The Baltimore Orioles usually like to slug their way to victory.

On this occasion, they were quite content to get the pivotal run via a walk, an errant pickoff throw and a well-placed fly ball.

Matt Wieters drove in three runs, including the tiebreaker in the eighth inning, and the Orioles beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 Tuesday night on a soggy night at Camden Yards.

After blowing a three-run lead, the Orioles went back on top in the eighth. Adam Jones drew a leadoff walk from Tim Collins (1-1) and advanced when Luke Hochevar threw wildly to first base on a pickoff attempt. Wieters then lofted an opposite-field fly to left that appeared to hit the foul line for a double.

”I was hoping,” Wieters said. ”I was leaning it and I was pretty excited when the umpire made the fair signal.”

The Orioles came into the game with 39 home runs, including 17 that gave them the lead and four that tied it. On this night, they found a different way to win.

Besides scoring in unusual fashion in the eighth, Baltimore turned three double plays and got a fielding gem from shortstop J.J. Hardy.

”When you don’t walk people and you catch the baseball the way we did tonight, you give yourself a chance to win those types of games,” manager Buck Showalter said.

The Royals, on the other hand, got a huge home run from Alex Gordon. But they were done in by a walk and an error.

”The leadoff walk is something that’s going to get you in trouble just about every time, especially late in the game,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said.

Tommy Hunter (2-1) worked 1 1-3 innings of relief and Jim Johnson got three straight outs for his 12th save.

It was the fourth win in five games for the Orioles, who moved within a game of first-place Boston in the AL East.

”This team grinds it out,” Hunter said. ”This team is fun to watch for everybody. Nobody should ever leave the stadium, I’ll tell you that much, under any circumstances.”

Even on a brisk, wet night.

Baltimore starter Wei-Yin Chen had a 3-1 lead in the seventh inning when rain forced a 48-minute delay. After play resumed, Brian Matusz got an out before yielding a two-run homer to Gordon.

Chen allowed two runs and nine hits in 6 1-3 innings.

Ervin Santana gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings for Kansas City. The right-hander walked one and struck out four.

”First inning I was always in trouble, but after that I settled down and threw a lot of strikes and blew guys away,” Santana said.

Baltimore went up 3-0 in the first. Singles by Manny Machado, Nick Markakis and Adam Jones produced a run before Wieters hit a two-out, two-run double.

”I missed that one. He hit a mistake,” Santana said.

In the third, former Oriole Miguel Tejada hit a one-out single and scored on a single by Alcides Escobar. In the bottom half, Tejada made a diving stop of Jones’ grounder to third and made a successful throw to first while in a sitting position.

Hardy saved a run with a sparkling dive-and-throw play in the fourth. With two outs and a runner on second, Hardy went to the edge of the outfield grass to snare a grounder by Salvador Perez before throwing to first while on his knees.

Santana regrouped from his shaky start to retire 12 straight batters until Nate McLouth singled with two outs in the fifth. Machado followed with a single before Markakis hit a fly to left.

— Associated Press —

Jordan Danks just had to wait a short while for a second chance.

The backup outfielder atoned for his baserunning blunder in the ninth inning by hitting a solo home run in the 11th that lifted the Chicago White Sox over the Kansas City Royals 2-1 Monday.

”I knew that was going to be my shot to do something,” Danks said. ”I wasn’t trying to do too much. But you got a guy throwing 97, 98 (mph), he’s going to provide most of the power. Like coaches have been telling you since Little League, get something good to hit.”

Danks connected with two outs off Kelvin Herrera (2-3) for his first homer of the season. The White Sox avoided a three-game sweep and won for only the fifth time in 18 tries in Kauffman Stadium.

Danks entered in the ninth as a pinch-runner. Moments later, he got caught in a rundown between third and home after Alexei Ramirez hit a tying, bases-loaded infield single with two outs.

”It makes it a little bit better, yeah,” Danks said with a grin. ”I told them I did it on purpose so I could come up and hit a homer.”

Chicago starter Chris Sale, who spent most of the day matching James Shields pitch for pitch, said the dugout ”went nuts” when Danks homered.

”That’s always fun to watch,” Sale said. ”Emotions are high. You’re tense. Someone goes up and does that, it’s fun.”

The White Sox trailed 1-0 before loading the bases with no outs in the ninth. After Paul Konerko grounded into a home-to-first double play, Danks entered as a pinch-runner at second base for Adam Dunn.

Conor Gillaspie was intentionally walked to load the bases. Ramirez followed with an infield single up the middle that made it 1-all, but Danks was tagged out on the play, ending the rally.

”He got caught in no man’s land,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. ”Even in the dugout, you’re thinking about trying to send him. It’s too late to tell him to stop. That wasn’t his fault. That’s on us. That’s just an aggressive play. I’d rather be like that than not be aggressive.”

Jesse Crain (1-1) pitched one scoreless inning for the win. Addison Reed worked the 11th for his 11th save in 12 opportunities.

Shields threw eight shutout innings and handed a 1-0 lead to Greg Holland starting the ninth.

Royals manager Ned Yost said he was not tempted to let Shields work the ninth.

”Everybody has their job to do and Shields had done his,” Yost said. ”He threw eight shutout innings. It was a one-run game. The runs make all the difference. If it was a two-run or a three-run lead, yeah. But in a one-run game, (if) you send him out he’s either going to win it or lose it. You let the closer go out and try to do his job.”

Shields, who lost to Sale 1-0 on opening day in Chicago, allowed two hits and struck out a season-best nine. He walked two.

”I felt good out there,” Shields said. ”I felt like I had all my pitches working. I struggled early in the game getting ahead of hitters, and I gave up a couple of walks. But for the most part it was a tough battle. When you’re facing Sale, it’s going to be tough.”

Sale was almost as sharp, going 7 1-3 innings and allowing one run on six hits, with five strikeouts and no walks.

”I kind of fell into a groove,” Sale said. ”Sweeps will kill you. James Shields was awesome, actually. But to keep our heads in the game and grind it out, it says a lot about who we are.”

Alex Gordon hit a leadoff single in the first for Kansas City and scored when Billy Butler lined a double down the left-field line.

After Gordon’s two-out single in the third, Sale retired 15 straight batters until Salvador Perez doubled into the gap with two out in the seventh.

— Associated Press —

Down to his final strike, Billy Butler came through.

Butler’s two-out, two-run double in the ninth tied it for Kansas City before Alex Gordon won it an inning later with an RBI single to lift the Royals to a 6-5 win over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.

”I figured he might go something off-speed and he just left it up and I put a pretty good swing on it and got it to the gap,” Butler said. ”I was still sitting on a fastball, but you can’t eliminate any pitches. He just got it up in the zone. I put a barrel on it and something good happened.”

The Royals have 11 come-from-behind victories in their 17 wins this season.

”We continue to fight,” Butler said. ”We just don’t give up. We never lost focus or our desire to come back. It’s not going to happen every night, but we just continue to put pretty good at-bats together.”

Lorenzo Cain led off the 10th with his third hit and stole second with one out. With two outs, Chris Getz was intentionally walked and George Kottaras then walked on five pitches, loading the bases for Gordon.

Gordon singled on the first pitch from rookie Brian Omogrosso (0-1), who made his first appearance since being called up Wednesday.

Greg Holland (1-1) worked a perfect 10th after relievers Tim Collins and Aaron Crow allowed four runs in the seventh for the White Sox to take a 5-3 lead.

”Our bullpen is not going to give up too many leads I feel like,” Holland said. ”When it does, our lineup steps up and really gets after it and take good at-bats back-to-back. We’re really tough on pitching staffs right now.”

Butler’s tying double scored pinch runner Chris Getz and George Kottaras. Addison Reed blew his first save in 18 opportunities dating to Aug. 25. He was 10 for 10 in save chances this season.

”I was wild,” Reed said. ”I couldn’t get comfortable. I walked the first two guys and I wasn’t even close. I was all over the place. The 3-2 pitch to Butler was a hanging slider, it was a terrible pitch. I wanted to make the best pitch I could and I hung it and he made me pay for it.

”It stinks everybody before me threw their butts off and the offense came through, and I let them down.”

Alex Rios homered and drove in two runs and Alejandro De Aza contributed a two-run double for the White Sox.

Royals reliever Tim Collins started the seventh with a 3-1 lead, but allowed three runs on three hits without retiring a batter. In his past two outings, Collins has yielded five runs on seven hits and gotten only two outs.

Chicago scored four times in the seventh. Aaron Crow threw a wild pitch that let one run score and Rios hit his team-leading seventh home run.

Royals right-hander Wade Davis, who had allowed 15 runs on 20 hits and seven walks in 8 1-3 innings in losing his previous two starts, held the White Sox to one run on five hits in six innings.

Davis gave up a run in the third on Rios’ groundout with the bases loaded.

”Every time we come here these guys give us a hard time,” Rios said. ”When you’ve got the lead you feel good and they hurt you at the end. We have to keep grinding.”

White Sox left-hander Jose Quintana held the Royals hitless for four innings before they scored three runs in the fifth. Miguel Tejada and Alcides Escobar had RBI singles and the other run scored on second baseman Jeff Keppinger’s error.

— Associated Press —

Jeremy Guthrie went from the scrapheap to the top of the heap.

Guthrie ran his unbeaten streak to a club record 17 consecutive starts with a four-hitter in the Kansas City Royals’ 2-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Saturday night.

Guthrie is 9-0 in the 17 starts, which started against the White Sox on Aug. 8, 2012. Left-hander Paul Splittorff held the Royals’ record with 16 straight undefeated starts in 1977-78.

This is in complete contrast to where Guthrie was at the start of last season. He went 3-9 with a 6.35 ERA with the Colorado Rockies, losing his final six decisions, before the Royals acquired him in a July 20 trade for left-hander Jonathan Sanchez.

”It was three long months there,” Guthrie said. ”I’d hate to bottle up seven years in the major leagues to three months, but certainly it wasn’t going well. In baseball, you can never take anything for granted. Someone can be on top of the game one month and in three or four months you can be out of the game.

”I was very fortunate to come over here.”

Guthrie gave credit to pitching coach Dave Eiland, catcher Salvador Perez and the Royals defense.

”That really helped me be able to get back on track and get that confidence back that I lacked with the struggles I had in Colorado and be able to feed off that,” Guthrie said.

It was Guthrie’s first shutout and fifth complete-game. Three of his previous complete games were eight-inning losses. His only previous complete-game victory came Aug. 8, 2008, for Baltimore at Seattle.

”He really kind of solidified our starting rotation when he got here last year,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”From that point on, I think it’s a great story. He was really struggling in Colorado and we made the deal for him and he just completely turned his career around. He’s worked very hard. He’s been very productive and very successful.”

Paul Konerko singled in the second and doubled in the fourth for the only White Sox hits until the eighth inning.

Tyler Flowers and Alejandro De Aza singled in the eighth, but Jeff Keppinger’s grounder to shortstop Alcides Escobar ended the inning.

Guthrie (4-0) threw 11 or fewer pitches in every inning except the fourth and eighth, when he threw 21 apiece.

Guthrie is 3-0 with a 0.40 ERA in six starts with the Royals against the White Sox, allowing two earned runs and 30 hits in 44 2-3 innings.

”He’s been tough on us,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. ”First, because he’s good. He was throwing it in and throwing it out. His off-speed was keeping us off balance. He seems to pick it up when we’re facing him. They’ve got good defense, too. There were a couple of little rollers and difficult kinds of plays, and they made them. He was Maddux-like, going for the two-hour mark. You have to pick your poison, you go after him early and then you pop it up. He’s tough.”

Dylan Axelrod (0-1) nearly matched Guthrie, but yielded a two-run triple to Lorenzo Cain in the first inning. Cain’s triple to the right-field corner scored Billy Butler, who was hit by a pitch, and Eric Hosmer, who singled for the first of his three hits.

Axelrod was pulled after Salvador’s Perez’s single with two out in the eighth. He gave up eight hits, walked one, hit two batters and struck out none, throwing 70 strikes in 113 pitches.

”It’s one of those games where Axe was good, but Guthrie was better,” Ventura said. ”That one ball to Rios (Cain’s two-run triple), a few feet closer and we’re still out there.”

Hosmer tripled to start the Royals’ third inning, but was stranded.

Chris Getz and Escobar singled in the second, but Billy Butler flied out to right to end the Royals’ threat.

Axelrod recorded his first 12 outs with fly balls before Butler grounded out to begin the fifth inning.

— Associated Press —

Rain started to fall at first pitch, and by the time the Kansas City Royals’ game against the Tampa Bay Rays was postponed Thursday afternoon, Kauffman Stadium resembled a snow globe.

Fat flakes were sticking to the field, and members of both teams popped out of their dugouts to take in a spectacle more suited to January or February. There hasn’t been measurable snow in May in Kansas City since 1907.

No makeup date was set and the game will be replayed in its entirety – Kansas City led 1-0 midway through the fourth inning when it was called. The Rays weren’t scheduled to return to Kansas City again this season.

”It’s not just about playing five innings. It’s about playing nine,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. ”If you don’t think you can get in nine innings, I think it’s the appropriate thing to do.”

The Royals were ahead after an RBI single by Alex Gordon. But once the tarp was pulled onto the field, it began to appear increasingly unlikely that Kansas City wouldn’t get the three more outs it needed to qualify for a win.

Naturally, that left plenty of Royals frustrated.

”I said, ‘Let’s throw down some dirt and let’s try to get it in,”’ said Royals outfielder Jeff Francoeur, adding that the game shouldn’t have been started if it wasn’t going to be finished.

”We played four innings. Why not play one more?” Gordon asked. ”Now we just have to cancel another off day and play it again.”

Kansas City already has had three games postponed due to weather, and another against the Red Sox postponed during the search for the Boston Marathon bombing suspects last month.

The Rays had a game against Boston rained out on April 12.

”I think they pushed the envelope as far as they could to get the game in,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”They did everything they could do to get as far as we could.”

The temperature was 41 degrees with winds gusting to 31 mph and rain just beginning to fall when the Royals’ Ervin Santana threw the first pitch. The conditions continued to deteriorate as some of the players, dressed in stocking caps and gloves, ran in place to stay warm.

”It was not good from the very first pitch,” Maddon said. ”It was slick, nasty and cold and raining. It’s not your typical good baseball day.”

When snow starting to fall, the creative team operating Kauffman Stadium played the Yule Log video on the massive screen in center field and ”Let It Snow” on the loudspeakers.

The game was delayed 2 hours, 20 minutes before the umpires finally called it.

None of the makeup options are appealing.

Two mutual days off would each force the Royals to play more than 20 consecutive days, and July 29 would mean Kansas City would have to swing home between games in Chicago and Minnesota, and the Rays would have to stop by while returning home from New York.

The Royals play at Tampa Bay from June 14-16.

While the game was suspended, the grounds crew optimistically tried to get the field ready should a window allow its completion. First, they used a couple of big fans to blow air under the tarp and dry out the infield dirt. Then, they peeled back half of the tarp and prepped one half of the infield, recovered it, and peeled back the other half to do the same thing.

They even managed to paint fresh lines during a short period of light precipitation, only for the freezing rain to pick up again and the tarp to go back on the field.

When the delay reached the 2-hour mark, the rain turned to snow, and members of the Rays and Royals started popping up in their dugouts to take pictures of the flakes falling.

The high temperature barely eked over 40 degrees, and that was overnight, unofficially breaking the record for coldest high temperature on May 2 of 48 degrees set in 1917.

It could be even worse on May 3, too.

The White Sox are due in town Friday night to start a three-game series, but the forecast calls for temperatures in the 30s and a 50-percent chance of precipitation at first pitch.

”I try not to get frustrated over things I can’t control,” Yost said. ”I can’t control the weather. I’ve tried before and it never worked. You just deal with it. It is what it is.”

— Associated Press —