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.
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.
In the three-game series against the Royals, the Orioles scored a combined 20 runs. They’ll hope to keep that type of production going Friday when they open a six-game homestand against Boston.
Orioles starter Chris Bassitt worked 5 1/3 innings, allowing eight hits and five runs to earn his first win with the O’s.