Austin Hays extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a two-run homer and the Baltimore Orioles defeated the visiting Kansas City Royals 7-3 on Tuesday night.
Cedric Mullins hit his 27th home run of the season and DJ Stewart also went deep for the Orioles, who earned their third victory in four games. Anthony Santander had two hits and scored twice.
Mike Baumann, recalled from Triple-A Norfolk earlier in the day, allowed only an unearned run in 3 2/3 innings of relief for the win in his major league debut. The 25-year-old allowed two hits, walked one and struck out one.
Carlos Santana homered for the Royals, who had won three of four. Kansas City’s Nicky Lopez and Edward Olivares had two hits apiece.
Jackson Kowar (0-3) allowed six runs on five hits and four walks in six innings for the Royals. He struck out seven.
Orioles starter Alexander Wells gave up two runs on five hits over four innings. He fanned two and walked two.
Trailing 7-2 entering the eighth inning, the Royals got the tying run to the plate. Salvador Perez led off with a single and Andrew Benintendi walked with two outs. After Dillon Tate replaced Baumann, Olivares reached on an infield single, loading the bases.
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Third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez couldn’t handle Michael A. Taylor’s grounder and a run scored, but Tate struck out pinch hitter Ryan O’Hearn to end the threat.
Mullins and Ryan Mountcastle drew walks to start the Baltimore first. Santander singled, scoring Mullins, and Mountcastle came home on Hays’ groundout. With two outs, Stewart hit a 1-1 changeup to center for his 12th homer of the season, giving the Orioles a 4-0 lead.
The Royals got a run back in the third when Whit Merrifield reached on a fielder’s choice, stole his 39th base of the season and scored on a Lopez single.
In the bottom of the inning, Santander led off with a single and Hays followed with his 16th home run to make it 6-1.
Santana’s 19th homer pulled the Royals within 6-2 in the fourth, but Mullins got the run back for the Orioles with a solo shot in the seventh.
–Field Level Media