Yordano Ventura struck out a career-high 11 in just six innings, Paulo Orlando homered and the Kansas City Royals hung on to beat the struggling Baltimore Orioles 5-3 on Thursday.
Ventura (9-7) allowed two hits and four walks to improve to 5-0 in his last seven starts.
The Royals’ usually solid bullpen nearly gave it away, though. Kelvin Herrera served up a homer to Ryan Flaherty in the seventh, and Greg Holland allowed two more runs in the ninth before getting Gerardo Parra to ground out with a runner on to end the game.
Chris Tillman (9-9), who tossed a five-hitter at Kauffman Stadium last May, followed his first loss since May 31 with another.
The game wasn’t all that Baltimore lost, either.
All-Star outfielder Adam Jones left soon after crashing into the wall trying to track down a fly ball in the first. Jones lay on the warning track for a few minutes before standing up and finishing the inning. There was no word on the nature or severity of the injury.
