Paulo Orlando’s magic bat powers Royals to 8-4 win over Red Sox

Paulo Orlando needed seven games to record five triples upon his major-league debut last season. The first this season came in his 18th game.

So did his first home run.

Batting from the No. 9 spot, Orlando had one of the best games of his two-year career in the majors, getting four RBIs in the Royals’ 8-4 victory over the Red Sox before 25,215 in the series opener Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium.

A two-run bomb in the eighth — the ball traveled over the Royals bullpen and landed 408 feet away — put the game away.

In the only plate appearance that didn’t result in a hit, Orlando smoked a ball to first baseman Hanley Ramirez. A few inches to the left and Orlando might have hit for the cycle.

“I tried to, but they had a pretty good defense on the line,” Orlando said. “But I’m pretty happy for my first triple and my first homer.”

The victory pulled the Royals to 19-19 and marked their first winning streak — they defeated the Braves on Sunday — since April 21-22.

Orlando’s third-inning triple got things started. He glided into third standing up after his line shot reached the right field wall, and he scored on Alcides Escobar’s grounder to short to open the Royals’ scoring.

Two innings later, Orlando struck again. Not a three-bagger but a solid single against a drawn-in infield. The shot past shortstop Xander Bogaerts was the fourth straight single in the inning, and this one scored Cheslor Cuthbert and Omar Infante — Infante’s base hit drove in Salvaor Perez — and extended the Royals lead to 5-1.

Orlando’s big night continued his case for more playing time in right field. He’s in a platoon situation with Jarrod Dyson, but has been swinging a hotter bat, a .298 average entering the game compare to Dyson’s .217.

“I’m here for anything,” Orlando said. “They know what I can do to help the team.”

Orlando’s early heroics helped stake the Royals to a 5-1 lead, which nearly disappeared by the end of the sixth. Dustin Pedroia opened the inning with a single but remained at first two outs later.

But that is when Royals starter Yordano Ventura lost it. He hit Hanley Ramirez with a pitch then left a fast ball over the plate that Travis Shaw powered over the right field wall to make it 5-4.

Ventura got one more batter and he walked Jackie Bradley Jr. Despite an economical 88 pitches, Ventura was out.

“He felt really good and thought he was locating really well,” said Royals coach Pedro Grifol, interpreting for Ventura. “He made one bad pitch, and that was it.”

Mashing is what the Red Sox do. Over their previous seven games, they averaged 10.4 runs and 14.4 hits, and according to Elias Sports Bureau, that’s the third highest scoring average in baseball since 1900 for a homestand that lasted at least seven games.

Their 229 runs before Tuesday were 49 more than anybody else in baseball. The Red Sox also entered the game having been successful on 30 of 32 stolen base attempts. But Perez came up big in the eighth when he gunned down Bogaerts attempting to swipe second base with one out.

Despite the loud final inning, Ventura outlasted counterpart Rick Porcello, who entered the game having completed at least six innings in his previous 15 starts dating to last year. That was a Major League best. But when Cuthbert opened the sixth with a double to left for the first three-hit game of his career, Porcello’s night was over.

Ventura breezed through the first five hitters when Shaw singled through the left side in the second.

Up stepped Jackie Bradley Jr., perhaps the game’s hottest hitter. Bradley entered the game riding a 21-game hitting streak. It went to 22 on a double off the left field wall. The relay throw was too late to make a play on Shaw and the Red Sox opened the scoring.

The Royals got one back starting with Orlando’s triple and took the lead on Eric Hosmer’s solo home run, a 406-foot drive to right center. The blast was Hosmer’s seventh. , pulling him into a tie for the team lead with Mike Moustakas.

Before the game, the Royals honored Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, who has announced this will be his final season. This week marks Boston’s lone appearance at Kauffman Stadium.

Ortiz was greeted at the mound by Royals pitcher Edinson Volquez, both from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The gift list: a framed photograph of Oritz, a chair from the 2012 All-Star Game in Kansas City and a gift pack of assorted Kansas City barbecue sauce.

Royals 8, Red Sox 4

a-struck out for Vazquez in the 9th.

E: Bradley Jr. (2), Uehara (1). LOB: Boston 5, Kansas City 7. 2B: Bradley Jr. (10), Cain (2), Cuthbert (3). 3B: Orlando (1). HR: Shaw (6), off Ventura; Hosmer (7), off Porcello; Orlando (1), off Uehara. RBIs: Shaw 3 (29), Bradley Jr. (31), Escobar (12), Hosmer (18), Infante (5), Orlando 4 (5). CS: Bogaerts (1).

Runners left in scoring position: Boston 3 (Bradley Jr., Vazquez, Holt); Kansas City 3 (Cain 2, Hosmer). RISP: Boston 1 for 4; Kansas City 3 for 8. Runners moved up: Escobar, Orlando. GIDP: Pedroia. DP: Kansas City 1 (Escobar, Hosmer).

Porcello pitched to 1 batter in the 6th.

Holds: Herrera (9), Hochevar (6). Inherited runners-scored: Barnes 1-0, Uehara 1-1, Hochevar 1-0. HBP: Ventura (Ramirez). WP: Barnes.

Umpires: Home, Bill Miller; First, Pat Hoberg; Second, Brian Knight; Third, Todd Tichenor. Time: 2:54. Att: 25,215.

This story was originally published May 17, 2016 at 10:20 PM with the headline "Paulo Orlando’s magic bat powers Royals to 8-4 win over Red Sox."