masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgIt happened last night. Once anyway.

The Orioles scored a run that didn’t come via a home run.

But of the Orioles last 18 runs, 17 have scored by a homer. In the last 11 games, 27 of 41 runs have come via the longball.

Have the Orioles become too reliant on the home run ball?

“Runs are runs,” manger Buck Showalter said. “You want me to tell them to stop doing it. Knowing who you are and who you’re not. Like to figure out a way to get some people out there when they hit them.”

What…It happened last night. Once anyway.

The Orioles scored a run that didn’t come via a home run.

But of the Orioles last 18 runs, 17 have scored by a homer. In the last 11 games, 27 of 41 runs have come via the longball.

Have the Orioles become too reliant on the home run ball?

“Runs are runs,” manger Buck Showalter said. “You want me to tell them to stop doing it. Knowing who you are and who you’re not. Like to figure out a way to get some people out there when they hit them.”

What about the possibility of trying to manufacture some runs?

“Outs are so precious in the American League,” Showalter said. “People can tell you that crunch all this stuff about giving up outs before the eighth or ninth inning with bunts can be counter productive, but there is a time and place for it.

“This time of year, you don’t want to get too predictable, but am I going to put on a hit and run with Chris Davis? Put a take sign on with him? His contact-to-damage ratio is pretty good.”

The Orioles are 62-49 this year when they hit a homer. They have hit three solo shots in each of the first two games of this series and the O’s are 20-2 when they hit three or more homers.

A few other O’s notes:

* Orioles pitching has allowed just one run on 10 hits in this series and Chicago has no extra-base hits in the two games.

* Today the Orioles are looking for their first three-game win streak since Aug. 6-9 when they won two at San Diego and one at San Francisco. That was 25 games ago.

* J.J. Hardy is 10-for-20 during a six-game batting streak with two homers and four RBIs. He went 0-for-13 in four games before that.

* Chris Davis ended an eight-game homerless stretch last night. He had gone 2-for-21 over his previous six games before going 3-for-4 Friday night. Davis now has 81 homers over the last two seasons and that ties Rafael Palmeiro (1997-98) for most homers in consecutive seasons in club history.

* Scott Feldman pitched his second complete game Friday night in his 127th start. He had one this year on May 1 for the Cubs against San Diego. Over his last four starts, Feldman is 3-1 with a 1.32 ERA. O’s starters have allowed nine hits and one run over 16 innings against the White Sox.