Royals’ Paulo Orlando makes history starting career with three triples
Paulo Orlando is taking his opportunity with the Kansas City Royals and running with it – in history-making fashion
The 29-year-old outfielder worked his way onto the Royals’ roster as the 25th man after spending nine seasons in the minor leagues. He was handed his second start of 2015 on Sunday, going 2-for-5 at the plate with two triples in a 9-2 win against the Angels. Add in the triple he had in his debut last Thursday and that makes Orlando’s first three career big league hits all triples.
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According to Kansas City’s VP of communications Mike Swanson, that’s never been done since MLB began officially tracking stats back in 1900:
Realizing a feat that hasn’t been accomplished in over 105 years of baseball just adds to an already cool story. Orlando is the third Brazilian-born player to reach the majors and his road to the show was far from ordinary.
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A track star growing up, Orlando’s prodigious speed is what kept him around all these years and gave him a shot to show the Royals what he could do at the highest level. And he couldn’t have made a better first impression on a team where fellow outfielder Jarrod Dyson coined the phrase “that’s what speed do,” than to kick off his career with three triples.
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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
