Crushing in K.C.: O's post 9-2 win in series opener

The Orioles scored early. They scored often. They now have a five-game winning streak for the first time in 2013. The Orioles won for the eighth time in the last nine games as they pounded Kansas City pitching for 18 hits to tie a season high tonight in a 9-2 win over the Royals. Now at 57-43 after 100 games, the Orioles moved to within 2 1/2 games of first-place Boston, which lost to Tampa Bay tonight. The Orioles continued a recent trend of getting early offense and they scored twice in the first and third to lead 4-0. They added a run in the fifth and scored four in the sixth. Chris Davis went 2-for-4 with a two-run double and three RBIs. Davis has 45 RBIs over his last 35 games and now has 97 on the year. J.J. Hardy hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs. The homer was his 17th of the season and the 150th of his career. Henry Urrutia, making his second major league start, went 3-for-5 with three singles and an RBI and is now 4-for-10 as a big leaguer. Nate McLouth went 2-for-3 with three walks and a triple. McLouth is 8-for-16 on this road trip. Matt Wieters went 2-for-4 and is 8-for-16 on the road trip. Nick Markakis added three hits. Since scoring three runs on six hits in the first game of this trip, the Orioles have scored 20 runs on 45 hits the last three games. Scott Feldman, making his fourth O's start, got to benefit from all the offense but he also pitched very well. He went eight innings allowing five hits and two runs to improve to 2-1 with an ERA of 4.72 as an Orioles. Over his last two starts, he has allowed five runs over 15 1/3 innings. The Orioles now have back-to-back eight-inning outings from starters for the first time all year. This was the O's eighth quality start over the last nine games and the starters have worked to an ERA of 2.90 in that stretch. On this road trip, O's starters are 4-0 with an ERA of 1.86, pitching 29 innings. Over their last 161 games, dating to last July 29, the Orioles have the best record in the majors at 98-63.