Wrapping up the Orioles' 6-1 loss at Kansas City

KANSAS CITY - It was a day when a close game got away from the Orioles in the last of the seventh inning. It was a day when their offense was held to one run on four hits - and none for extra bases - in a 6-1 loss to Kansas City.

The Orioles had a chance to pull out a 4-2 run against Toronto and K.C., but it didn't happen. Royals starter Yordano Ventura held them to three hits over seven innings to improve to 2-0 with a 2.35 ERA.

O's starter Mike Wright had a strong start going. He took the mound for the seventh trailing 2-1 and at 87 pitches. But an infield single, RBI double, fielder's choice and RBI quickly had him down 4-1. Dylan Bundy allowed a runner he inherited from Wright to score.

So Wright's strong outing didn't look as good in the final pitching line of 6 1/3 innings with eight hits and five runs as he falls to 1-2 with a 6.23 ERA.

"I thought he pitched well the whole time," manager Buck Showalter said. "The key to the game was that we (only) had two infield hits and a couple others. That's it. We hit a couple balls hard and Mike did his part. He was good. I loved the fact that he walked (none).

"That's a quality start for us. We had four guys we weren't going to use in the bullpen today. We needed that from Mike. We just didn't do much offensively."

Showalter was asked if the progress Wright made at the end of his last start Tuesday against Toronto and the beginning today would be washed away by that seventh inning.

"Mike is a lot stronger mentally," he said. "I love the fact that he's got some emotion and cares about what he does. He's strong mentally. I think a lot of people look at it through their own eyes instead of the way these guys have to think to do what they do. Mike is pitching well. He's right where he needs to be and he'll be a contributor."

Had the Orioles scored him eight runs like they did last night, his outing would have looked a whole lot better. But after scoring in the first on Mark Trumbo's RBI single, the Orioles went 2-for-26 from the second inning on.

"Trum had a big hit there and we got him (Ventura) up to 28 (pitches) and then he got back in step. I don't think it was as much what we didn't do as what he did do. We didn't play very well in the infield today either. That didn't help us.

"Same thing he's (Ventura) been doing. Plus fastball, good changeup, breaking ball, throws it behind in the count. Good pitchers are people who you know what they're going to do and they still do it. That's a tribute to his stuff."

A few times this year, the Orioles have pulled out a game that was close in the late innings. Not today, as they fall to 11-6 on the year and 5-10 at Kauffman Stadium since 2013.

"I think today was a story of two really good pitchers," catcher Caleb Joseph said. "One just a little bit better than ours. The guy over there, he did a really nice job. As soon as we felt some life, he was able to shut the door. Had some opportunities and just couldn't pull it through. He pitched just a little bit better than our guy. More times than not we like our chances in those scenarios. We just ran into a really good performance by their guy."

Wright was asked whether he was tiring in the seventh inning when the Royals pulled away.

"No, I was strong," he said. "I made good pitches. It was a ground ball that could have been called foul. Chris (Davis) didn't handle it extremely well. He outran it. The double that (Drew) Butera hit, that's a good pitch. I don't want to take that back. It crept a little over the plate, but you can't be perfect. I still felt strong."

Kansas City hit two solo homers off Wright today, one by Alex Gordon down the left field line in the fourth and one by Eric Hosmer down the right field line two innings later.

"The pitch to Gordon was exactly what I wanted to throw," Wright said. "Me and Caleb were really on the same page. The one to Homser, we threw a little bit of a slower slider. If you look at it, it wasn't a bad pitch. I felt pretty good about it. Was it my best pitch? No, it was my fourth-best pitch and he got it. That's the one pitch, probably to Hosmer, I wish I could take back. But the rest of the game? Perfect."

Wright felt he made some strides forward this week in outings against Toronto and Kansas City.

"Yeah, absolutely," he said. "I felt like the end of the last game I pitched really fed into this one. I pitched pretty similar. I had my fastball today (and) it felt a lot better than it did last game. But still I think I worked my changeup really well, worked my slider really well, changed speed a lot. I felt really good today. It sucks to come out with an L after feeling pretty good."

While Manny Machado's 16-game hitting streak ended today, Trumbo extended his hitting streak to nine games. He is batting .343 (12-for-35) with three homers and 11 RBIs during the streak. All 16 of his RBIs this year have come on the road. Machado's seven-game streak with an extra-base hit ended, as did his streak of driving in at least one run in six consecutive games.