Manny Machado bounded through the Orioles clubhouse Friday afternoon a little more energetically than usual, and with good reason.
With shortstop J.J. Hardy sitting out with a calf issue suffered the night before, Machado gets to play his natural position in the series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Manager Buck Showalter said he didn’t stick around to see Machado’s reaction after posting the lineup card, but has a good guess of how it was received.
“I started to sneak back around the corner, but I have a sneaking suspicion he does [light up],” Showalter said.