masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgManny Machado said his right groin became an issue for him early in the game Thursday. It may have happened when he slid into second base on a force play after he singled in the bottom of the fourth.

He hopes he can play Friday in the second game of this series.

“It tightened up on me early on in the game and just continued to keep getting stiff on me,” Machado said. “It was one of the slides. Popped up and then ever since then it kept stiffening up every inning.

“Tomorrow, we’ll see…Manny Machado said his right groin became an issue for him early in the game Thursday. It may have happened when he slid into second base on a force play after he singled in the bottom of the fourth.

He hopes he can play Friday in the second game of this series.

“It tightened up on me early on in the game and just continued to keep getting stiff on me,” Machado said. “It was one of the slides. Popped up and then ever since then it kept stiffening up every inning.

“Tomorrow, we’ll see how it goes, how it feels. Sleep on it and see how it feels. Keep working on it and hopefully know something better tomorrow.

“It’s just tight what I feel right now. Just stiffness. Nothing too crazy but we’ll just have to wait and see how it feels tomorrow.”

Machado, who said he never has had this injury before, stayed in the game but eventually was taken out by manager Buck Showalter after he struck out in the bottom of the 11th during the O’s 13-inning loss to Cleveland.

“Tried to keep playing through it,” Machado said. “Wasn’t bad pain. Just keep playing through it and hopefully it would keep getting better, but at that point it didn’t.

“It got out of my hands. Buck came up to me and asked me how I was feeling. I gave him an answer and he took me out of the game. Obviously I told the trainers how I was feeling. Kept grinding it out there. It wasn’t too much of a pain but toward the end of the game it kept getting stiff. As a precaution just get out and hopefully get back in the lineup tomorrow.”

Troy Patton took the loss. He came on with one out and none on in the 13th and gave up a soft single to center, a bunt single and a walk to load the bases. With two outs, Carlos Santana’s two-run double down the third base line put Cleveland ahead.

“It was a really tough inning,” Patton said. “Both those two lefties got on, on weak contact, on really strange contact. So, had two guys on before I even knew what was going on. Was kind of an uphill battle from there.”

He didn’t second guess the pitch he threw for the double to Santana but it didn’t end up where he intended it.

“Location (was poor). It was the right pitch. Got him out front and he just squeezed it into an area because I left it a little high. Just stayed up a bit and he was able to get enough of the barrel to hook it inside the base.

“It’s disappointing because it was my fault we lost, so yeah, definitely disappointing,” Patton said.