Royals come up big to beat Orioles in rain

Maikel Garcia drove in three runs, Vinnie Pasquantino hit a three-run single and Seth Lugo pitched six solid innings to lead the host Kansas City Royals to an 8-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on a rainy Friday night.

Garcia delivered a go-ahead two-run single in the fourth inning and added an RBI double in the eighth for the Royals. Pasquantino and Salvador Perez also had two hits for Kansas City, which halted a two-game losing streak.

Heston Kjerstad had two hits for the Orioles, who lost their third consecutive contest.

Baltimore star Gunnar Henderson made his season debut and was 1-for-4 with an error at shortstop. He missed the first seven games of the season due to a right intercostal strain.

Lugo (1-0) allowed two runs (one earned) and five hits in six innings. He struck out two and walked one.

Baltimore’s Dean Kremer (1-1) gave up three runs (two earned) and eight hits over 4 1/3 innings. He struck out one and walked none.

Kansas City moved ahead to stay in the fourth, and the inning started with Perez’s hard-hit ball that Henderson couldn’t handle for an error. One out later, Cavan Biggio singled to right and both runners moved up a base on Kremer’s wild pitch.

Garcia followed with a two-run single to score both runners and give the Royals a 3-2 edge.

In the eighth inning, Mark Canha laced a double into the right field corner off Baltimore’s Cionel Perez. Garcia followed with a double down the left field line to boost the Kansas City lead to two.

Garcia stole third and MJ Melendez was hit by a pitch. Then Kansas City executed the safety squeeze with Kyle Isbel bunting the ball toward first and Garcia beating the throw home from Ryan Mountcastle.

Bobby Witt Jr. was later walked intentionally to load the bases and Pasquantino followed with a high fly that fell just inside the right field line to clear the bases.

In the first inning, Witt reached on a one-out infield single. One out later, Salvador Perez hit a drive into the left-center field gap; Kjerstad backed off, and the ball fell for a run-scoring double.

Baltimore answered in the second when Ryan O’Hearn draw a walk and Tyler O’Neill hit a double to left to start things off.

Kjerstad followed with a single to left that scored O’Hearn. O’Neill tried to score and Jonathan India’s throw was off to the left of Salvador Perez, who gloved the ball and reached over to tag the standing O’Neill just before his foot touched the plate.

Kjerstad scored later in the inning on a throwing error by Garcia, the third baseman.

–Field Level Media