There wasn’t much mystery about the damage Baltimore did Saturday night. When Coby Mayo got hold of a Noah Cameron pitch in the fifth inning, he knew it was gone before the ball even reached the left-field seats.
That swing was part of a four-homer barrage in the Orioles’ 6-1 win over the Royals, a game that again put Kansas City’s home-run problem front and center. Three of Baltimore’s blasts traveled at least 417 feet, and Mayo’s shot went 440 feet.
For a stretch, it looked like the Royals might be headed for a far uglier night. They avoided being no-hit, but only barely, finishing with two hits and waiting until the seventh inning for their first one. That came from Jac Caglianone, who led off the inning with a line single to center and later scored Kansas City’s only run.
The long ball has been a recurring issue for a Royals pitching staff that has already been battered by injuries. With one game left before the All-Star break, Kansas City has allowed 127 home runs, the third-most in the American League. That puts the club on pace to surrender 214 this season, after giving up 171 last year and 146 in 2024, when it reached the postseason.
Royals manager Matt Quatraro said there isn’t one simple explanation.
“It’s not one answer to that,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “Everything’s different.
Like tonight, the one (pitch) to Pete Alonso is well down below the zone. The guy hits it out.
I mean, he hits homers.
“Sometimes we’ve made some bad pitches, didn’t execute. Sometimes we’ve gotten ourselves in bad counts. There’s different reasons.”
Cameron was tagged for five runs over seven innings, and three of the four homers accounted for four of those runs. The loss dropped Kansas City to 38-58, leaving the club 20 games under .500.
There is at least one small consolation: the Royals are not on track to set the franchise record for home runs allowed. That mark is 239, established in 2000.
Cameron had some positives in his own line, even in a rough result. The St.
Joseph native struck out a career-best nine batters, allowed five hits and walked two. It was his first outing of at least seven innings since June 2 at Cincinnati.
“Striking out people’s fun for pitchers, but obviously I would like to do it in a better game with less runs,” Cameron said.
“But I thought even warming up, I kind of knew that it was going to be a good day, stuff-wise. I felt good.
Everything was sharp, coming out well. It’s one of those days that you’re hoping that it’s going to go good just because you feel great.
So it kind of sucks, obviously, giving up three homers with that. But we’ve just got to keep going.”
Statcast showed Cameron generating 18 swings-and-misses and getting strikeouts with four different pitches. The two walks were also a step in the right direction after he had issued 11 free passes over his previous 13 2/3 innings.
Mayo’s homer came on a slider down and in, and Cameron said the pitch had the right shape.
“I threw a slider with a pitch before that, so (he) could have been kind of looking in ...” Cameron said.
“But yeah, really good, efficient slider there. So just hats off to him making a good swing.”
As for Alonso’s homer, Cameron said he made the pitch he wanted and still paid for it.
“It almost makes you a little bit more mad just because you executed a pitch,” Cameron acknowledged. "When you make a mistake pitch, it’s like they’re big-league hitters, they’re obviously really good hitters over there, so they’re supposed to hit those out.
“But when you execute a pitch, it’s a little bit more frustrating just because (of) the scouting report - it’s (off-speed pitches are) great against those guys, but I think you just obviously have to come to the realization that they’re big-leaguers too.”
There was also a small update on Salvador Perez. The Royals captain has been dealing with elbow soreness and hasn’t caught in two weeks, though he has stayed in the lineup as a designated hitter or first baseman. Before Saturday’s game, he was throwing to second base from home plate as he continued to test the elbow.
“He’s out here again, throwing right now, just like yesterday. So that’s a good sign,” Quatraro said. “We’re hopeful that that is the case, that coming out of the break he feels good again.”
The Royals close out the unofficial first half Sunday at 12:35 p.m. against Baltimore. Seth Lugo will start for Kansas City, and Shane Baz will go for the Orioles.
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