Orioles starter Miguel Gonzalez retired the first two Royals he faced in the first inning tonight and gave up a cheap double to Billy Butler.
I say "cheap" because Butler slapped at the ball and sent it bouncing down the right field line. Looked pretty harmless leaving his bat. Turned out to be quite harmful.
The next two batters delivered RBI singles - Salvador Perez to center field and David Lough to right - to put the Orioles in an early 2-0 hole.
The Orioles also fell behind in the first inning last night. It's now a trend.
There's no way to put a positive spin on a road trip that could end with the Orioles losing three of four games in Kansas City. A long way to go tonight, but just saying...
Matt Wieters singled in the top of the second, making him 10-for-18 in his last five games and 12-for-26 in his last seven.
The Red Sox were rained out tonight, which alters their rotation for the three-game series at Camden Yards that begins Friday night. They will now send John Lackey, Ryan Dempster and Jon Lester to the mound.
Update: The Royals scored another run in the second on two hits and a sacrifice fly by Alex Gordon. They lead 3-0 as the game moves to the bottom of the fourth.
Gonzalez gave up one earned run in each of his last three starts. He's allowed three tonight.
Update II: The Orioles scored their first run off Jeremy Guthrie with two outs in the fifth inning. Henry Urrutia collected his first major league extra-base hit, a triple, and he trotted home on Brian Roberts' double.
Urrutia isn't a smooth runner. We were told he needs work in that department, and it showed. But he made it to third base.
The Orioles should have scored another run, but left fielder Alex Gordon robbed Nate McLouth with a diving catch to end the inning. At least, that's what the umpires ruled. MASN replays showed that Gordon trapped the ball.
That's a big mistake. Roberts should have scored the second run. Instead, it remains 3-1.
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