Alex Gordon hammers a pair of three-run homers and O's lose series finale

Alex Gordon began today with just one homer on the year in 160 at-bats. The Orioles began the game with an ERA of 0.69 in the first three games of this series. Ubaldo Jimenez had allowed one run in three starts this month. That all changed in the fifth inning this afternoon. Gordon hit the first of his two three-run homers today as Kansas City came from trailing by two runs to beat the Orioles 8-6. Trailing 8-3 in the ninth inning, Adam Jones hit a three-run homer to bring the Orioles within 8-6. Jones has five homers and 11 RBIs during a 13-game hitting streak. But after the Orioles won the first two games of this series, they dropped the final two games to split the four-game set. The Orioles took a 3-2 lead to the bottom of the fifth. But with two outs and two on Gordon turned on a 92 mph fastball from Jimenez for a 5-3 lead. Gordon added another three-run shot off Troy Patton in the seventh and the six RBIs is a career high. Jimenez threw just 48 pitches in the first three innings but threw 50 and gave up four runs over the fourth and fifth innings. He went five innings today allowing eight hits and five runs to tie his season-high for runs allowed. He falls to 2-5 with an ERA of 4.50. Jimenez came into this start with a 2-0 record and ERA of 0.46 in three May starts. After allowing just two runs in three games and 26 innings in this series, the Orioles gave up eight today. Baltimore scored three times in the third to take a 3-1 lead on James Shields. Nick Markakis ended a 3-for-25 stretch with a two-run single and Manny Machado added a sac fly. But Jimenez's run of strong starts ended as Kansas City won to take the season series, 4-3. The Orioles are now 6-6-2 in 14 series in 2014. The Orioles' six runs today was their most since scoring six on May 1. But they scored just 12 runs in this series and have scored just 21 runs the last eight games. The Orioles had scored in just one of their last 18 innings in the series until Jones' homer. Now 22-20 for the season, the Orioles are off Monday before they start a two-game series Tuesday night at Pittsburgh.