O's game blog: Looking for a series win in K.C.

The Orioles picked up their first post-All-Star Game win when they recorded an 8-4 victory at Kansas City last night. The Orioles evened this three-game series at a win each with their first victory since July 6 at Camden Yards versus Toronto.

Four Orioles had multi-hit games, Cedric Mullins doubled twice and is batting .318, while Ryan Mountcastle and Ramón Urías drove in two runs each. The Orioles had scored just 13 runs over the previous five games, going 5-for-42 with runners in scoring position. Then last night, as they scored two runs in the second and five in the third to lead 7-0, they went 7-for-14 on the night with RISP.

The Orioles (29-62) had lost five in a row and eight of nine heading into Saturday's game. And they were just 4-26 in their last 30 road games until picking up this victory.

The Baltimore bullpen combined for 4 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits with one walk and three strikeouts. It was just the fourth time in the last 22 games the O's bullpen recorded a scoreless game.

The Orioles have won five of their last 11 games away from Camden Yards since June 25, on the heels of a 20 consecutive road losses from May 11-June 24. They won at Kauffman Stadium for just the seventh time in their last 26 regular season games since 2013 and for the first time since Aug. 30, 2019.

Trey Mancini tripled in the fourth inning to produce Baltimore's first three-base hit since June 1 versus Minnesota by Mullins, snapping a 35-game drought without a triple. That was the longest such run by the Orioles since a 39-game stretch from June 23-Aug. 8, 2018. It was Mancini's first triple in more than two years, since June 12, 2019 versus Toronto off Derek Law, snapping a career-long 175-game drought without a three-base hit.

Urías had RBI singles in the second and third innings to mark his sixth multi-hit effort in his last nine games since July 3, a stretch in which he's batting .353 (12-for-34). After batting .139 (5-for-36) in his first 16 games, he's batting .351 (26-for-74) in his last 23 games since April 30.

DJ Stewart recorded his first multi-hit effort since June 6 versus Cleveland when he had a three-hit day, snapping a 7-for-50 (.140) drought over his last 17 games.

O's right-hander Matt Harvey (3-10, 7.70 ERA) will make his 19th start today, pitching on 10 days' rest and facing his 2020 team. He went 0-3 with an ERA of 11.57 for that Royals squad in 11 2/3 innings.

Harvey's last start was July 7, when he allowed six runs and nine hits in 3 2/3 innings. He has pitched fewer than five innings in 11 of his past 12 starts. The Orioles are 7-11 in his outings this season, going 3-4 over the last seven.

Harvey is using his fastball 59 percent of the time this year, at an average speed of 93.4 mph. He throws his slider 20 percent, his curveball 12 percent and his changeup on 9 percent of his pitches. He is 2-4 with a 7.52 ERA and 1.721 WHIP in nine road starts.

Right-hander Carlos Hernández (1-0, 4.98 ERA) will make his first start of the year for Kansas City after 12 relief outings. For the year, he has thrown 21 2/3 innings, allowing 21 hits and two homers with 15 walks and 30 strikeouts. He has a 1.662 WHIP, a 6.2 walk rate and a 12.5 strikeout rate.

Hernández, 24, went 3 2/3 innings, allowing three hits and one run on 59 pitches in his most recent game on July 6 versus Cincinnati. Over his past four games, he has an ERA of 1.17. In 7 2/3 innings, he has allowed four hits and one run with three walks and 11 strikeouts. In that span opponent batters are hitting just .154 with an OPS of .464 against Hernández.

The Orioles have played just four rubber match games this year and are 3-1. Those are third games of series where they have split the first two games. They won such games May 6 at Seattle, June 2 against Minnesota and June 6 versus Cleveland. They lost a rubber match game on June 20 against the Toronto Blue Jays.