Only baseball has the ability to allow an individual to create his own glory despite what's going on around him. A well-timed home run will deliver a moment. Manny Machado had three such moments against the Kansas City Royals on Sunday, helping the Baltimore Orioles even the series with a 5-3 win.
The rookie sensation was the team's first choice in the 2010 MLB Draft and third overall selection, so his ascension to the Majors has been a quick one. However his power is clearly on display in the Majors after surprisingly hitting just 11 home runs this year in the minors.
"He's never played above Double-A and he comes here and he has three home runs," Royals starter Bruce Chen said. "He's been thrown onto the fire, the team's fighting for a [playoff] spot and he's responded very well. He definitely has the makeup and definitely has the ability. He's going to be a good player for a long time, so we better get used to making good pitches to him."
Royals manager Ned Yost was happy for the overall results of the weekend in Baltimore and came away happy with the road trip despite the sour note at the end.
"It was OK. You know what? We're playing better baseball," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "I thought today's game was OK; we made a couple of mistakes but we played well, This whole trip we played well so I'm anxious to get home and see what we can do there."
The Royals face the Oakland Athletics at home to start this week.
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