Mayo's monster 452-foot blast caps six-run frame as O's bats break out

KANSAS CITY -- The Orioles are headed home, and they’re bringing a revived offense with them.

With an 8-6 victory over the Royals on Wednesday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium, Baltimore continued to show that its offense -- which was plagued by inconsistency through the early portion of April -- is trending upwards.

A six-run rally in the sixth inning was capped with Coby Mayo providing the exclamation point, a mammoth three-run homer that traveled a Statcast-projected 452 feet. It was Mayo’s second homer in as many days after crushing a 439-foot blast on Tuesday night.

Manager Craig Albernaz saw plenty of other pleasing offensive developments. Pete Alonso had an opposite-field two-run homer to give the Orioles a lead in the first inning. Leody Taveras stayed hot with a couple of hits and Colton Cowser seemed to be figuring some things out offensively with two hits of his own.

The decisive sixth inning was one in which the Orioles were able to keep the line moving. With one out, six consecutive batters reached base to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 8-3 lead.

“That’s what our offense is capable of,” Albernaz said. “Six runs is a big ask, but there were quality at-bats and passing the baton.”

Perhaps the most impressive part was that Baltimore got to Royals starter Michael Wacha, who entered the day with a 1.00 ERA, which ranked second in the Major Leagues. Wacha allowed seven hits and six runs over 5 1/3 innings.

The O’s scored a combined 20 runs in the three-game set against the Royals, and Mayo was a big part of that. The 24-year-old has driven in six runs over the last two games after notching just two RBIs in the previous 18 games. Despite lining out to third in his first at-bat on Wednesday, that plate appearance gave him confidence for what would come later in the game.

“I was happy with the hard contact,” Mayo said of his first at-bat.

There was more hard contact in the sixth when Mayo cleared the fountains with his 452-foot blast that gave the Orioles an 8-3 lead. Mayo came into the Kansas City series without a homer this season, but picked up two in as many days.

“I knew I hit it good,” Mayo said. “The spin was good. It’s about being confident in my approach and sticking to it. Make them come to me and not chase. If I can get hold of it, it’s going to go.”

The Royals came back with a three-run rally in the bottom of the sixth, knocking out Orioles starter Chris Bassitt in the process. But after Kansas City closed the deficit to two, the Baltimore bullpen held steady the rest of the way.

Reliever Anthony Nunez, who picked up his first Major League win on Monday, came through with his first save in the finale to cap a memorable series.

Bassitt, who worked 5 1/3 innings and allowed eight hits and five runs, had hoped to take some stress off the Baltimore bullpen with a longer outing, though.

“I’m usually an asset, and right now I feel like a liability,” Bassitt said. “I have to figure out how to be more consistent. I need to eat more quality innings.”

For Cowser, who finished the day 2-for-4 and showed signs of finding his swing, the Kansas City series in which the Orioles won two of three seemed encouraging on several levels.

“Today, the at-bats came together and we’re looking forward to continuing that,” Cowser said. “I think we’re going to look up at the end of the year and be in a really good spot.”