KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Orioles had managed a measly 15 runs while losing six straight games, and were preparing to face Johnny Cueto and the streaking Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.

Naturally, they pounded five homers in an explosive performance.

“It’s why the people come to the games,” Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said after an 8-5 victory. “Because what’s supposed to happen on paper doesn’t always happen.”

For instance, Chris Davis breaks out of an 0-for-16 slump with a double and a two-run homer. Or Manny Machado, also struggling at the plate, hits his own two-run shot. Or Jonathan Schoop hits yet another two-run homer off Cueto, who struggled for the second consecutive start.

Wei-Yin Chen (8-6) allowed three runs for the Orioles while scattering nine hits over six innings. The losing pitcher against the Royals in Game 3 of last year’s AL Championship Series, he has now gone seven straight starts without a defeat.

“Every day we come here to the ballpark, all we think about is how to win today’s game,” Chen said through a translator. “Hopefully we can move up from here.”

Cueto (9-9) labored through five innings for Kansas City, allowing 10 hits and a walk. He was coming off a career-high 13 hits in a loss to Boston.

“I’m not a robot,” he said. “Just have to keep working, get ready for the next one.”

Steve Pearce made it 7-3 with a solo shot in the eighth for Baltimore. Mike Moustakas kept the Royals close with a two-run homer off Brian Matusz in the bottom half of the inning, but Ryan Flaherty answered with the Orioles’ fifth homer leading off the ninth.

Zach Britton got three outs for his 30th save.

The Orioles had lost nine straight to the Royals, and appeared to be in trouble again when they failed to score with runners on the corners and nobody out in the second inning.

In the bottom half, Moustakas hit a sacrifice fly and Salvador Perez an RBI double to stake Kansas City to a 2-0 advantage that could have been more substantial. The inning ended when Omar Infante ran past Paulo Orlando on a flyout, resulting in Infante also being called out.

Moments later, the Orioles started to showcase their power.

Baltimore tied the game in the third on Machado’s two-run shot, then pulled ahead in the fourth when Schoop clobbered his two-run homer an estimated 427 feet to left field.

Davis made it three straight innings with a two-run shot when he went deep in the fifth, the big first baseman’s 35th home run giving Baltimore a 6-2 advantage.

Kansas City clawed back with a run in the sixth when Kendrys Morales hit an RBI single, but Chen calmly retired Moustakas and Perez to prevent more damage.

When the Orioles tacked on a couple more home runs in the final two innings, the Royals were headed to only their third loss in 15 games at Kauffman Stadium.

“You’re facing the best team in the American League last year and they’ve added players to improve on that,” Showalter said. “So it’s a challenge, but we’ve got a chance to split against the American League champions tomorrow and move on to Texas.”

STATS AND STREAKS

The five home runs allowed by the Royals matched a season high. … Royals RHP Jeremy Guthrie made his first relief appearance since June 30, 2012, when he was with the Rockies. He had been in the Kansas City rotation. … Machado has 26 homers, the most by an Orioles third baseman since Melvin Mora hit 27 in 2005. … Pearce’s homer was his first since July 11.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Orioles: After another rough start Tuesday night, Showalter was asked whether RHP Miguel Gonzalez is fully recovered from a groin injury. “Yeah,” Showalter replied. “Far as I know.”

Royals: Manager Ned Yost has given reliever Ryan Madson and closer Greg Holland some rest due to sore arms, though Holland has been available the past two nights.

UP NEXT

Orioles: RHP Chris Tillman took a tough-luck loss in his last outing against Minnesota, but is 3-0 with a 2.50 ERA over his past six starts.

Royals: RHP Yordano Ventura allowed one run and six hits in a win last Saturday at Boston, making him 4-0 with a 3.55 ERA in his last six outings.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Eric Hosmer rolled a grounder toward first base in the third inning with the score tied, and Lorenzo Cain put on the brakes — a heads-up play that may have won the Royals the game.

Cain hesitated just long enough between first and second base that Baltimore was unable to turn a double play. He later scored on a single by Mike Moustakas, and the Royals went on to a 3-2 victory Tuesday night that pushed their winning streak to four games.

“Just kind of hesitated and didn’t let him tag me,” Cain said. “It ended up being the winning run, so I guess it was a good one to have.”

Kendrys Morales hit a solo homer and Hosmer also drove in a run for the Royals, who improved to 44-20 at home this season, including 12-2 in their current stretch.

Danny Duffy (7-6) dodged trouble for most of 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on five hits and two walks. The left-hander struck out five in a start that began in crisp efficiency and ended with the Orioles threatening to pull ahead in the sixth inning.

Luke Hochevar calmed things down with an inning of relief, though. Kelvin Herrera had no trouble with the rest of the seventh and eighth, and Wade Davis pitched a perfect ninth in place of closer Greg Holland to earn his 12th save.

“They did an awesome job,” Royals manager Ned Yost said of his bullpen. “It’s what they do.”

Miguel Gonzalez (9-10) allowed all three runs on six hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings, the latest in a string of lousy starts for Baltimore. Gonzalez is 0-4 in his last six tries.

Leadoff hitter Manny Machado went 0 for 5 with three strikeouts, his last ending the game.

The Orioles (62-63) have lost a season-high six straight, falling below .500 for the first time since they were 48-49 on July 26. The calamitous slump has also damaged their playoff hopes — they began the night 2 1/2 games back of Texas for the final AL wild-card spot.

“Always takes a little bit of everything,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “Everybody wants to throw one big circle around one thing. It’s a lot of things. A lot of things. And you can’t (borrow) from Peter to pay Paul in this game. You’ve got to do it all.”

The Royals never trailed after Morales sent a 3-2 pitch into the fountains in right field in the second inning. Hosmer added an RBI groundout in the third, and Moustakas delivered yet another two-out single by the league’s best-hitting team in such situations to score another run.

The Orioles got two runs back in the fourth when Matt Wieters drew a two-out walk and Steve Pearce, Jonathan Schoop and Caleb Joseph strung together a trio of singles. But Duffy managed to get recently called up Paul Janish to ground out to end the threat.

Duffy was in trouble again in the sixth, but Hochevar got Joseph to fly out to deep right field to leave runners on second and third and preserve the 3-2 lead.

It was up to one of the best bullpens in the majors to take care of the rest.

“We’ve just got to figure out a way to score more runs,” Showalter said. “That’s one of the reasons why they’re sitting where they are, is they don’t give up many. They’re taking people out of the rotation that would be in a lot of people’s, so it kind of gives you an idea one of the reasons why they’re good.”

EVEN NED

Yost managed his 900th game with the Royals. He is now 450-450. “I guess it’s cool,” he said, pointing out that at one point he was 53 games under .500. “The last two years we’ve won a bunch of baseball games with a really good group of guys.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Orioles: C Steve Clevenger went on the three-day paternity list to attend the birth of his daughter. Peyton Lee was born Tuesday afternoon.

Royals: Yost said there is still no timetable for OF Alex Gordon to return from his rehab stint at Triple-A Omaha. Gordon had been out with a groin injury.

UP NEXT

Orioles: LHP Wei-Yin Chen tries to keep his unbeaten streak intact Wednesday night. He is 3-0 with three no-decisions since July 21.

Royals: RHP Johnny Cueto makes his sixth start since being traded to Kansas City. He is 2-2 with a 3.00 ERA since leaving the Reds.

— Associated Press —