Infielders contribute to caught-stealing success

BALTIMORE -- When catcher Matt Wieters threw out Tampa Bay's Desmond Jennings on a stolen-base attempt Thursday, it raised the Orioles' MLB-best caught stealing percentage to 80 percent (8-of-10). Wieters has thrown out 7-of-9 runners, while Taylor Teagarden threw out the only baserunner he faced.

Baltimore's catchers have thrown out more would-be base stealers than the next two best American League clubs combined -- Cleveland has four and Houston has three.

"Do you know how hard that is? To catch a ball, frame it for a strike, try not to get up too quick and block the umpire, throw accurately to second base, second baseman or shortstop catches the ball and tags him," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "J.J. [Hardy] is a great tagger. [Ryan] Flaherty had a great tag the other day. That's a tool we talk about with the infielders. What kind of tagger are they? There are some guys who aren't very good taggers."