With the game tied at 2 heading to the bottom of the eighth, it wasn’t right-handers Brad Brach, Darren O’Day or even Mychal Givens on the mound. Givens pitched the inning before, and the others didn’t warm up. Left-hander Donnie Hart, another late-inning regular, didn’t warm, either.
Instead it was left-hander Vidal Nuno, and he gave up the game-winning double to Eric Hosmer in the eighth, as the Kansas City Royals beat the Orioles 3-2, before 25,467 at Kauffman Stadium.
After the game, manager Buck Showalter wouldn’t specify who he had available to pitch, but it was fairly obvious who he meant.
“I had two guys I wasn’t going to use tonight. Only one of them in a save situation. We were thin, trying to back off some guys and get their legs back under them,” Showalter said.
