Sugano much better in second start, bats come to life in Orioles' 8-1 win over Royals (updated)

KANSAS CITY – Tomoyuki Sugano has made two starts in the majors and pitched with the roof closed in Toronto and with a game-time temperature of 47 degrees at windy Kauffman Stadium. His exposure to intense heat and humidity is coming in the summer months. He’s going through a cooling down period before he ramps up.

Sugano didn’t experience any cramping in his hands today and he wasn’t soaked in sweat. He made the Royals uncomfortable through the fifth inning before a long break altered the course of his outing. A slight detour rather than a derailment.

Bryan Baker entered with one out in the sixth and coaxed a double play, and two other relievers handled the rest in an 8-1 victory over the Royals before an announced crowd of 14,383.

The Orioles sent nine batters to the plate in the top of the sixth and scored four times for a 6-0 lead. They improved to 4-5 and can win the series Sunday afternoon before flying to Arizona.

The big inning included a bases-loaded, two-run single for Jackson Holliday against left-hander Sam Long. Heston Kjerstad went left-on-left earlier with an RBI single after Long replaced starter Michael Wacha.

The shutout bid for Sugano ended with Bobby Witt Jr.’s leadoff homer in the bottom of the sixth on a hanging curveball. A single, strikeout and hit batter followed and Sugano was done at 89 pitches. He allowed one run and five hits, walked one and struck out four.

“I just thought he looked way more comfortable," said manager Brandon Hyde. "I thought he was probably a little nervous that first start. Just really good command like he had in spring training of all of his pitches. Really good split. Fastball command was there. All pitches. Being able to throw anything in any count and keep guys off balance. I thought he was absolutely outstanding today.

"He looked relaxed, I thought he competed extremely well. You get that first start out of the way, and today I thought it was more like himself.”

A first major league win with the Orioles is celebrated with the cart treatment. Beer, condiments and anything else that can be dumped on a player's head as he's wheeled into the shower.

"He was really pumped up when we were in the handshake line coming through the clubhouse," Hyde said, "and they’re all excited for him.”

Sugano won 136 games in Japan, but the Orioles weren't showing any restraint today. He's getting acclimated to life in the United States and this is a part of it. This is how they roll in their baseball world.

"Typically in Japan, the beer shower only happens when you win the championship," he said, smiling, via interpreter Yuto Sakurai. "I was really happy to get that treatment. It made me feel like I want to succeed even more.

“Obviously, I’m not here to win one game in the major leagues. I’m here to win day to day and, ultimately, get the championship. But, yeah, after all that, I was still happy."

Sugano is much older than the typical player targeted in these celebrations.

“Well, he’s a veteran in Japan but he’s a rookie here in the States even though he’s 35 years old," said catcher Gary Sánchez, "so it’s a joy that all the teams share whenever a guy comes over and he gets his first major league win. That was a lot of fun today.”

Sugano retired the first eight batters, getting a pair of strikeouts on nasty splitters, before Kyle Isbel grounded a single into center field and Jonathan India walked. A wild pitch advanced the runners, but Witt grounded out.

Strikes were plentiful early. Sugano threw nine among his 12 pitches in the first, 14 among his first 21, 23 among his first 36, and 32 of 48 after the fourth.

"All the pitches worked the way they were supposed to today," Sánchez said.

What a change from his U.S. debut, when Sugano issued a four-pitch walk to the first batter, exited after four innings because of the cramps and looked exhausted.

“I think he was just nervous last start and I think he was really anxious and excited to make the start,” Hyde said earlier today. “Probably had a tough time eating and drinking that morning because of it. He’s been around a while. I think he’s aware. Hoping he’s hydrated today and ready to go.”

"Thought about being ahead of the count with each hitter," Sugano said, "and obviously last time through it was my first outing in the major leagues. This time, I was a little more patient, comfortable."

And in better health.

"It was too cold," he said when asked about hand cramps. "I didn’t sweat at all. Yeah, everything went well."

Hunter Renfroe led off the fifth with an infield hit and MJ Melendez reached for a splitter on the lower outside corner and lined it softly into right field. Sugano was in his worst predicament and got out of it with a shallow fly ball, foul popup and liner to left.

While the run support was appreciated in the top of the sixth, Sugano couldn't handle the long wait under these conditions.

"The sixth inning before I went out, it was obviously cold," he said. "I tried to move around, keep myself warm. Yeah, I gave up the home run to Witt, but I’ll try to be careful next time making sure I keep myself warm. But ideally, I don’t want to pitch in cold weather like this."

Sánchez’s first hit with the Orioles was a two-out, two-run single in the second inning. He was 0-for-9 with six strikeouts lifetime against Wacha.

The Orioles also scored twice in the second inning last night and shut down. They got quiet again today until the sixth, beginning with Cedric Mullins’ bunt single and Ryan Mountcastle’s single. Ramón Urías had an RBI single before Sánchez walked and Holliday came up with the bases full.

Tyler O’Neill doubled to the base of the center field fence with one out in the fourth – the baseball isn’t carrying here – and Witt doubled him off second base after making a diving catch to rob Kjerstad. O’Neill hammered another ball to center in the seventh and settled for a two-run triple at 108 mph off the bat. O’Neill hadn’t tripled since 2022.

“I thought we swung the bat really well all day long," Hyde said. "Michael Wacha is not easy. We did a nice job scratching some runs off him early. Gary with a huge two-out RBI single. We drove so many baseballs that the wind was blowing straight in. I don’t know what the metrics are, but it felt like we got some home runs taken away from us. I was really happy with how we swung the bat.”

Zach Eflin is the only Orioles starter to complete six innings, doing it twice. The rotation’s 38 1/3 innings were tied for 20^th in the majors before today, and its 6.10 ERA was 29^th. The trickle down places an extra burden on a bullpen that has few optionable pieces.

Akin, Félix Bautista and Yennier Cano are the only relievers who can be sent down without having to pass through waivers, and it would take extreme circumstances for it to happen to the first two. Meanwhile, Akin is coming off a career year and he can go multiple innings.

“It’s always important,” Hyde said of starter length. “We haven’t had a long start yet, so the bullpen’s throwing quite a bit. You saw what happened last night. That’s a result because of it, where a guy got left out there too long because I’m not using Bautista and Cano in that situation. You want to be able to save guys in the bullpen. Hopefully, we can start getting some deeper starts and play some better defense behind them to allow that to happen and help guys get out of innings. We’re gonna have to do that going forward.”

Baker faced one batter and got two outs. He’s tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings with no walks and seven strikeouts. Akin issued an eight-pitch walk to begin the seventh, struck out the next two, walked another and got a popup. He retired the side in order in the eighth on three fly balls to right field.

Matt Bowman retired the side in order in the ninth, and the losing streak ended at three games.

* Gunnar Henderson went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts.

* Kjerstad appeared to collect another hit in the ninth, but Mullins thought the ball was caught in left field and retreated to second base, leading to a 7-5-4 double play. Mullins is the first player in the modern era to bat in seven spots in the lineup in a team's first nine games, according to STATS.

* Triple-A Norfolk's Samuel Basallo, the No. 13 prospect in baseball, went on the seven-day injured list with a sore left hamstring.