BALTIMORE (AP) — Samuel Basallo hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth inning, and the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Kansas City Royals 5-3 in the opener of a three-game series between last-place teams Friday night.
Blaze Alexander also homered for Baltimore.
Jac Caglianone and Isaac Collins hit solo shots for Kansas City, which has lost three in a row and 11 of 15.
Matt Strahm (3-2) entered with the game tied at 3-all and yielded a leadoff single to Pete Alonso. Basallo then hooked a 1-2 slider just inside the foul pole in right for his 15th homer of the season and chucked his bat with both hands toward the Orioles dugout in celebration.
Baltimore led 3-2 entering the eighth, and manager Craig Albernaz allowed starter Brandon Young to stay in with only 77 pitches. But Collins capped an eight-pitch at-bat with a shot to center to chase the right-hander.
Young allowed three runs in seven-plus innings and struck out five.
Rico Garcia (4-1) relieved Young and retired all three batters he faced. Andrew Kittredge worked around Michael Massey's one-out double in the ninth for his third save and second in as many days.
Baltimore took the lead in the second when Jackson Holliday and Gunnar Henderson delivered consecutive RBI singles against Kansas City starter Luinder Avila.
Kansas City tied it with a two-run fourth. Caglianone led off with a shot to right, and Josh Rojas’ two-out double scored Massey.
Alexander hit his fourth homer of the year in the fourth off Avila, who allowed three runs in five innings and struck out three.
Kansas City LHP Noah Cameron (5-6, 4.77 ERA) faces Baltimore RHP Kyle Bradish (5-9, 3.75) on Saturday.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
Pickleball Read morePickleball
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.