O's game blog: A new homestand begins at the Yard

With a six-game American League East road trip in the rear-view mirror, the Orioles begin an 11-game homestand against Kansas City this afternoon. It's the opener of a four-game series that will be followed by four games at Oriole Park versus the Blue Jays and three against the Yankees.

The Orioles beat New York 4-3 and 8-7 the last two days after losing in 11 innings on Friday. They have played four straight one-run games, going 2-2, and are 10-19 for the season in one-run games.

Left-hander Zac Lowther will make his second career major league start and his sixth appearance in today's series opener. He missed time recently with a left shoulder strain and is 0-1 with a 10.80 ERA this season in 8 1/3 big league innings. He is 0-6 with a 5.49 ERA in the minors this year.

Lowther worked his way back from his injury, pitching once in the Rookie-level Florida Complex League on Aug. 16, at high Single-A Aberdeen Aug. 21, at Double-A Bowie Aug. 26 and last Wednesday for Triple-A Norfolk. In that outing, he gave up three runs and four hits over 5 2/3 innings.

In his only previous major league start, the 25-year-old Lowther allowed seven runs in 2 1/3 innings May 8 against Boston. His last game with the Orioles was in relief versus Toronto on July 7, when he gave up one run in two innings.

He is currently ranked as the Orioles' No. 22 prospect by MLBPipeline.com and No. 27 by Baseball America.

The Orioles (43-92) scored four runs in the top of the seventh Sunday to rally and beat the Yankees 8-7 in the Bronx. They recorded their first series win at Yankee Stadium since March 28-31, 2019.

The Orioles finished their road trip to Toronto and New York going 3-3. And they went 3-2 in the last five games, which were all decided by two runs or one run.

O's outfielder Austin Hays had a solo homer and single Sunday to extend his career-long hitting streak to 12 straight games. Hays hit No. 15 off Corey Kluber in the second inning to provide a 1-0 lead. During his streak, Hays is batting .386 (17-for-44) with five multi-hit games, seven extra-base hits, nine runs and eight RBIs.

Kansas City (61-75) scored 20 runs over the weekend and took two of three from the first-place Chicago White Sox. They beat Chicago 7-2 Friday and 6-0 yesterday behind right-hander Brady Singer, who threw seven scoreless innings, allowing just four hits. He improved to 4-9 with a 4.58 ERA.

The Royals won the season series, going 10-9 versus the White Sox (79-58), who have the third-best record in the American League. In fact, Kansas City has gone 20-16 this season against division-leading teams. But the Royals have lost five of their last seven games going back to that point. Over a longer stretch, they are 12-8 over their past 20 games. They have won four of their past six series.

Royals catcher Salvador Perez hit his 41st homer on Sunday, a three-run shot in the first inning. He is second in the majors in homers to Shohei Ohtani of the Angels with 43. It was career homer No. 193 for Perez, which matches Amos Otis for third most in Royals history. The homer traveled 448 feet to right-center, matching the second-longest distance on an opposite field shot since 2015 (excluding Coors Field), trailing a 454-foot homer by left-handed batter Joey Gallo on June 30, 2017 at Chicago, meaning Perez's was the longest by a right-handed batter.

Perez has hit 50 homers in his last 162 games since Aug. 3, 2020, matching Jorge Soler (2019) for the most HR in a 162-game span in franchise history. His 102 RBIs are second-most in the majors (behind José Abreu of the White Sox with 103) and he's the 19th different player in Royals history to record a 100-RBI season.

Kansas City's starter today is 24-year-old lefty Kris Bubic, the No. 40 overall pick by the Royals in the 2018 draft out of Stanford. He has made 24 appearances (15 starts) for the year, throwing 99 1/3 innings and allowing 100 hits, including 20 homers, with 52 walks and 91 strikeouts. He has recorded a 1.530 WHIP, allowing .8 homers per nine innings with 4.7 walks and 8.2 strikeouts.

The team is 10-5 in his starts this year, but his last game came out of the bullpen. On Thursday he threw two innings versus Cleveland, allowing one hit and one run. His last start was Aug. 27 at Seattle, when he gave up nine hits and five runs over 4 1/3 innings.

Bubic pitched well against the Orioles July 17 at Kauffman Stadium. Over six innings and 81 pitches, he allowed two hits and one run.

Bubic throws his fastball 51 percent of the time with an average velocity of 90.7 mph. He uses his changeup 32 percent and his curveball 17 percent.

Eddie, Eddie: O's Hall of Famer Eddie Murray is at the ballpark today. The first 15,000 fans in attendance age 15 and older will receive an Eddie Murray 500th Home Run Anniversary T-shirt. Murray will throw out the first pitch in celebration of the 25th anniversary of his 500th home run.

25 years later, Eddie takes a seat where his 500th landed. pic.twitter.com/SIjOK0GqQZ

-- Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) September 6, 2021