Lightning strikes as O's Paredes steals home
BALTIMORE -- Jimmy Paredes made a mad dash for the plate on Wednesday and slid headfirst with the Orioles' first steal of home since Aug. 28 of last season.
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With runners on the corners and no outs in the fourth inning of a 5-4 victory over the Astros, Adam Jones attempted to steal second base, and the Astros' Marwin Gonzalez cut off the throw from catcher Jason Castro. Upon the release of Castro's throw, Paredes took off for home and just got under the tag.
"Our two players, Adam and Jimmy, executed the play perfectly," manager Buck Showalter said. "Hats off to them. That's how it all came about, because they executed it perfectly.
Jones had been the last Oriole with a steal of home, also as part of a double steal, on Aug. 28 against Tampa Bay. Following a Paredes double to lead off the inning, Jones made it possible for the double steal with a bunt down the third-base line that advanced Paredes to third.
"Jonesie is the type of player that can do a lot of different things and it was wide open for him right there and he took advantage of it," Chris Davis said.
The double steal tied the game at 1 and was the beginning of a four-run fourth, as Davis and Steve Pearce followed with back-to-back home runs to give Baltimore a 4-1 lead.
Davis hit a long, two-run home run to right field and Pearce connected to left. It was the Orioles' first back-to-back home run sequence of the season. The first baseman was at the plate when Paredes took off for home, and got a first-hand look at his teammate's effort to slide in safely.
"With Buck it's never out of the question to do something like that," Davis said. "When I saw Adam take off and I saw the throw go down to second, I took my eyes off the second baseman or the shortstop and I looked at Jimmy so I didn't really see what the shortstop did. But Jimmy did a great job of getting to the outside and getting his hand in. ... Little things like that can put the momentum back in the team's dugout."