Royals ride early barrage to 9-2 win over Orioles

It was a good night for the Royals, who opened the second half of play with a 9-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles.

Kansas City got five runs in the first two innings, with Salvador Perez singling in Whit Merrifield twice. Sandwiched in between those two RBI hits is a two-run single by Nicky Lopez, and an RBI double by Merrifield. They got a sixth run in the third on a sacrifice fly by Merrifield.

It was an especially good night for Whit Merrifield, who went 4-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBI. He is a star and his trade value keeps increasing. Salvador Perez picked up two run-scoring hits. Andrew Benintendi, Hunter Dozier, Hanser Alberto, and Nicky Lopez all had two hits. The Royals had five doubles on the night.

Danny Duffy pitched well at first, but he couldn’t go deep into the game after suffering a couple of minor pains. He got nailed with a comebacker in the foot in the first inning, and it looked like it was bothering him when he got beat out by a runner in a race to the bag a couple innings later. Duffy got through four innings, using 54 pitches to do so, so he was pretty efficient. He allowed two hits and one run.

The win went to Kyle Zimmer, who handled the fifth. Josh Staumont, Greg Holland, Jake Brentz, and Scott Barlow all pitched an inning in relief to close it out.

The Royals got three more runs in the seventh on a double by Nicky Lopez and another RBI hit by, of course, Merrifield.

The record is 37-53. The Orioles are an abysmal 28-62.

Tomorrow: I’m hosting a charity softball tripleheader event at Black Bob Park in Olathe, KS! Come check us out at 7:00 pm on Field No. 3. Jay Binkley and Alex Gold are announcing a game that Conrad McGorkin, Ben Heisler, and several other Royals Twitter personalities are playing in. We’re having a big cookout, a huge raffle, and tons of softball! All proceeds to be split between a cat shelter in Overland Park and the Spring Hill Food Pantry. My apologies for a brief recap, but my arms are tired after loading the car with equipment.

The Royals play tomorrow at 6:10 pm. It will be Brad Keller on the hill.