Editor’s Note: We love baseball. We love the Orioles. And we live in Frederick. That’s enough.
Saturday night at Harry Grove Stadium, Baltimore Orioles all-star third baseman Manny Machado played in his first game since suffering a gruesome leg injury on September 23, 2013 against Tampa. He was awesome.
Machado collected three hits (a double, a triple, and another double), seven total bases, and a run scored. During his final plate appearance, the nearly sold-out Keys stadium chanted MAN-NY, MAN-NY. He struck out on a called third strike.
Due to the wet field and rain in the forecast later in the night, the Orioles played it safe and had Machado DH. He batted second.
Former Orioles great and current vice president of baseball operations, Brady Anderson, was in the Keys dugout the entire night, supervising Machado’s first appearance in months.
After his fourth at bat, Machado left to a loud ovation and signed autographs for hundreds of fans that mobbed him near the Keys locker room.
Fans crowd around Manny Machado as he signs autographs in the rain after rehab game in Frederick tonight. #orioles pic.twitter.com/OYuGkRegY4
— Eduardo A. Encina (@EddieInTheYard) April 26, 2014
Machado will stick around with the Keys through the weekend, before the Orioles re-evaluate his situation and decide on where he should go next — Bowie or Norfolk.
Below are my photos from the night. (P.S. – You should really buy this shirt)
Photos
Keys fans wait for Machado to come down the steps for warm-ups.
The double in his first at bat.
Brady Anderson and Machado speak along the steps of the dugout.
See, I’m not the only one who takes photos with an iPad.
All photos by Ian Oland
