One night after fisticuffs broke out between the Orioles and Kansas City Royals, the two teams shifted their focus back to baseball June 8, with the O's riding righty Chris Tillman's superb start to a 4-0 win and a series sweep.
Coming into the game, there was some speculation the Orioles might try to retaliate against the Royals after Yordano Ventura's brawl-inciting plunking of Manny Machado June 7. However, such retaliation would've been out of character for a Buck Showalter-led ball club. During the Showalter era, the O's have rarely -- if ever -- been known to get into beanball wars or escalate tensions with other clubs. When in-game conflicts do occur, the Birds don't let the bad blood linger into subsequent games, instead preferring to get back to business on the field.
"There's a lot of things going on, emotions," Showalter said. "But once you get in there in the game, it's about the competition and trying to win. Sometimes the greatest emotions show themselves in silence, so to speak. I still think your actions speak pretty loud. You don't have to talk a lot about it."
