O's lose five-run lead and series finale, get swept in K.C.

KANSAS CITY - The Orioles offense came to life with four runs in the fourth today to produce a 5-0 lead. But even that wasn't enough for them to win in this Orioles house of horrors known as Kauffman Stadium. Not nearly enough.

The Orioles got swept three straight, losing 9-8 to hte Royals this afternoon, and lost for the 10th time in their last 12 games here. The 5-0 lead vanished against the Royals, who began the weekend at 13-21 and with the American League's worst record.

The Orioles fall to 22-14 and now have lost four in a row following a six-game winning streak. They are winless in four games on this road trip. Today they were swept in a three-game series at Kauffman Stadium for the first time since April 11-13, 2000.

This game ended in very frustrating fashion for the O's in the ninth. Singles by Joey Rickard and Ryan Flaherty and Caleb Joseph's RBI double pulled the O's within 9-8. But they could not get the tying run home versus closer Kelvin Herrera. Seth Smith struck out and Jonathan Schoop flied to left.

It was a day where Kevin Gausman could not hold a 5-0 lead and Manny Machado threw to a base that no one was covering as the go-ahead run scored in the last of the fifth.

Early on, it was all going well for the Orioles. Chris Davis homered for the second day in a row for a 1-0 lead in the second. He hit one 375 feet to right off Chris Young. Before his homer Saturday, Davis had one homer over his previous 24 games.

The lead quickly grew to 5-0 as the Orioles exploded for four quick runs with two outs in the fourth. Flaherty delivered a clutch two-out two-run double for a 3-0 lead. Joseph followed with a long homer to left for the 5-0 edge to knock Young from the game. Joseph blasted an 0-1 slider 430 feet to left.

O's catchers in this series, Joseph and Francisco Peña, were a combined 6-for-8 after that homer with two doubles, a triple, three homers and five RBIs.

But the lead didn't last long. Gausman had the opposite of a shutdown inning. Staked to the five-run lead minutes earlier, Gausman gave it back as the fourth ended in a 5-5 tie and with Gausman out of the game.

The inning featured RBI singles by Drew Butera and Alcides Escobar and a three-run homer to right to tie it by Mike Moustakas. He lined a shot into the O's bullpen to make the score 5-5. Richard Bleier came on one batter later and got out of a bases-loaded jam.

Gausman went 3 1/3 innings, allowing nine hits and five runs with two walks and three strikeouts. He threw 93 pitches as his ERA grew to 7.19. Gausman has allowed four or more runs in five of his nine starts.

This was only his third-shortest outing of the year. He went an inning-plus the night he was ejected at Boston and had a game where he lasted just 2 2/3 innings in Cincinnati.

An inning later the Orioles fell behind 7-5 when Kansas City scored twice in the fifth. The inning featured a bizarre throwing error by Machado. With runners on first and second and no one out, Escobar bunted toward third. Machado threw to second for a force, but no one was covering the bag and the ball sailed into center field. The O's had sent shortstop J.J. Hardy to cover third and Schoop to cover at first as Davis charged down the line to play a possible bunt his way. Machado threw to an unoccupied base and a run scored for a 6-5 lead that grew to 7-5 on a Moustakas groundout. Then K.C. made it 8-5 an inning later on Jorge Soler's 464-foot homer to center.

The O's offense was not done though. They scored twice to pull within 8-7 in the seventh. Davis singled in a run and Rickard bounced into a groundout with the bases loaded. But the O's would leave them loaded when Peter Moylan got hot-hitting Joseph to ground out.

In the bottom of that inning, Butera's solo homer to left off Mychal Givens gave him a three-hit day and the Royals a 9-7 lead. It was No. 2 for the Royals catcher.

Now 9-11 on the road, the Orioles have an off-day Monday to regroup. They begin a three-game series on Tuesday night at Detroit.