masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgThe dugouts didn’t empty tonight at Camden Yards until the final out was recorded. Relievers spilled onto the field in order to get inside their respective clubhouses.
A baseball game was played under peaceful conditions. A pitchers’ duel unfolded between the Orioles’ Chris Tillman and the Royals’ Edinson Volquez. Not a single fastball “got away” from anyone. The list of players awaiting their suspensions didn’t increase.
Ryan Flaherty broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning with a…

The dugouts didn’t empty tonight at Camden Yards until the final out was recorded. Relievers spilled onto the field in order to get inside their respective clubhouses.

A baseball game was played under peaceful conditions. A pitchers’ duel unfolded between the Orioles’ Chris Tillman and the Royals’ Edinson Volquez. Not a single fastball “got away” from anyone. The list of players awaiting their suspensions didn’t increase.

Ryan Flaherty broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning with a bases-loaded, two-run double to right field and Tillman never lost his edge or the lead in a 4-0 victory to improve to 8-1 on the season.

flaherty-swinging-white-sidebar.jpgThe Orioles (35-23) have won seven of eight and moved a season-high 12 games above .500 as they head to Toronto. Tonight marked their second shutout.

Flaherty’s double made him 7-for-22 with a Eutaw Street home run and six RBIs on the homestand. Nice production from the bottom of the lineup.

Adam Jones lifted a sacrifice fly to left field, Hyun Soo Kim delivered an RBI single to center field that drove Volquez from the game, and the Orioles were headed toward their first three-game sweep of the Royals in Baltimore since 2011.

Kim later stole his first major league base.

Tillman didn’t have a quality start in his last two outings after reeling off seven in a row. He served up six home runs in his last two starts, but none tonight.

The Orioles welcomed back the effective Tillman with open arms. Much better than the fists that were flying last night.

Tillman tied his career high with nine strikeouts, the eighth time he’s reached that total, by fanning Cheslor Cuthbert to end the seventh inning and strand two runners. He lasted a season-high 7 1/3 and tied his season high with 110 pitches before Brad Brach replaced him with two on and one out.

Whit Merrifield’s single produced the Royals’ eighth hit and ended Tillman’s night. Brach walked Eric Hosmer with two outs to load the bases before Salvador Perez lined to left.

Brach stayed in the game and registered the last three outs for his second save.

Tillman, who didn’t issue a walk tonight, set down nine Royals in a row after Hosmer’s single with one out in the fourth inning. He was aided in the second inning by a 5-6 double play after Cuthbert’s leadoff double, with Flaherty rushing in to catch Jarrod Dyson’s bunt and firing to second base.

Volquez retired the first seven Orioles before Nolan Reimold doubled in the third. He didn’t give up another hit until Pedro Alvarez followed Jonathan Schoop’s walk with a one-out single in the fifth.

Reimold walked to load the bases and Flaherty muscled up again. Reimold raced home on Jones’ fly ball to Dyson, whose three-hopper to the plate proved insufficient. Kim followed with his RBI single up the middle.