Nolan Reimold, 2013 Topps Orioles Team Set #BAL-13

I feel very chastened after missing my second straight Vintage Friday, but I have the best of reasons. I didn't make it home from Oriole Park at Camden Yards until about 12:15 this morning, because I stayed until the not-so-bitter end of the Birds' four-hour comeback win over the Royals. Being a first-hand witness to one of the more improbable contests of the year reminded me of  how much excitement and weirdness a fan can experience over the course of a single baseball season. Just last night, the O's treated us to:

-Cuban-born outfielder Dariel Alvarez's first career home run

-A daring first-to-home dash from Manny Machado on a two-out single by Chris Davis, punctuated by a head-first slide and a swipe of home plate, just ahead of K.C. catcher Salvador Perez's tag

-Nolan Reimold's go-ahead grand slam off of the left field foul pole in the bottom of the eighth inning

-Machado greeting reliever Franklin Morales with a solo homer immediately after Reimold's grand slam, making for back-to-back four-baggers against two different pitchers

-Chris Davis responding to a presumably intentional plunking by Morales by slamming his bat into the ground, breaking it in two

-Buck Showalter earning an ejection by unleashing a hellacious tirade against home plate umpire Mark Carlson, who warned both benches after the Davis HBP but refused to eject Morales

-Steve Clevenger (who had pinch hit for Caleb Joseph earlier in the inning) earning a measure of retribution against the Royals by hitting another grand slam in the bottom of the eighth, striking his blow against old Baltimore favorite Joba Chamberlain

So all in all, that added up to a wild 14-8 O's win. In that eventful eighth inning, they tallied ten runs in a single frame for the first time since April 11, 2002, when Geronimo Gil and Mike Bordick sparked a 12-run sixth against the Devil Rays with back-to-back home runs. They also became the first major league team in a decade to hit two grand slams in one inning, and only the seventh team to ever perform that feat. It doesn't quite make up for the indignities of the 2014 ALCS, but it felt good all the same.