Royals allow four unanswered runs in loss to Orioles, fall short of series win

BALTIMORE, Md. (KMIZ)

The Kansas City Royals entered the eighth inning of Wednesday's series finale with a three-run lead against the Orioles but surrendered four runs in the final two frames to lose 4-3 in walk-off fashion. Matt Quatraro's crew returns to Kauffman Stadium after winning just one of its three games in Baltimore, still in search of its first series win of the young season.

In Wednesday's action, Kansas City outscored Baltimore 3-0 in the first seven frames, courtesy of a pair of RBI singles from Salvador Perez, a solo home run from Maikel Garcia and a stellar performance on the mound from Cole Ragans. The Royals' left-hander allowed no runs and just one hit over 6.1 innings of work while striking out seven batters.

However, Baltimore rallied to score four unanswered runs to win the game, capped off by a walk-off two-RBI single from James McCann to clinch a series victory for the Orioles.

In the first six games of the 2024 season, Kansas City's starting pitchers have only allowed six earned runs but the bullpen has given up a total of 14 runs in less than 16 total innings.

Up next - The Royals kick off a seven-game homestand with a four-game set against the Chicago White Sox. The first game of that series is scheduled to start on Thursday, April 4 at 6:40 p.m.