As if the Baltimore Orioles faithful were not stoked after Wei-Yin Chen’s brilliant performance against the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday night, Manny Machado just chimed in with his own from down on the farm.
The Orioles‘ 22-year-old shortstop prospect hit for the cycle Saturday to lead the Bowie Baysox past the Trenton Thunder, 8-7.
Fresh off Friday’s 2-for-5 performance against the Thunder, Machado wasted little time getting started in this seesaw affair.
In the bottom of the second frame, Machado thwacked his fourth triple of the year off Trenton’s starting hurler, Craig Heyer.
The next inning, Machado sparked a four-run onslaught when he hit a double that scored Rhyne Hughes. Machado’s double was his 26th of the season.
After a sixth-inning single off Trenton Reliever Josh Romanski, Machado stepped to the plate in the bottom of the eighth frame with Bowie trailing 7-6.
With Hughes again on base, Machado clubbed his 10th home run of the year to center field to give Bowie an 8-7 lead.
Bowie closer Kyler Newby slammed the door in the ninth to preserve the victory for the Baysox.
Machado finished 4-for-4 with three RBI. To paint a full picture, though, Machado also committed two errors at shortstop (one fielding, one throwing). But these miscues dwarfed in comparison to what this Miami native did with the lumber.
With this outstanding performance, Machado is now batting .262 (102-for-389) with 10 home runs and 57 RBI in 105 games this season. He also has 26 doubles and four triples to go with 13 stolen bases.
Machado is the No. 1 shortstop prospect in baseball, according to MLB.com.
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