BALTIMORE – Adam Jones capped a ninth-inning uprising with a two-run walkoff homer against Joakim Soria, giving the Baltimore Orioles a 5-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.
Jones hit an 0-2 pitch far over the center-field wall to cap a three-run rally. Upon reaching the plate after a joyous trip around the bases, Jones was buried under a wave of teammates celebrating Baltimore's third straight victory.
The Orioles improved to 1-21 when trailing after eight innings.
Baltimore trailed 3-2 entering the ninth. After Soria (3-1) retired the first batter, J.J. Hardy doubled off the glove of third baseman Wilson Betemit. Pinch-hitter Felix Pie then grounded a double inside third base to tie it.
Soria rebounded to strike out Robert Andino before Jones connected.
Alfredo Simon (1-0) worked a perfect ninth in his season debut.
It was the eighth loss in 10 games for Kansas City, now 14-2 when leading after eight innings.
Royals rookie Danny Duffy gave up two runs and five hits over 5 1-3 innings in his second big-league start. The 22-year-old took a three-hit shutout into the sixth before running into trouble trying to protect a 3-0 lead.
Duffy was poised to collect his first win in the majors before Baltimore's ninth-inning rally.
Orioles starter Zach Britton allowed three runs and nine hits in six innings, but the rookie was again victimized by a lack of offensive support. The Orioles had gone three straight games without scoring while Britton was in the game before getting two runs in the sixth.
Britton has a 2.35 ERA overall and has allowed a total of six earned runs over his last four starts, but he's 0-1 in that span.
Britton's streak of 19 straight innings without allowing an earned run ended when three of the first four Kansas City batters singled, including an RBI liner to left by Jeff Francoeur.
Alex Gordon made it 2-0 in the third with his fifth home run, the first yielded by Britton in three starts since May 6.
The Royals added a run in the sixth when Francoeur led off with a single, stole second and scored on a single by Billy Butler. Britton avoided further damage by retiring Gordon on a short fly with the bases loaded and two outs.
In the bottom half, Nick Markakis singled and stole second before Matt Wieters chased Duffy with an RBI double. Louis Coleman promptly threw a wild pitch and yielded a run-scoring single to pinch-hitter Luke Scott.
NOTES: Orioles manager Buck Showalter said both RHP Brian Matusz (oblique) and 1B Derrek Lee (oblique) should be ready to come off the DL on June 1. Matusz will pitch for Triple-A Norfolk on Friday. ... Baltimore 2B Brian Roberts (concussion) saw a specialist in Pittsburgh on Tuesday and is expected to be sidelined for at least three more weeks. ... SS Cesar Izturis underwent surgery on his right elbow Tuesday and will probably miss 6-8 weeks. "If everything goes as planned, he'll be a player for us again this year," Showalter said. ... There was a moment of silence before the game for those killed and injured over the weekend by a tornado in Missouri. ... Butler has hit in 121 straight series, second-longest active streak in the majors behind Markakis (155).
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