KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Whit Merrifield had never hit a game-ending home run — not in middle school, high school, college or as a pro — so he tried to admire his shot into the seats Saturday night.

The only problem? First base coach Mitch Maier wasn’t sure it was gone.

“I heard him yell, `Run! Run! Run!” Merrifield said, so he took off running.

His two-run shot with one out in the ninth inning was plenty deep, though, landing in the outfield seats and giving the Kansas City Royals a back-and-forth 5-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

“I’m going to have to get Mitch back for that,” Merrifield said with a smile.

The Orioles took the lead in the top of the ninth, when Trey Mancini homered to lead off and Tim Beckham added a two-run double for his fourth hit of the night. But when Mychael Givens (0-7) came on to close things out, he promptly walked Brett Phillips on four pitches to start the inning.

Cam Gallagher sacrificed Phillips to second, and Merrifield cracked a 0-2 pitch an estimated 415 feet to left field, giving the young Royals their sixth win in seven games this homestand.

It’s their best seven-game stretch since July 2017, and includes the first two games in this three-game series between the worst two teams in the major leagues.

“I think it gives us confidence,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “When your players have confidence, it gives us confidence too. You can see it in their faces that they continue to gain confidence.”

The Royals’ Jason Hammel squandered another solid start by Heath Fillmyer, though that’s hardly new. The 24-year-old Fillmyer allowed two runs on nine hits and a walk over seven innings, striking out six, yet was stuck with his sixth no-decision in his last eight starts.

Jake Newberry (1-0) wound up earning his first big league win in relief.

“Pretty cool,” he said, “to get it on a walk-off homer.”

The Orioles took an early lead on John Andreoli’s sacrifice fly and Beckham’s homer on a 3-1 pitch from Fillmyer. But the Royals answered in the bottom of the fourth when Phillips hit his second homer of the season — the 35th allowed by Dylan Bundy, tying an Orioles single-season record.

Kansas City pulled even in the sixth on Brian Goodwin’s base hit, then took the lead when Rosell Herrera shrugged off a 3-for-31 slump with an RBI single.

The game went back-and-forth one more time after that.

“It’s just closing. There’s pressure in different situations. There’s finality in that inning,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said of their fateful ninth. “It’s a great job if you’re good at it.”

BUNDY IS BETTER

Bundy wound up allowing three runs on eight hits and a walk in 5 1/3 innings. He also struck out eight in his best performance in about three weeks. “Yeah, I thought so too,” he said. “Still got room to improve, obviously, but the breaking pitches were a little bit sharper.”

MINOR LEAGUE DEAL

The Royals announced a two-year extension with Idaho Falls to remain their rookie-level farm club in the Pioneer League. Eleven current members of the big league club played for the Chukars.

ROYALS MOVES

The Royals, who traded C Drew Butera to Colorado on Friday, recalled C Meibrys Viloria from Class-A Wilmington. C Salvador Perez has been dealing with a sprained thumb, and Cam Gallagher is the only other catcher on the 40-man roster. Viloria was hitting .260 with six homers at Wilmington.

ORIOLES MOVES

Baltimore recalled INF Breyvic Valera from Triple-A Norfolk, and he’ll join the club in time for Sunday’s game. Valera appeared in one game with the Orioles last month, going 1 for 4, after arriving as part of the July 18 trade of Manny Machado to the Dodgers.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Orioles: OF/DH Mark Trumbo (right knee inflammation) will have arthroscopic surgery in Baltimore, manager Buck Showalter said. It is expected to take place Thursday or Friday.

Royals: LHP Eric Skoglund (sprained UCL) was due to make a rehab start with Triple-A Omaha on Saturday night. Skoglund (1-5, 6.70 ERA) has been out since late May.

UP NEXT

RHP Jorge Lopez (0-3, 7.90 ERA), part of a late-July trade with Milwaukee, tries again for his first win for the Royals when he faces Orioles RHP David Hess (3-8, 5.08) in the series finale Sunday.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Brad Keller kept up his recent pitching surge with another strong outing.

Keller gave up a home run to the first batter of the game — Cedric Mullins — but quickly settled in to pitch eight strong innings in the Kansas City Royals’ 9-2 win over the Baltimore Royals in a matchup of the teams with the worst records in the majors.

“Every time he takes the mound, you expect him to keep you in the ballgame,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He just did what he does so well. He keeps the ball on the ground and did a nice job doing that.”

Keller (7-5) gave up two runs and four hits with two walks and four strikeouts to improve to 3-0 with a 2.16 ERA in his last four starts.

“I was just trying to get in a groove and throw strikes,” he said. “I just made a mistake (to Mullins). You’ve got a long game after that. You’ve got to flush it and lock it back in.

Ryan O’Hearn homered among his three hits and drove in four runs, Whit Merrifield scored three runs, and Hunter Dozier and Cam Gallagher also went deep to help the Royals win for the fifth time in six games on their current homestand.

“They’re not exactly household names yet, O’Hearn, Dozier and Gallagher,” Yost said. “But they’re doing okay. You watch Dozier who looks totally comfortable now. O’Hearn has always been a guy with a lot of confidence that he can hit. It’s nice to see Cam get off to a good start too.”

With the scored tied 1-1 in the fourth, Andrew Cashner (4-13) gave up a sacrifice fly to Merrifield after loading the bases on two walks and a single. Dozier led off the fifth inning with a 423-foot home run to left field to make it 3-1.

“(Cashner) was having trouble gripping his breaking ball,” Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said. “He never really got a feel for it. He’d throw a couple and it’s just hard to go through that many hitters, especially lefthanders, without a feel for a breaking ball. I think the last home run is the one that’s going to stick with him. He could have come out of that with three runs, not being able to do the things he normally does.”

The Orioles pulled within a run in the sixth when Mullins led off with a double just beyond the reach of Dozier at third, advanced to third on a fly ball and scored on Trey Mancini’s sacrifice fly to the wall in right.

The Royals answered in the bottom of the inning as Gallagher hit his first home run of the season, ending Cashner’s night.

“I think he was trying to get it out over the plate but it backed up on him,” said Gallagher, who was recalled from Triple-A Omaha Friday after the Royals traded catcher Drew Butera to the Colorado Rockies. “He just left it middle-in and I was able to get a good swing on it.”

Cashner, who has given up a career-high 21 homers, allowed four runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked three and struck out one.

“That was probably some of the worst stuff I’ve carried into a game,” Cashner said. “My sinker was not there tonight. (My) offspeed pitches were not there. (I) didn’t really command anything for a strike.”

O’Hearn added a two-run single off Yefry Ramirez later in the sixth to push Kansas City’s lead to 6-2. Dozier’s RBI single in the eighth drove in Merrifield for his third run scored of the game, and O’Hearn added a two-run homer off Ryan Meisinger to cap the scoring.

TRANSACTIONS

Orioles: OF Joey Rickard was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk. … RHP Jhan Marinez was reinstated from the 10-day disabled list (right hamstring strain). He cleared waivers and was assigned outright to Norfolk. … OF Craig Gentry was designated for assignment.

Royals: Butera was traded to the Colorado Rockies for LHP Jerry Vasto, who was assigned to Triple-A Omaha. … OF Brian Goodwin was reinstated from the 10-day disabled list.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Orioles: OF Mullins, who missed Wednesday’s game with a hip injury, was back in the lineup in the leadoff spot. “I’m feeling good,” he said prior to Friday’s game. “I’m excited to get back out. I’ve been with the trainers; we’ve had some intense treatment going on, but I feel really good.”

Royals: C Salvador Perez was held out of the lineup for precautionary reasons with a mild strain of his left thumb. Perez, who missed Wednesday’s game against Detroit, hurt the thumb on Tuesday when he lost his grip on the bat during a swing against the Tigers. Manager Ned Yost said Perez could have caught Friday, but swinging would be difficult. Perez was replaced in the lineup by Gallagher.

UP NEXT

Orioles RHP Dylan Bundy (7-13, 5.37 ERA) will face another Royals rookie pitcher as RHP Heath Fillmyer (2-1, 4.21) takes the mound for Kansas City. Fillmyer will make his first career start against the Orioles. Bundy is 1-1 with a 5.87 ERA all-time against Kansas City, including one start this year May 8 in Baltimore, in which he gave up seven earned runs without recording an out.

— Associated Press —