Tomoyuki Sugano took a shutout into the sixth inning as the Baltimore Orioles defeated the host Kansas City Royals 8-1 Saturday afternoon.
Gary Sanchez, Tyler O’Neill and Jackson Holliday all drove in two runs as the Orioles halted a three-game losing streak that included an 8-2 setback in Friday night’s series opener. Holliday finished with three of Baltimore’s 12 hits, while O’Neill had the team’s only two extra-base hits with a double and a triple.
Sugano (1-1), in his second big-league appearance, gave up one run on five hits with four strikeouts and a walk in 5 1/3 innings. Bryan Baker, Keegan Akin and Matt Bowman combined for 3 2/3 innings of hitless relief, though Akin issued a pair of walks in his two innings on the mound.
The Orioles scored their first six runs with two outs. They held a 6-0 lead courtesy of a fourth-run sixth inning.
The Royals, who managed only five hits, scored on Bobby Witt Jr.’s solo home run in the sixth inning off Sugano. It was the All-Star slugger’s first homer of the season.
Royals starter Michael Wacha (0-2) struck out five in 5 2/3 innings, but he was charged with two of Baltimore’s runs in the sixth while allowing four runs and six hits overall.
The Orioles went up 2-0 in the second inning on Sanchez’s two-out single — his first hit of the season.
The Royals put their first two batters on in the fifth with Hunter Renfroe’s infield single and MJ Melendez’s single, but neither moved up on the bases as Sugano recorded the next three batters.
Then Baltimore extended its lead with three two-out, run-producing hits in the sixth. Heston Kjerstad and Ramon Urias each drove in a run with singles and Holliday tacked on a two-run single.
In the seventh, O’Neill ripped a two-run triple for the only Baltimore runs in the game to come with less than two outs.
–Field Level Media
