
Hammel couldn't hold it in the eighth inning as Trey Mancini hit a solo homer to open the frame and Beckham hit an RBI double that gave Baltimore a 4-3 lead.
In the ninth, Merrifield bailed out Hammel.
Phillips opened with a walk, moved to second on a bunt by catcher Cam Gallagher and Merrifield drilled his home run to left of Mychal Givens that won it for the youthful Royals.
