BALTIMORE -- If there’s one thing Mike Montgomery has excelled at in his career, especially entering this season, it’s been keeping opponents from hitting him too hard. Each of the last two seasons, spent primarily as a reliever, the lefty has been not just above average in inducing soft contact but usually north of the 70th percentile of all pitchers.

That type of ability is what made Montgomery an attractive return for Martin Maldonado in a July trade. And the Royals have gotten what they traded for.

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Wednesday night proved to be an exception. Montgomery allowed a career-high three homers in the Royals’ 8-1 loss to the Orioles at Camden Yards.

Granted, Montgomery generally pitched only an inning or two as a reliever, but he had yielded two home runs only four times in his career. Three of those games came in his rookie season of 2015, when he was a starter with the Mariners, and the other was three starts ago with Kansas City. Montgomery entered Wednesday with four homers in 29 1/3 innings since switching teams -- a home runs per nine innings mark of 1.2.

“The first one was a first-pitch ambush, and I was mad at myself,” Montgomery said of Jonathan Villar’s second-inning blast. “I knew he would swing first pitch at that one.”

Villar’s homer, the first of four on the night for the O's, came amid a three-run second inning for the home team. It was then that Royals manager Ned Yost saw his southpaw labor for the first time in a while -- Montgomery entered Wednesday with 13 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run.

But after that, Montgomery rebounded to keep his team in it until the fifth, when the homer woes struck again. Anthony Santander and Renato Nunez were the culprits this time, blasting back-to-back solo shots.

Montgomery allowed five runs, matching his July 19 debut with Kansas City for his most since the trade.

“It was just one of those nights where it seemed like they really were one step ahead of me of what I was trying to do,” Montgomery said. “I made a lot of really good pitches right below the zone that they didn’t chase. My changeup is my bread and butter, and they didn't chase that pitch, so credit to them.”

Montgomery also gave credit to Steve Wilkerson for his RBI double a few batters after Villar’s shot. The curveball Montgomery threw was just 0.82 feet off the ground when Wilkerson golfed it toward the wall in left-center.

“Wilkerson did a good job against me getting two hits, I thought on two pretty good pitches, below the zone,” Montgomery said. “… It’s always a cat-and-mouse game of pitching and hitting. You feel good, and sometimes they just beat you.”

Montgomery, for his part, offered little to worry about going forward. He’ll work on his mechanics, he said, and he’ll take the results he’s gotten so far since he has been stretched back to a starter with the Royals.

“I feel really confident where I’m at,” he said. “You pitch long enough in this game, you're going to have those games where they just beat you. For me, it’s get ready for the next one. I feel good, been throwing the ball well. Just make little adjustments here, little adjustments there and get back at it the next time I’m out there.”

Baltimore's fourth homer Wednesday was a three-run shot off reliever Tim Hill in the sixth inning by Hanser Alberto, who at .404 owns the highest batting averages against lefties in the Majors this year.

Kansas City's only offense came via a solo homer by Whit Merrifield -- his 15th of the year -- to lead off the third inning.