Kansas City Royals’ offense delivers late to earn series-opening win in Baltimore
The Kansas City Royals scored just one run through the first seven innings Monday afternoon in Baltimore, but they scratched out two in the eighth inning to take the lead thanks to the combination of clutch hitting and a well-timed and well-placed bloop single.
That rally sparked by Whit Merrifield and with contributions from Nicky Lopez, Salvador Perez, Carlos Santana and an RBI single from Andrew Benintendi proved the pivotal point in the game as the Royals held for a 3-2 win in the opener of a four-game series in front of an announced 11,973 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Benintendi’s sharply hit grounder past the dive of Orioles first baseman Ryan Mountcastle with two outs drove in Perez for what ended up the game-deciding run.
“I just tried to get a pitch I could handle, stay in the zone,” Benintendi said. “I had a feeling that if I was going to get another fastball it was going to be up in the zone, so I had my sights set up there and I got a pitch.”
The Royals (62-75) earned their 34th come-from-behind win of the season, and they improved to 9-3 on the road since Aug. 8.
Former Oriole Hanser Alberto hit a home run for the Royals, and Perez went 1 for 4 with a run scored and drove in the tying RBI in the eighth inning. Hunter Dozier reached base three times via two walks and a hit by pitch.
The Royals scored just one run against Orioles starting pitcher Zac Lowther. The left-hander allowed just three hits and two walks in six innings. Alberto’s solo homer in the fifth provided the lone run.
While the Royals put a man on in each of the first five innings, none advanced past second base.
With the Royals trailing 2-1 in the eighth inning against reliever Conner Greene, Merrifield lined a leadoff double off the right-field wall, his 31st double of the season.
Lopez’s sacrifice bunt advanced Merrifield to third base with one out and brought Perez to the plate. Perez entered the day with the second-most RBIs in the majors behind only White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu.
A 1-0 changeup on the inside part of the plate jammed Perez. However, he muscled it just enough to loft over the infield, which was playing in with Merrifield on third base, and in front of the outfielders in right-center for a game-tying RBI single.
That single moved Perez into a tie for the major-league lead with 103 RBIs this season.
After Edward Olivares flew out, Santana singled to put runners on first and second with two outs. Benintendi singled in the next at-bat.
“Just a great inning of that pressure that we’ve talked about,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “Salvy just figuring out a way to put the ball in play. He just figures out ways to get it done. Whit getting it going. We talk so much about the importance of our situational hitting. Nicky being able to get the bunt down [was important to] just keep that thing rolling.
“It was a really impressive job all the way around by the offense by making the most of a slow start against their starter.”
Royals starting pitcher Kris Bubic limited the Orioles offense to two runs in 5 1/3 innings, though he had to throw 34 pitches to get through the third inning. The Orioles scored one run on two hits and a walk in that inning.
Bubic also gave up a solo home run to Cedrick Bullins in the fifth inning.
“I think overall, I’ll take it, keeping the team in the game, fairly-low scoring and trying to hold it right there,” Bubic said of his outing. “I got off to a good start. Outside of one inning that kind of got a little long — some long (at-bats), feel behind in some counts — I think for the most part I was on the attack the whole day.”
Bubic said he felt like his curveball was a little bit “hit or miss,” but he felt like his fastball was the best it has been in a while and played well in the top of the zone.
Relievers Domingo Tapia (1 2/3), Jake Brentz (one inning) and Scott Barlow (one inning, 11th save) combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings of relief.
The series continues on Tuesday night with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m. Rookie right-hander Jackson Kowar (0-2, 8.18) will start for the Royals, while rookie left-hander Alexander Wells (1-2, 7.71) will start for the Orioles.
This story was originally published September 6, 2021 at 3:27 PM.
