Royals 14, Orioles 6
BALTIMORE - Kansas City third baseman Mike Moustakas hit a pair of homers, including a grand slam, and set a franchise record with nine RBIs to lead the Royals to a 14-6 rout of the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday.
The nine RBIs were also a career-high and tied a record for the most against Orioles in a game since Danny Tartabull accomplished that feat Sept. 8, 1992
Kansas City won for just the second time in eight games, but evened the three-game series with the rubber match Sunday night. Baltimore fell to five games under .500.
Royals right-hander Yordano Ventura (11-8) overcame a shaky start to pick up the win. He allowed four runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and three walks over 5 2/3 innings.
Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez had two hits and three RBIs. Moustakas has 18 homers on the season.
Baltimore center fielder Adam Jones belted his 26th home run, while left fielder Nolan Reimold went deep for the second straight game and has five.
Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman retired nine straight before allowing an infield single to right fielder Alex Rios in the fifth. However, Tillman was over 100 pitches an inning later and an RBI single by first baseman Eric Hosmer pulled the Royals to within 4-2 and ended his night.
Left-hander Brian Matusz (1-4) entered and walked designated hitter Kendrys Morales to load the bases before allowing a two-run RBI single to Moustakas. Both of those runs were charged to Tillman, who allowed four runs and four hits with three strikeouts and two walks.
Right-hander Chaz Roe replaced Matusz and allowed a two-RBI single to Perez and the Royals led 6-4.
The Royals added five runs in the seventh off Baltimore left-hander T.J. McFarland. Center fielder Lorenzo Cain had an RBI double and Morales was intentionally walked to load the bases. Moustakas followed with his second career grand slam to boost the margin to 11-4. Reimold pulled the Orioles to within 11-6 with a two-run shot in the eighth off righty Luke Hochevar.
Moustakas added a three-run homer in the ninth.
The Orioles took a 1-0 lead in the first on a sacrifice fly by right fielder Gerardo Parra. Kansas City responded in the second and tied the game with a two-out RBI single by Perez.
The Orioles took advantage of Ventura's early struggles. After third baseman Manny Machado singled and Davis earned a walk, Jones followed with a towering three-run homer into the bullpen and Baltimore led 4-1.
The game was delayed 3 hours, 2 minutes because of rain.
NOTES: Baltimore C Matt Wieters was back in the lineup after missing the past two games with a sore left wrist. He underwent an MRI on Thursday that did not reveal any structural damage. ... Royals RHP Yordano Ventura got the start after switching places in the rotation with Johnny Cueto, who preferred to pitch in the Sunday night game. ... Baltimore RHP Miguel Gonzalez, who was placed on the 15-day DL with right shoulder tendinitis Sept. 4, will begin throwing Monday. "The best-case scenario is he gets some starts before going into the offseason and he and we know what we're dealing with," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said.