Royals hope bats heat up again vs. generous Orioles

The Kansas City Royals had eight total hits in back-to-back setbacks before breaking loose in the opener of a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles.

The Royals will try to follow an 11-hit effort from an 8-2 victory Friday when they again host Baltimore on Saturday afternoon.

The scoring output was Kansas City’s second-highest of the young season. Most of the time, the Royals’ bats have been silent.

Manager Matt Quatraro made it clear he hasn’t been reaching for the panic button.

“Six games into the season certainly was not the time to worry,” Quatraro said after Game No. 7, a contest in which Kansas City scored four runs with two outs.

Maikel Garcia and Vinnie Pasquantino each drove in three runs for the Royals. Garcia had a go-ahead two-run single in the fourth inning and an RBI double in the eighth.

The hit that lifted Kansas City into a 3-2 lead was important to Garcia.

“It was a situation game, and I was just trying to put the ball in play and see what happens,” he said.

Pasquantino capped a five-run eighth inning with a three-run single that dropped inside the right field line.

“There were some good at-bats,” Quatraro said. “Being able to expand there in the eighth was nice.”

Baltimore has dropped three straight games and has been outscored 19-6 during the stretch.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said he wasn’t thrilled with his club’s defense.

A misplay by Heston Kjerstad on Salvador Perez’s drive into the left-center-field gap gifted Kansas City a run in the first inning. Shortstop Gunnar Henderson committed an error in the fourth on another ball hit by Perez that led to an unearned run.

“We have to get better defensively,” Hyde said. “We’ve been pretty good the past few years, and that’s something we need to get back to. We have to make the routine play and throw to the right base.”

Henderson, the Orioles’ star, made his season debut and was 1-for-4. He missed the first seven games of the season due to a right intercostal strain.

Hyde felt Henderson’s at-bats were solid.

“First at-bat, he hits a bullet up the middle right at (shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.),” Hyde said. “Showed his athleticism on the infield single. His first game, he’s just kind of getting into a groove now.”

Kjerstad was the only Baltimore player with multiple hits. He was 2-for-3 with one RBI.

Royals right-hander Michael Wacha (0-1, 2.25 ERA) will take the mound on Saturday. He pitched four innings in his first turn Sunday and took the loss against the Cleveland Guardians. He gave up one run, four hits, four walks and struck out two as Kansas City fell 6-2.

Wacha, 33, is 3-1 with a 5.21 ERA in 11 career starts against the Orioles, including a no-decision last season when he allowed three runs and three hits over five innings.

Ryan Mountcastle is 8-for-19 with three homers and Cedric Mullins is 8-for-20 with two blasts against Wacha, who has shut down Henderson (1-for-11).

Japanese right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano (0-1, 4.50 ERA) will be on the mound for the Orioles. He lost to the Toronto Blue Jays in his major league debut Sunday and left after warming up for the fifth inning due to cramping in both hands. Baltimore lost 3-1.

Sugano told reporters through an interpreter that he occasionally had the same issues during his 12-season stint in Japan with the Yomiuri Giants.

Sugano, 35, gave up two runs and four hits over four innings against Toronto. He walked two and fanned one.

–Field Level Media