Royals drop another one to Orioles

< Previous page

The loss dropped the Royals to 15-20 overall and left them 1-4 at the midpoint of their season-long, 10-game homestand.

The Orioles, 18-18, finished with 12 hits, including two apiece by Markakis, Huff, Kevin Millar, Ramon Hernandez and Freddie Bynum.

They got their final two runs in the seventh against Ron Mahay and Ramon Ramirez.

The Royals jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Gordon followed Mark Teahen’s one-out single with a 409-foot homer over the right-field wall.

Meche surrendered Mora’s game-tying homer in the third after Bynum pulled a one-out double to right. Bynum also ignited the three-run fifth with a leadoff single.

Meche struck out Brian Roberts but committed a throwing error on a pickoff attempt that enabled Bynum to reach second.

That error prompted an intentional walk to Markakis to set up a matchup against Huff, who was three for 20 with seven strikeouts in his career against Meche.

“I’ve never seen (Meche) very well,” Huff said. “I got two strikes, and I was looking heater. But he left a curveball out over the plate and I was fortunate enough to get a piece of it.”

< Previous page

To reach Bob Dutton, Royals reporter for The Star, call 816-234-4352 or send e-mail to bdutton@kcstar.com