Cole Irvin took a shutout into the seventh inning as the Baltimore Orioles beat the host Kansas City Royals 5-0 on Sunday afternoon to win the season series.
Irvin (1-1) escaped first-inning trouble, then limited Kansas City to just three singles and a walk before turning things over to the bullpen with two outs in the seventh.
In his longest outing since Sept. 17, 2022, Irvin pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out two.
Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg opened the second inning with back-to-back homers to give Baltimore a 2-0 lead. It was the fifth home run of the year for both Cowser and Westburg.
Two batters after Westburg went deep, Gunnar Henderson nearly added a third home run in the frame with a ringing double off the top of the right field wall that was reviewed by umpires to determine if it might have cleared the railing. Henderson’s liner had an exit velocity of 109.1 mph.
Baltimore expanded its lead in the sixth, as Ryan Mountcastle followed Anthony Santander’s one-out triple with a first-pitch double to left. Right-hander Seth Lugo (3-1) exited after walking Cowser to load the bases, and reliever Angel Zerpa walked Westburg for a 4-0 Orioles advantage.
Westburg, Mountcastle and Cedric Mullins each collected two of Baltimore’s 11 hits.
Lugo threw 5 1/3 innings, allowing four runs on nine hits and a walk. It was his shortest outing of the year and snapped a string of seven consecutive quality starts dating back to Sept. 15, 2023. He fanned one — his fewest strikeouts as a starter since Sept. 27, 2020.
Three relievers combined to allow one hit over the final 2 1/3 innings, finishing the Orioles’ first shutout of the season as Baltimore concluded its season series with Kansas City, winning four of six games.
The Royals were shut out for the first time this year.
–Field Level Media
