EditorsNote: Fixed Kennedy saves (22) in 5th graf
Nicky Lopez and Nick Dini homered on back-to-back pitches starting the seventh inning, and that helped the visiting Kansas City Royals defeat the Baltimore Orioles 5-4 on Monday night.
The victory ended a two-game losing streak for the Royals while Baltimore has dropped eight consecutive games.
Kansas City scored three in the sixth and was up 3-2 when Lopez homered on the first pitch of that seventh inning off Gabriel Ynoa. Dini followed with his solo shot on the next pitch. That was Dini's first major league home run and gave the Royals a three-run lead.
Kansas City starter Jorge Lopez (2-7) turned in one of his best performances this season, giving up one run on two hits in five innings.
Ian Kennedy came on in the ninth and closed it for his 22nd save despite allowing a home run.
Baltimore left-hander John Means (8-9) had been working on some mechanical things after struggling since the All-Star break. Means kept the Royals hitless through five innings before running into trouble.
The Orioles took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Jace Peterson singled to lead off the inning, then scored when DJ Stewart doubled to deep right two batters later.
The Royals rallied after getting that first hit -- by Lopez -- in the sixth. Lopez went from first to third on a throwing error by second baseman Hanser Alberto. He scored on a Whit Merrifield single that made it 1-1.
Two batters later, Hunter Dozier lined a two-run single that gave the Royals a 3-1 lead. Means then walked Jorge Soler to load the bases with no outs, but Ynoa came on in relief and retired the next three.
Jake Newberry came on for Kansas City in the sixth, and Jonathan Villar greeted him with a solo homer to right-center that made it 3-2. The Orioles threatened later in the inning but a base-running miscue ended that.
Lopez and Dini then homered on those consecutive pitches to start the seventh to give the Royals a 5-2 lead. Stewart added an RBI single in the bottom half for the Orioles, who also got a solo homer from Rio Ruiz in the ninth.
--Field Level Media
