masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgIf the Orioles make it into the playoffs, and they still have a steep hill to climb, they can point to last night’s 12-inning win as the launching point.
They looked like a team headed to its fifth straight loss. I was tracking the Tigers game on my laptop and knew they were about to move 1 1/2 games ahead of the Orioles for the second wild card.
That was before Pedro Alvarez woke up the offense with a solo home run in the eighth inning. I adjusted the final score in my story. And before Matt…

If the Orioles make it into the playoffs, and they still have a steep hill to climb, they can point to last night’s 12-inning win as the launching point.

They looked like a team headed to its fifth straight loss. I was tracking the Tigers game on my laptop and knew they were about to move 1 1/2 games ahead of the Orioles for the second wild card.

That was before Pedro Alvarez woke up the offense with a solo home run in the eighth inning. I adjusted the final score in my story. And before Matt Wieters tied it in the ninth with a home run. I began deleting whole paragraphs. And before Mark Trumbo’s walk-off home run in the 12th.

I threw together a new top to the story, updated some stats, made sure I didn’t repeat the first names of players as I rearranged other graphs, filed and raced downstairs to manager Buck Showalter’s postgame press conference.

orioles-walk-off-trumbo.jpgShowalter wanted to know the time of game – exactly four hours – and expressed the usual amusement at the rewrites that he knew were necessary after a late comeback.

Also, former college basketball coach Bobby Knight stood in the back of the interview room. Pretty random.

Knight was on the field for batting practice as a guest of Showalter’s, and I really wanted him to throw a chair at the press conference, but no such luck.

The Orioles aren’t thrilled about interleague games in late September, the Diamondbacks following the Rays and Red Sox into Camden Yards for the final home series. And before the Orioles head to Toronto and New York.

One of these things is not like the other.

“It’s part of the adversity,” said third baseman Manny Machado. “Maybe this is going to separate us and put us where we need to be. It’s a tough schedule. It’s been tough all year. It’s been tough the second half of the season and we know it. These last four games that we had against Boston, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. They’re a great team over there.

“This is just part of the adversity. We’ve got to worry about today and just today and forget about the past and move on. We’ve got a couple more games to try to put ourselves back on the map. We’re there. Everyone doesn’t want us there. Everyone is rooting us out, but if we get there, we’re going to roll the good dice and I’m confident with everyone we have in here, we’ll get to where we want to be.”

It’s the getting there part that has fans on edge.

The Orioles gave them something to cheer about last night. It just took a while.

“Extra innings are always brutal,” Trumbo said. “There’s nothing fun about them other than winning, obviously.”

The bullpen was instrumental in the Orioles’ staying on the Tigers’ tail. Six relievers combined for six scoreless innings, some serious baton passing that ended with Oliver Drake’s first major league win.

“Tremendous effort,” Trumbo said. “That’s what fuels us, especially Drake going out there and throwing a clean inning, getting the momentum on our side, the crowd on our side. And that can be a real boost.”

Drake has recorded a strikeout in all 12 of his appearances, totaling 20 in 16 2/3 innings. He was terrible in back-to-back appearances San Diego before the Orioles optioned him, but he hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last four outings over 5 1/3 innings.

The top of the 12th inning was over in the blink of an eye, with Drake retiring the Diamondbacks in order on eight pitches.

“That’s huge,” Drake said, “being able to go out there and retire them in order and get the offense back out there because they can do damage whenever.”

Yovani Gallardo’s effort shouldn’t go ignored. Four straight scoreless innings after the second that resulted in a quality start, but no decision.

“It’s important,” he said. “You never want to have a start in that way, giving up a run in the first, giving up a run in each of the first two innings. It’s going to happen. For myself, the thing is to just leave it right there, to not allow any more runs and give the guys a chance to swing the bat, and it happened.

“I’ve just got to find a way to put zeros up, make some pitches and get out of some jams when I have to. Overall, it was a good team win.”

It was euphoric at the end, with Trumbo mobbed at home plate.

“It’s definitely exciting. It’s fun,” Gallardo said.

“The last four days, it was a bit little rough. That’s how this team is. Never gives up, comes in day in and day out ready to play. Being down two runs throughout the game, then finding a way, finding a way to get the breakthrough, it was exciting.”

Shameless plug alert: I’m appearing on “Wall to Wall Baseball” from noon-2 p.m. on MASN.