Nevin’s 3-run homer lifts Orioles over Royals 6-4
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Tyler Nevin hit a three-run homer, rookie Adley Rutschman had his first three-hit game and the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Kansas City Royals 6-4 on Saturday.
Nevin's second homer this season was a 425-foot drive to center that gave the Orioles a 4-3 lead in the sixth. The home run drove in Ryan Mountcastle and Rutschman, who raised his average to .190 and showed speed when he scored on an eighth-inning wild pitch.
A son of new Los Angeles Angels manager Phil Nevin, Tyler Nevin was selected by Colorado with the 38th overall pick in the 2015 amateur draft and was traded to Baltimore in 2020. He drove in a run for the first time since he was recalled from Triple-A on June 3.
“We just locked it in and picked up the intensity in that inning,” Nevin said. “I feel like the last 30 at-bats I'm feeling really comfortable. The numbers aren't quite there because of the slower start.”
Cedric Mullins and Austin Hays drove in runs for the Orioles.
Kansas City's three-game winning streak was stopped. The Royals have not won four in a row this season.
Royals starter Daniel Lynch (2-6) gave up four runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings, tying a career-high with seven strikeouts.
“Really, really frustrating,” Lynch said.
Tyler Wells (3-4) gave up three runs and five hits in six innings.
“It certainly felt good to go deep into a game,” Wells said. “Being able to give our team a chance to win that was the big thing for me. I just wanted to go out there and compete despite not having my best stuff.”
Salvador Perez had an RBI double in the third as the Royals scored in the first inning for the third time in four games. Perez is batting .400 with three home runs and 13 RBIs in his last eight games.
Kyle Isbel, Emmanuel Rivera and Michael A. Taylor added RBIs for the Royals.
“We had five really good innings,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “In the sixth, everything hit the wall and it happened really fast. That home run turns the game over, but up to that point I thought it was really good."
Former Royal Jorge López worked around Bobby Witt Jr.'s one-out single in the ninth for eighth save in 10 chances.
“I thought we were flay early and didn't really like how we came out of the game offensively,” Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said. “We got the bats going and swung them a lot better the second half of the game.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Orioles: INF Ramón Urías was placed on the 10-day injured list (left oblique strain) and INF Richie Martin's contract was selected from Triple-A.
UP NEXT
The Orioles send RHP Dean Kremer (0-1, 6.23 ERA) to the mound against RHP Brad Keller (1-7, 4.19 ERA).
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