BALTIMORE _ On a night when the Orioles and Los Angeles Angels combined for 10 home runs, Manny Machado would simply not be denied.
He homered in the third inning to chip away at an early five-run Angels lead, and homered again in the fifth to keep the Orioles moving in the right direction. So, what exactly did you expect when he came up with the Orioles down two and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth?
He hammered a one-out grand slam for his third home run of the night and the Orioles escaped with a 9-7 victory Friday night before 26,185 at Camden Yards.
It was his third grand slam in the past 11 games and it was a huge blow for the Orioles, who were on the verge of falling four games behind in the crowded race for the second American League wild card slot.
What a way to finish a game that certainly didn't start very well.
New Orioles starter Jeremy Hellickson had given up as many as three home runs in a game just once this season and had never given up more, but the Los Angeles Angels apparently failed to read the game notes on Friday night.
They homered four times before Hellickson could get his fifth out of the evening and allowed one more before leaving the game in the fifth inning.
Albert Pujols started the barrage in the first inning with a line drive into the left-field seats that was his 609th career home run. The two-run shot tied him with Sammy Sosa for the most home runs all time by a foreign-born major leaguer and eighth place overall.
The way the ball was flying out of Oriole Park, it didn't look like Sosa's share of that distinction would last the night.
Right fielder Kole Calhoun followed immediately with a shot to center field for his 15th homer of the season, and Hellickson would give up solo homers to C.J. Cron and Kaleb Cowart before the second out of the second inning.
Things were looking pretty grim until the Orioles also discovered that the six-o'clock cloudburst that delayed the start of the game for 42 minutes also turned Camden Yards into a giant pinball machine.
Mark Trumbo got the Orioles on the board with a towering solo shot in the bottom of the second _ his 19th homer of the year _ and Caleb Joseph led off the Orioles third with his eighth homer of the season before Machado made it a one-run game with a two-run moonshot to center. By the end of the evening, Machado would be tied for the club lead with 26 homers and inching closer to team-leader Jonathan Schoop with 81 RBIs.
Hellickson seemed to regain his footing after the fourth Angels homer and retired the next nine batters in order to allow his teammates to creep back into the game, but Mike Trout cranked a two-run shot in the fifth inning.
The Orioles right-hander allowed seven runs on seven hits over 41/3 inning before being replaced by reliever Miguel Castro. Darren O'Day finished up and credit for the walk-off win.
