With one on and one out in the bottom of the third, Manny Machado stepped into the batter’s box with his team down 2-0 to the Rays. Machado hit a ground ball to third base, a sure inning ending double play that Nick Markakis broke up with a hard slide into second.
What’s the big deal? The Orioles would go on to lose to the Rays 6-2.
Because of Markakis’ hard slide, the very next batter, Adam Jones, was able to hit a 401 foot home run and tie the game at two. If Markakis hadn’t broken up the double play, the inning would have ended before Jones’ bomb.
It ended up not mattering, as O’s pitchers would give up four more runs over the next six innings. But plays like Markakis’s are often the difference between winning and losing.
