O's hit four homers to back Aaron Brooks and win series

After a lackluster loss to begin this series Monday - one that included baserunning and defensive mistakes - the Orioles won back-to-back nights to close out a series victory.

The Orioles hit four homers tonight to back a strong start from right-hander Aaron Brooks and beat Kansas City 8-1. They are 41-86 and win their first series since taking three of four in Anaheim from July 25-28.

Since then, they split two series and had lost their past four. They ended an eight-game losing streak last night and now they have back-to-back wins for the first time since Aug. 3-4.

The Orioles outscored Kansas City 12-2 in winning the last two nights at Oriole Park.

Brooks was probably an unlikely pitcher to throw a good game. He began tonight with an 0-4 record, an ERA of 9.22 and a WHIP of 1.756 in seven O's starts. He had allowed 14 runs over 8 1/3 innings in his past two games.

But tonight he gave up just a solo homer to Whit Merrifield in the third over his five innings. He allowed seven hits with one walk and four strikeouts on 92 pitches. He is now 1-4 with an ERA of 8.07 as an Oriole. This is his first win since April 11 when he won in Baltimore while pitching for Oakland.

The Kansas City homer was the 258th hit against the Orioles in 2019. That ties a major league record for most allowed in one year, first set by the 2016 Cincinnati Reds.

Jonathan Villar's two-run homer in the second gave Baltimore a 2-0 lead and Stevie Wilkerson's RBI double made it a 3-0 lead. After Merrifield's 15th homer, Baltimore scored twice in the fifth and three times in the sixth to open a big lead. Villar hit No. 17 and needs three homers to become the first Oriole since Manny Machado in 2015 with a season of at least 20 homers and steals. The other Orioles to go 20/20 were Paul Blair, Don Baylor, Reggie Jackson and Brady Anderson, who did it three times.

Back-to-back homers in the fifth by Anthony Santander and Renato Núñez extended the lead to 5-1. Santander snapped a 2-for-36 run with No. 12. Nunez blasted a ball 411-feet for No. 28 as the O's went back-to-back for the third time on the year and first since June 4.

The fourth homer of the night came from Hanser Alberto and it was his second three-run homer in two games. He hit No. 9 in the sixth for an 8-1 lead. The homer extended his career-best hitting streak to 10 games.

Losing pitcher Mike Montgomery gave up the first three homers. He had allowed four in six starts since being traded to Kansas City. His last two outings he had thrown 13 innings without allowing an earned run. But tonight he gave up eight hits and five runs in five innings.

The Orioles produced their first four home run game since June 29 versus Cleveland. They hit a season-high five homers on June 4 against Texas.

The Orioles, now 20-44 at home and 5-15 in August, begin a four-game series with Tampa Bay on Thursday night at Camden Yards. Asher Wojciechowski (2-6, 4.78 ERA) will pitch against lefty Ryan Yarbrough (11-3, 3.34 ERA).