BALTIMORE _ The calendar has turned to June _ with warmer temperatures bringing the promise of balls carrying out in the Baltimore summer heat � and while the Orioles are starting to pile up their power resume, they have been struggling to take the most advantage of their home run hitting ability.
In Tuesday night's series opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Orioles hit four homers for the second time in five games. They have 11 homers in five June games, but have driven in just 15 runs from those home runs.
The Orioles beat the Pirates, 6-5, in 10 innings on Mark Trumbo's walk-off single, a hit that came after the Orioles executed some station-to-station small ball. Center fielder Adam Jones, who hit a one-out single in the 10th, tagged up into scoring position on Manny Machado's deep fly out to the left-field warning track, allowing him to score on Trumbo's hit.
The Orioles' fifth walk-off win of the season showed their resilience. But the Orioles are still built on power, and it was the four homers they hit Tuesday that sent the game into extra innings.
After the Orioles' only runs came on three solo homers, second baseman Jonathan Schoop's two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth off Pirates left-hander Tony Watson _ Schoop's second of the night _ sent the game to extra innings.
This was the month last year when the Orioles set a major league record by hitting 56 homers in June. But eight of their 11 home runs, including each of the last six before Schoop's game-tying shot, were solo shots.
The Orioles offense packed little punch for most of the game, it's only run Seth Smith's leadoff homer in the bottom of the first, but the Orioles eventually displayed their quick-strike abilities following back-to-back homers from Chris Davis and Schoop to open the seventh.
And over the course of the season, the Orioles have struggled to make the most out of the long ball _ 48 of their 80 of their home runs this season, or 60 percent _ coming with the bases empty.
The team's dependence on the home run isn't new. It's a well-known part of the Orioles' identity. Last season, 51.88 percent of their runs were scored on homers, and this year, 48.9 percent have scored by home run (122 of 249).
This weekend against Boston, they hit four homers against Boston left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez on Thursday in a 7-5 win, but didn't score more than three runs in any of their next three games against the Red Sox, handcuffed by Boston's front-line duo of David Price and Chris Sale on the final two nights.
Before this week's short two-game interleague series against the Pirates, the Orioles were held to three runs or fewer in three of their four games this weekend against division rival Boston. And an underachieving Pirates team _ one that entered this series allowing 9.4 hits per game, the second most in the National League _ seemed to be the perfect opponent to help the Orioles offense.
This was the month when the Orioles set a major league record by hitting 56 homers in June. But eight of their 11 home runs, including each of the last six before Schoop's game-tying shot, were solo shots.
Smith hit his second leadoff homer in four games in the bottom of the first inning, taking a 1-1 sinker into the center-field bleachers, but the Orioles did little else against Pirates right-hander Ivan Nova for the next five innings. After Jones followed Smith with a bunt single, the Orioles didn't manage another hit until Jones' one-out single in the sixth.
In the following inning, Davis hit his 13th homer on the first pitch he saw from Nova, an 83-mph changeup, sending it onto the flag court in right field. And as a show of how quickly the Orioles can turn a game, as two pitches later Schoop hit a 0-1 curveball into the left-field stands for his ninth homer of the season.
Schoop's first homer chased Nova from the game, and the Pirates announced later that he left the game with left knee inflammation.
Other than their four homers, the Orioles had just base runners on the before heading into extra innings _ four singles and a walk _ and only one of them, Davis following Schoop's second homer moved beyond first base.
