O's game blog: Going for another win in Kansas City

KANSAS CITY - After their biggest offensive game of the year, the Orioles are back at Kauffman Stadium tonight looking for another win in this series. The Orioles (45-89) have won four of their last five and six of nine games.

Friday night, they set season highs in runs and hits (21) as Hanser Alberto went 5-for-6, raising his average to .324. That average ranks third-best in the American League and seventh in Major League Baseball. Pedro Severino added a four-hit night, going 4-for-6 with RBIs. Five Orioles had multi-RBI nights as they went 21-for-43 at the plate and 10-for-22 with runners in scoring position. That was the Orioles' most hits with RISP since they went 12-for-23 on Aug. 16, 2015 versus Oakland.

Alberto set career high with his five hits to produce the third five-hit game by an Oriole this season (also Anthony Santander on Aug. 25 versus Tampa Bay and Renato Núñez on Aug. 14 in New York against the Yankees). He's the first O's third baseman with a five-hit game since Manny Machado on July 7, 2014 at Washington. Over his last 34 games, Alberto is batting .379 with eight doubles, a triple, five homers and 19 RBIs.

Over the last five games, the Orioles have scored 35 runs and hit eight home runs going 18-for-47 (.383) with RISP.

On the mound tonight, right-hander Dylan Bundy (6-13, 4.98 ERA) will try to give the Orioles their fifth quality start in the last 10 games. John Means gave up two runs over seven innings last night and that was Baltimore's 33rd quality start. The O's are 21-12 with a quality start and 14-1 the last 15 times they got one.

Two starts ago Bundy allowed one run and five hits over seven innings against Kansas City. He's allowed three earned runs over 12 innings his last two games. Bundy is 1-2 with a 4.03 ERA in five August starts and has allowed just two homers over 29 innings. Bundy made a team-leading 31 starts in 2018 and his 25 starts leads the club this year.

Right-hander Jorge López (2-7, 6.56 ERA) has made 33 appearances and 12 starts for Kansas City. His last game came out of the bullpen when he gave up five runs over 1 2/3 Monday against Oakland. His last start was against the Orioles and he gave up one run over five innings, getting the win against Means on Aug. 19 at Oriole Park.

Lefty batters hit .339 off him and right-handers bat .234. In 16 home games, López is 0-4 with an ERA of 8.92 and 1.848 WHIP. The Royals are 2-10 in his 12 starts.

Kansas City (47-89) has lost eight of 10, 12 of 16 and 25 of its last 33, falling to a season-high 42 games under .500. With 26 games remaining, they must finish the season 16-10 or better to avoid losing 100 games in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2004-06.

The Orioes are 3-1 against the Royals on the year and snapped a seven-game losing streak at Kauffman Stadium Friday, posting their first win since April 23, 2016.