Mike Moustakas’ team-record nine RBIs leads Royals to 14-6 victory over Baltimore

Midway through a 14-6 Royals victory on Saturday, shortly before Mike Moustakas unleashed a historic barrage of offense against the Orioles, hitting coach Dale Sveum approached him with some mechanical advice. Sveum suggested Moustakas shorten his stride at the plate and not overextend his arms.

Moustakas was hitless on the day, at the time his team trailed by three runs and he resided in the midst of a slight cold spell. After Moustakas adjusted, after he set a franchise record with nine RBI in one game, an observer suggested he should stick with his approach.

“I know, right?” Moustakas cracked.

Moustakas tied the game with a two-run single in the sixth. He blasted the Royals into a comfortable lead with a grand slam in the seventh. As an exclamation point, he added a three-run homer in the ninth. The total left his teammates and his manager in awe.

“He had nine RBI?” manager Ned Yost said. “Wow.”

“That’s a good month,” first baseman Eric Hosmer added.

“It feels pretty good,” Moustakas said. “It feels really good, actually. I went out there trying to what I can to help us win. Guys got on base today. Gave me opportunities to drive in some runs. And I was able to capitalize on that.”

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The resurrection of the Royals – at least, what passes for a resurrection for a team with the best record in its league and a double-digit edge in its division – took place across the sixth and seventh innings when Moustakas came alive.

Dormant until then, the Royals transformed a four-run deficit into a seven-run advantage, erasing the bitterness left from the previous night’s defeat. After Moustakas tied up the game, Salvador Perez put Kansas City ahead with a two-run single of his own to cap a five-run sixth. Moustakas’ slam completed another five-run inning in the seventh.

“A win like this definitely sparks you up a little bit,” Hosmer said.

The outburst led to Kansas City’s second triumph in their previous eight games. The Royals, 84-57, displayed the depth of their lineup and the talent still inherent in their bullpen. Asked to face slugger Chris Davis with the bases loaded in the sixth, Ryan Madson protected a two-run lead by fanning Davis with a change-up.

The strikeout removed stress from the shoulders of Yordano Ventura, who logged 5 2/3 innings with four runs allowed. He yielded a three-run homer to Adam Jones in the third. A night after letting all three batters he faced reach base, Luke Hochevar gave up a two-run homer to outfielder Nolan Reimold in the eighth.

“Hoch didn’t have nothing,” Yost said, with a smile, acknowledging Hochevar’s effort in the process.

Able to breathe after Madson’s one-out cameo, the offense continued chewing up Orioles relievers. Lorenzo Cain contributed an RBI double. With two runners in scoring position, Baltimore manager Buck Showalter elected to intentionally walk Kendrys Morales so lefty T.J. MacFarland could face Moustakas.

Moustakas foiled Showalter’s strategy. He clobbered his 17th home run of the season on an 0-2 slider that hung over the plate. He could not match Baltimore’s two-slam output from Friday, but the Royals still soaked in the moment. All three runners gathered at the plate to greet Moustakas.

“As long as I stick with the approach that me and Dale work on, I feel like I can get to those pitches,” Moustakas said.

The majority of the roster arrived at Camden Yards about 10 minutes past 10 a.m., less than 11 hours removed from the previous night’s 10-run pounding in the eighth inning. Holding a two-run lead, Kelvin Herrera gave up a grand slam. Two pitchers and six batters later, Joba Chamberlain gave up another.

The loss would classify as devastating if the standings did not offer such optimism. Kansas City entered the day with a 10-game lead over Minnesota in the American League Central. At this point, a collapse would be essentially a statistical improbability. The website Baseball Prospectus projects the playoff chances of the team at 100 percent.

The Royals were forced to wait to attempt to reverse their recent downward course. As storm cells roamed over the area, rain showers delayed the first pitch for three hours and two minutes. The skies stayed gray until the night arrived.

Ventura had stumbled in his last outing, being charged four runs in only 5 1/3 innings against Minnesota. The hiccup ended a five-start stretch of dominance, when Ventura bullied hitter on the inner half of the plate with his fastball and missed their bats with his change-up and curveball to rack up strikeouts.

Kansas City sought a similar performance on Saturday. What they received missed the mark, ever so slightly. One fastball to Jones sullied Ventura’s line.

The two teams traded runs in the first two innings. Baltimore loaded the bases in the first. In a harbinger of what would come later, third baseman Manny Machado singled and first baseman Davis reached when a curveball hit his foot. After an infield single by Jones, outfielder Gerardo Parra put the Orioles on the board with a sacrifice fly.

Kansas City answered in the top of the next inning.Hosmer walked and reached second on a ground-out by Morales. A bloop single by Perez tied the game.

Machado and Davis bested Ventura again in the third. Machado ripped a single into center. Davis took first base when Ventura issued a walk.

Jones came up to bat. Ventura missed, down and away, with three off-speed pitches. He gave Jones a chance with a 3-1 fastball down the middle. Jones fouled it off. Jones did not miss the next heater, clocked at 96 mph and far enough for him to extend his hands and crush it.

“I was feeling great,” Ventura said. “I was feeling strong. But one pitch to Adam Jones. He hit a homer. He’s a good hitter. Everybody knows.”

Heading into the sixth, the Royals had not answered. They allowed Chris Tillman, a fine pitcher in years past but a man who entered Saturday with a 5.15 ERA in 2015, to suppress them for five innings. Then, at last, they erupted.

The first link in the run-scoring chain was Alex Gordon. Inserted into the leadoff spot on Saturday, he opened the inning with a walk. Ben Zobrist hit a single. Hosmer cut the deficit into two with a single of his own. After Morales walked, Moustakas came to the plate.

In his last week, Moustakas had hit .238. The matchup appeared to favor Baltimore. Showalter had Brian Matusz, a southpaw, on the mound. But Moustakas smacked a fastball back up the middle to even the score. Perez floated an opposite-field hit into right to give Kansas City the lead.

“I just ended up getting a pitch over the plate I could hit up the middle,” Moustakas said.

Yost had exhausted his bullpen the night before. So he sent Ventura back to the mound for the bottom of the sixth. He gave up a leadoff single to second baseman Jonathan Schoop and walked shortstop J.J. Hardy. When Ventura hit Machado, he loaded the bases and forced Yost to the mound.

Up was Davis, the left-handed-hitting slugger with 41 home runs this season. Davis entered the game hitting .301 against lefties, so Yost opted for Madson’s right arm. Madson conquered Davis in four pitches. Madson spotted a 1-2 change-up, down and away. When Davis swung, his bat only touched the air.

“It was a tremendous change-up,” Yost said. “But that’s his bread-and-butter.”

From there, the spotlight shined on Moustakas.

“This team never quits,” Moustakas said. “It doesn’t matter what happened last night or the day before. We’re going to go out there the next day and try to find a way to win a ballgame. And that’s what this team’s always been built around.”

Royals 14, Orioles 6

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E: A.Escobar (11), A.Jones (3), M.Machado (18). LOB: Kansas City 4, Baltimore 12. 2B: L.Cain (31), K.Morales (41), Rios (17), J.Hardy (11). HR: Moustakas (17), off McFarland; Moustakas (18), off S.Johnson; A.Jones (26), off Ventura; Reimold (5), off Hochevar. RBIs: L.Cain (68), Hosmer (82), Moustakas 9 (71), S.Perez 3 (63), Reimold 2 (15), A.Jones 3 (72), G.Parra (14). SF: G.Parra.

Runners left in scoring position: Baltimore 7 (Wieters, C.Davis 3, Paredes 2, G.Parra). RISP: Kansas City 7 for 11; Baltimore 3 for 12. Runners moved up: K.Morales, Wieters. GIDP: A.Jones, Schoop. DP: Kansas City 2 (Zobrist, A.Escobar, Hosmer), (A.Escobar, Zobrist, Hosmer); Baltimore 1 (Schoop, C.Davis, C.Davis, M.Machado).

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Matusz pitched to 2 batters in the 6th.

Hochevar pitched to 4 batters in the 8th.

Blown save: Matusz (1). Holds: Madson (16). Inherited runners-scored: Madson 3-0, W.Davis 2-0, Matusz 2-2, Roe 2-2. IW: off McFarland (K.Morales). HBP: by Ventura (C.Davis, M.Machado), by M.Almonte (A.Jones).

Umpires: Home, Tripp Gibson; First, Gabe Morales; Second, Sam Holbrook; Third, Mark Carlson. Time: 3:40. Att: 35,439.

AP-WF-09-12-15 2351GMT

This story was originally published September 12, 2015 at 6:49 PM with the headline "Mike Moustakas’ team-record nine RBIs leads Royals to 14-6 victory over Baltimore."