BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Orioles‘ latest comeback victory featured an intriguing subplot involving a rookie who made the most of his second chance.
Mark Trumbo and Matt Wieters hit solo homers in the seventh inning to back a sparkling pitching performance by Mike Wright, and the Orioles beat Kansas City 4-1 Monday night to extend the Royals’ losing streak to five games.
Manny Machado also homered for the Orioles, who have won five of six — all in come-from-behind fashion.
Wright (3-3) allowed one run and five hits over seven innings, striking out four and walking two. Just five days earlier, the right-hander gave up four home runs in 2 2/3 innings against Boston and was optioned to the minor leagues less than 24 hours later. But he was recalled the next day when reliever Darren O’Day was placed on the disabled list.
The 6-foot-6 Wright was inserted back into the rotation for this game. Given a “do-over” — as manager Buck Showalter labeled it — he shut down the defending World Series champions over seven gritty innings.
“He came out here with a vengeance,” Machado said.
Wright said: “When you get sent down and recalled the next day, I mean, you’ve got to come out and perform. So I definitely had a little more focus and, like he said, a vengeance.”
Wright and Kansas City left-hander Danny Duffy were locked in a scoreless duel until the Royals pushed across an unearned run in the seventh.
Trumbo led off the bottom half with his 19th home run, and Wieters connected with one out to chase Duffy (1-1). Adam Jones capped the uprising with an RBI double.
And so, as they did twice against Boston and two times against the Yankees within the span of a week, the Orioles turned a deficit into a victory.
“Everybody contributes and everybody steps it up,” second baseman Jonathan Schoop said.
Machado homered off Kelvin Herrera in the eighth after striking out three times against Duffy.
Brad Brach struck out the side in the eighth and Zach Britton got three straight outs for his 18th save.
Duffy gave up five hits and matched his career high with nine strikeouts. The first six innings he pitched were marvelous; after that, not so much.
“I felt really, really good. Shame it had to go down like that,” Duffy said. “But I gave it my all for sure. I made a couple mistakes.”
The Royals’ second five-game skid of the season followed a six-game winning streak.
“Our guys are really good at picking themselves up,” manager Ned Yost said. “You understand that you’re going to go through these things.”
Paulo Orlando and Cheslor Cuthbert hit singles in the Kansas City seventh before Jarrod Dyson chopped a grounder to Machado at shortstop. After Schoop got the force out at second base, he changed his mind about throwing to first and tried a pump-fake, hoping to fool Orlando at third. But Schoop released the ball, which bounced off the right elbow of the sliding Cuthbert and rolled away, allowing Orlando to score.
Cuthbert left with a bruised elbow.
“Everything is going to be OK, it just hit my crazy bone,” Cuthbert said.
Earlier, Duffy took a line drive off his left calf but stayed in the game.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Royals: Kris Medlen (shoulder) threw batting practice in Arizona “and everything went great,” Yost said. The right-hander will do it again Tuesday in preparation for a rehab assignment. … OF Brett Eibner (ankle) took batting practice with the team. … OF Alex Gordon (wrist) is improving to the point where he can begin to catch and throw, Yost said.
Orioles: RHP Yovani Gallardo (shoulder) will make his second rehab start Tuesday, this time with Triple-A Norfolk. If all goes well, he could be activated Sunday in Toronto. … SS J.J. Hardy (broken left foot) took 25 grounders in Florida. He’s still weeks from returning to action.
UP NEXT
Royals: Yordano Ventura (4-3, 4.82 ERA) pitches the second game of the series Tuesday night. He’s 4-1 with a 1.91 ERA in five career starts against Baltimore.
Orioles: Ubaldo Jimenez (2-6, 6.59) seeks to strengthen his shaky spot in the rotation after going 0-3 with 16 walks and a 9.97 ERA in his last five starts.
