Zach Britton gets his first big league save as O's edge Kansas City

Yordano Ventura was dominant at times tonight. He struck out six batters in a row at one point. But he also took a tough loss as the Orioles got some good pitching of their own in a 2-1 win over Kansas City in the opener of a four-game series. The drama of who would close the game in a save situation in the ninth was answered and it was Zach Britton. The lefty calmly got three ground ball outs on 12 pitches to record his first major league save. In the O's fourth, Ventura, who entered with a 2-2 record and 2.34 ERA, walked leadoff hitter Chris Davis. Nelson Cruz followed with a two-run homer to right center for a 2-0 lead. It was his 12th homer of the season and 10th over his last 23 games. Cruz has 35 RBIs. Wei-Yin Chen and four relievers made that stand up. Chen got the win allowing seven hits and one run over 5 1/3 innings. He walked and struck out one, throwing 95 pitches. Chen is 5-2 with an ERA of 3.69. Over his last four starts, Chen has given up two or fewer earned runs each time with an ERA of 2.59. The Orioles are 6-2 in his eight starts. Darren O'Day came on with two on and one out in the sixth for his earliest appearance of the season. He pitched 1 2/3 innings, retiring all five batters he faced on 20 pitches. Troy Patton struck out Eric Hosmer to start the eighth and Ryan Webb came on to get the next two outs. Britton wrapped up the win as the four relievers pitched 3 2/3 perfect innings, throwing 35 of 47 pitches for strikes. This win ends the O's four-game losing streak. They improve to 21-18 overall and 4-9 against the AL Central. They are 12-8 in road games. The O's are now 10-3 in one-run games. In the second game of the series on Friday night, Chris Tillman (3-2, 3.97 ERA) pitches against Jeremy Guthrie (2-2, 4.80 ERA).