Baltimore, MD – Not even three hours, nine minutes worth of rain could cool off the Royals' bats, as Kansas City slammed four home runs and topped the Orioles, 7-3.
Alex Gordon hit two homers, while Salvador Perez and Billy Butler also went deep as the Royals won for the fourth time in five games.
Luis Mendoza (6-8) tossed six scoreless innings before running into trouble in the seventh. In all, the right-hander allowed three runs on seven hits and two walks in six-plus innings.
The Royals took Chris Tillman (5-2) deep three times in the win. Tillman, who saw a career-best four-game win streak snapped, surrendered six runs in 5 2/3 innings.
"I fell behind quite a bit tonight and it's tough pitching from behind, no matter how good your stuff is," said Tillman.
Rookie sensation Manny Machado drove in another run and doubled for the Orioles, who dropped two of three to start this four-game set.
After the long rain delay, Gordon started the game with a bang, crushing his second leadoff home run in three games and spotting the Royals a quick lead.
"We knew he had a pretty good fastball and that's at least what I jumped on early," said Gordon of Tillman. "He started mixing it up later in the game and we just got on him early today."
Kansas City added to its lead in the second after Lorenzo Cain led off with a base hit. Perez followed with a home run for the second straight night, giving the Royals a three-run lead.
Butler continued the hit parade in the third inning when he blasted a towering fly ball over the fence in right-center field to make the score 4-0.
The Royals finally chased Tillman in the sixth inning with a two-out rally. Tillman plunked Perez and walked Jeff Francoeur to end his night, but Miguel Socolovich served up a single to Eric Hosmer, scoring Perez. A delayed steal by Hosmer allowed Francoeur to score and expanded Kansas City's lead to six.
Gordon visited the left-field seats again in the seventh inning with another solo homer. It was his first multi-homer game since September 2, 2007 and the second of his career.
The Orioles showed signs of life in the seventh. Wilson Betemit walked and Chris Davis singled to start the frame. Machado ripped a double down the third-base line to put Baltimore on the board. Omar Quintanilla lined a base hit to center field to score two more and pull the O's within four runs, but Baltimore could not get any closer.
Kelvin Herrera put out the fire in the seventh inning and tossed a scoreless eighth before Tim Collins sealed the game with a perfect ninth.
Game Notes
Tillman matched a career high with three home runs allowed, which he has done four times. The last time he did so was on September 24, 2010 at Toronto...The Orioles unveiled a statue honoring Eddie Murray before the game...Both teams went 2-for-6 with runners in scoring position. The Royals stranded four on base while the Orioles left seven.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.