Royals, O's eye series win at Camden Yards

After a lengthy rain delay, an offensive outburst from the Kansas City Royals allowed them to even their series against the Baltimore Orioles as they came out on top, 7-3.

The Royals smashed four home runs on the evening, with Alex Gordon belting two, his eighth and ninth of the year. Billy Butler added his team-leading 24th long ball and Salvador Perez connected on his eighth round tripper.

Luis Mendoza (6-8) headed into the seventh inning with a shutout still intact, but fell apart in the frame and left without recording an out. Still, he did enough to earn the win, allowing seven hits, two walks, and three earned runs in six innings of work.

Kelvin Herrera and Tim Collins combined for three scoreless innings out of the bullpen to shut the game down.

For the Orioles, Chris Tillman (5-2) was touched for his worst start of the season, allowing six hits and six earned runs in 5 2/3 innings. Despite the hiccup, Tillman still sits with a respectable 3.40 ERA.

Manny Machado roped an RBI double in the seventh inning to continue his torrid start to the season. He's now 5-for-12 with a double, triple, and two homers in his first three major league games.

The Royals will send Bruce Chen to the mound in the rubber match on Sunday afternoon. Despite being a mainstay in Kansas City's rotation this year (24 starts), Chen has been largely disappointing with a 8-9 record and a 5.51 ERA.

After allowing four earned runs or more in five of his previous seven starts, Chen settled in with one of his better starts of the season on Aug. 7, allowing seven hits and two earned runs over 6 2/3 innings in a 5-2 win over the White Sox.

The former Oriole has not had much success against his old team in his career, going 2-2 with a 5.26 ERA in five starts, allowing 34 hits and 13 walks over just 25 2/3 innings.

The Orioles will answer with Tommy Hunter, who sports a 4-7 record with a 5.55 ERA.

Hunter was the hard-luck loser his last time out, allowing just two earned runs over 5 2/3 innings in a 2-0 loss to the Rays on Aug. 3.

The 26-year-old right-hander has shown some success over the Royals in his young career, going 1-0 with a 3.29 ERA over 13 2/3 innings.

Baltimore has split its eight meetings with the Royals this season.