When Manny Machado arrived at Camden Yards amid much fanfare, Orioles manager Buck Showalter insisted the 20-year-old player was promoted for no other reason than to help the team win.

And that is precisely what Machado did in his second game in the major leagues.

Machado thrust himself into the Orioles’ record book by hitting two home runs and driving in four runs, a power display that carried Baltimore past the Kansas City Royals 7-1 on Friday night.

After going 2 for 4 in his debut on Thursday, Machado hit a solo shot in the fifth inning and a three-run drive in the sixth. Both homers came off Luke Hochevar (7-10) and landed in the left-field seats.

The second clinched the victory, but Machado never will forget his first home run trot in the big leagues.

“It was the best feeling ever,” he said. “The crowd here loves me, and for them to support me like that, after my first home run, it just felt great.”

After the second one, Machado was pushed out of the dugout by teammate Adam Jones to acknowledge the request of a curtain call by the crowd of 17,277.

“It was great,” Machado said. “I’ve dreamed about that my whole life, about going out there and getting that curtain call, and second game in the big leagues I get it.”

At 20 years, 35 days old, Machado is the youngest Oriole ever to have a multihomer game. Boog Powell was 20 years and 258 days old when he homered twice against Minnesota in May 1962.

Machado also became the 12th youngest major leaguer since 1918 to hit at least two home runs in a game.

Machado, the third overall pick in the 2010 draft, went 2 for 4 in his second straight start at third base. He never had played above the Double-A level before Thursday night.

And that explains why manager Buck Showalter was cautious in his praise of the youngster.

“It’s two games. He’s off to a good start,” Showalter said. “He’s hit some mistakes and hit them well, which guys have to do up here. He’ll have the kitchen sink thrown at him and we’ll see how it goes. But so far, so good.”

Omar Quintanilla also homered for the Orioles, who have won six of seven.

Miguel Gonzalez (4-2) allowed one run and six hits in eight innings, striking out five and walking one. The right-hander was 0-2 with a 10.80 ERA in two home starts.

Salvador Perez homered for the Royals, who lost for the second time in six games. Hochevar had allowed only 13 homers in 22 starts before giving up three in this one.

“That’s what it falls on: three mistakes that they didn’t miss,” said Hochevar, who went 5 1/3 innings. “Hitters don’t usually miss mistakes at this level.”

Not even Machado in his second game.

“These last two games he’s played really well. He’s hit mistakes, he’s hit good pitches,” Hochevar said. “He’s having some really, really good at-bats. Plays good defense and obviously swinging it well right now.”

Baltimore led 2-1 before Machado notched his first home run and RBI with one swing at a 3-2 pitch. In the sixth, after Nate McLouth doubled in a run, Machado connected on a 1-2 pitch for a 7-1 lead.

Machado’s heroics overshadowed a fine performance by another Baltimore rookie, Gonzalez, who went eight innings for the first time.

“Just throwing strikes, getting ahead of guys,” Gonzalez said. “My sinker worked well and my changeup was good.”

In his previous two starts at home, Gonzalez twice gave up a home run to the first batter he faced and yielded a combined six first-inning runs. He reversed that trend by striking out leadoff hitter Alex Gordon to begin a 1-2-3 first.

Perez hit a drive over the right-field wall in the second inning to put the Royals up 1-0. It was the 10th homer allowed by Gonzalez in 48 2/3 innings, although nine of those 10 home runs have been solo shots.

In the bottom half, Wilson Betemit led off with a double, and Quintanilla homered with two outs.

— Associated Press —

Billy Butler already had cleared the most difficult obstacles of hitting for the cycle, including a home run and his first triple since 2009.

All he needed was a measly little single in his final two at-bats to become the seventh player in the history of the Kansas City Royals to complete the cycle.

Butler fell short, but that was one of very few negatives for the Royals in an 8-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday night.

Butler finished with three RBIs and scored three runs, and Alex Gordon homered and had three hits to help Kansas City end the Orioles’ five-game winning streak and take the luster off Manny Machado’s impressive major league debut.

Butler homered in a four-run first inning, doubled in the third and tripled in the fifth. Vying to become the first Kansas City player to hit for the cycle since George Brett in 1990, Butler struck out against Matt Lindstrom in the seventh and submariner Darren O’Day in the ninth.

“I really didn’t have much to hit,” Butler said. “They pitched me tough with some really good sliders. O’Day is not somebody a right-hander is going to have much success against at all. I know I haven’t in my history. I’m just trying to take him the other way and it just didn’t work out. He’s going to get most righties out all of the time.”

Butler is 11 for 24 (.458) with three homers and five RBIs in six games against Baltimore this season.

“Butler’s one of the top five right-handed hitters in baseball,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “This guy is solid. You look at his track record. I try not to feel like he’s picking on us. We made some good pitches on him the last couple at-bats, but we made some mistakes on him and good hitters are going to pounce on those.”

Machado, the third overall pick in the 2010 draft, went 2 for 4 and played flawlessly at third base in his first game above the Double-A level. The 20-year-old grounded out in the second inning, tripled in the fifth, beat out a slow roller to second base in the seventh and popped out to end the game.

“I thought Manny did well, presented himself well tonight,” Showalter said. “I’m proud of him. There was a nice calmness about him and a good start. He handled the situation well, all things considered.”

Machado was pleased with his performance but disappointed with the final score.

“It would have been way much better if we would have come out with a win, but they did a good job,” the rookie said.

Asked if this taste of success might carry over, Machado replied, “I’ve still got a long year and a lot more at-bats to go. But for the first night I think it went great.”

Matt Wieters homered for the Orioles, who failed for a sixth time this season to extend a five-game winning streak to six.

Baltimore rookie Wei-Yin Chen (10-7) allowed a career-high seven runs and nine hits in 4 2/3 innings. Coming off two straight starts in which he did not allow an earned run, the Taiwanese left-hander yielded a home run to Gordon on the second pitch of the game and never got back on track.

Will Smith (3-4) gave up two runs and six hits in seven innings for the Royals, who have won four of five.

“That was a great game,” manager Ned Yost said. “We tacked on runs on three or four different occasions. (Alcides) Escobar was spectacular at shortstop. Great defense. We hit homers. We hit doubles. We played very, very well.”

Kansas City took a 4-0 lead before Chen could get an out. After Gordon hit his third leadoff homer of the season, Escobar and Lorenzo Cain followed with singles before Butler homered on a 1-1 pitch.

In the second inning, Machado received a warm ovation from the crowd of 21,226 before his first at-bat. With two on and two outs, he hit a chopper to Escobar and was thrown out by a step.

The Royals used doubles by Butler, Mike Moustakas and Jeff Francoeur to make it 6-0 in the third. Moustakas was 2 for 27 lifetime against Baltimore before his run-scoring hit.

Chen’s night ended in the fifth, when Butler tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Salvador Perez.

In the bottom half, Machado tripled and scored on a fly ball by Nick Markakis to make it 7-1. Escobar hit an RBI single in the sixth, and Wieters connected in the Orioles’ half.

— Associated Press —

An impressive effort by Jeremy Guthrie didn’t just snap a nearly 10-weeklong drought for the Royals right-hander on Wednesday night.

It may have been one of Kansas City’s best pitching performances of the season.

Guthrie earned his first victory since late May as he scattered five hits over eight innings in a 2-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

“That arguably could be the best-pitched game we had all year,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He was in total control … locating his pitches down, changing speeds, great command of the strike zone (and) never really got into any spots where they really threatened.”

Guthrie (1-3) got his first win with the Royals and improved to 4-12 overall since arriving in a late July trade with Colorado. He struck out five and walked none.

His last victory was an 11-5 decision over Houston on May 31. He struggled through nine losses in his next 13 appearances.

“You want to win, but you can’t make it happen no matter how much you worry about it,” Guthrie said. “All you can do is just try to make better pitches and limit your runs. You give up zero runs you’ve got a better chance to win than if you give up six.

“I think that was more the focus than getting a win was can I go out there and give a good outing that gives us a chance to win.”

Solo home runs by Mike Moustakas and Salvador Perez provided all the runs for Kansas City.

Greg Holland gave up a run-scoring single in the bottom of the ninth but picked up his third consecutive save.

Jose Quintana (4-2) worked seven innings and gave up five hits. He walked two and struck out five.

Kansas City took two of three in the series. Chicago had won its past four series and five straight at home.

Kansas City took a 1-0 lead in the second on Moustakas’ 17th home run of the season. With two outs, the third baseman lined Quintana’s first pitch deep in to the seats in right.

Perez made it 2-0 with a two-out homer to right on a 2-0 pitch from Quintana. The home run was his sixth of the season.

Chicago had a runner in scoring position in the third when Alejandro De Aza singled with two outs and reached second on an errant pickoff throw from Perez to first baseman Eric Hosmer. But Gordon Beckham ended the inning with a fly to right.

The Royals tried to pad the lead in the sixth with runners on first and second with two outs, but Perez’ flied out to center to end the threat.

Guthrie had retired nine straight into the sixth inning when Beckham lined a two-out double down the left field line. Guthrie closed the inning by striking out Adam Dunn looking.

The left-handed Quintana had four straight no-decisions entering Wednesday. He last won on July 5, a 2-1 victory over Texas where he surrendered one earned run while striking out eight and walking just one.

White Sox reliever Jesse Crain worked the eighth while Brett Myers pitched a scoreless ninth. In the ninth, Holland gave up a one-out single to Dunn, who scored on A.J. Pierzynski’s two-out grounder up the middle.

“(Guthrie) was spotting the ball really well,” Pierzynski said. “He didn’t make a whole lot of mistakes. He kept the ball down really well, elevated when he wanted to and he had a good breaking ball.”

Yost said he was hoping for continued improvement from Guthrie, winless in his first three starts with a 7.71 ERA since arriving in the trade with the Rockies.

“(General manager) Dayton (Moore) said when we got him it might be four starts before he gets it going,” Yost said. “He’s gotten progressively better each start, was really good against Texas his last start and was absolutely spot on, spectacular tonight.”

Chicago first baseman Paul Konerko and outfielder Alex Rios were scratches on Wednesday. Rios had a sore back while Konerko suffered concussion symptoms in the aftermath of a first base play on Tuesday. Both will have two days off.

Ventura said he toyed with a lineup without Konerko, Rios, De Aza and third baseman Kevin Youkilis.

“We actually had a lineup without those guys in it,” he said. “It was creative, it was a fun morning.”

De Aza missed three games with back stiffness while Youkilis was out of Tuesday’s game with a sore right knee. Both were in Wednesday’s starting lineup.

— Associated Press —

The Kansas City Royals wanted Bruce Chen to show more aggression. He finally did.

Chen outpitched Jake Peavy for his first win in six weeks, Billy Butler hit his career-high 22nd homer and the Royals beat the Chicago White Sox 5-2 on Tuesday night.

The White Sox had won 10 of 13, but saw their lead over Detroit in the AL Central shrink to a half game when the Tigers beat the New York Yankees 6-5 earlier in the night.

Gordon Beckham hit his first career leadoff homer for Chicago, and the White Sox scored again in the sixth after Kansas City tied it in the top half. But RBI singles by Tony Abreu and Alex Gordon off Peavy (9-8) in the seventh gave Kansas City a 3-2 lead.

Butler added to it in the eighth with a two-run drive off Nate Jones after Mike Moustakas walked, and the Royals hung on from there, giving Chen (8-9) his first win since June 26.

The left-hander gave up two runs and seven hits in 6 2/3 innings and finally came out on top after going 0-3 in his previous seven starts. It was a big improvement over his previous outing, when he got knocked out in the third against Cleveland after being staked to a six-run lead.

He and manager Ned Yost had a long talk about being aggressive following that game, which the Royals eventually won. The message? Go after the hitters, establish the fastball.

“His last three or four starts, he comes out and he hasn’t established his fastball,” Yost said. “All he’s doing is throwing 82, 83, trying to get his control down, but he’s got nothing to speed the bats up so they sit soft.”

It was different against the White Sox.

Even when Beckham connected an 87 mph pitch in the first, Yost didn’t blink because the home run came on a fastball. Chen was following the plan.

“Obviously, I’m trying to establish my fastball,” he said. “I’m trying to keep the ball down, but also pitching in and cutting the ball in on the righties was a big plus for me.”

The way Peavy was pitching, the Royals needed that. And the bullpen did its job with Kelvin Herrera pitching 1 1/3 innings and Greg Holland retiring the side in the ninth for his second save in four chances.

Peavy also gave up seven hits in 6 2/3 innings, but was a tough-luck loser after beating Minnesota in his previous two starts. He found his control after walking the game’s first two batters, issuing just one the rest of the way, but he couldn’t protect the lead after the White Sox went up 2-1.

“I don’t like to lose,” he said. “I just hate to lose. I wish I could have done more to help us win, I really do. It stinks when you feel like you have a chance to win and you don’t. You get so close and you could have done things differently to win.”

The Royals had runners on first and third with one out in the seventh after Jeff Francoeur reached on a bunt down the third-base line and Eric Hosmer singled. Abreu then tied it with a single to left, and although Hosmer got thrown out at third by Dayan Viciedo, the Royals weren’t finished.

Jarrod Dyson just beat out a single to second after Beckham made a diving stop on his grounder, and Gordon then chased Peavy with a single to center that made it 3-2, putting Kansas City up for good.

Now, the Royals are 4-3 in August after dropping 19 of 26 in July.

“I think the last couple days we’ve had renewed energy, renewed vision, and I’m pleased with where we’re at right now,” Yost said.

— Associated Press —

Chris Sale had time to catch his breath. Now, maybe, he’s locked in.

Sale pitched eight solid innings, Paul Konerko and Gordon Beckham homered late, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 4-2 on Monday night.

“I went through a little dead arm period, but it’s par for the course,” Sale said. “It’s all behind us now. We’ve got a couple months left and we’re going to have to make a push and it’s not going to be easy.”

The margin for error is slim, with a 1 ½-game lead over Detroit for the AL Central lead. The Tigers are playing well, but so are the White Sox. And they pulled this one out thanks to a strong start by their pitcher and some big hits toward the end.

Konerko tied it leading off the seventh and Beckham gave the White Sox a 3-2 lead with a solo shot in the eighth off Luis Mendoza. Kevin Youkilis added an RBI double in the inning, and the White Sox won for the 10th time in 13 games.

A.J. Pierzynski added two hits, and although he didn’t go deep after tying a club record with homers in five straight games, he did drive in the first run with a double in the second.

Sale (13-3), meanwhile, looked sharp on nine days’ rest, allowing two runs and eight hits while striking out seven without a walk. He gave up solo homers to Jeff Francoeur and Billy Butler, but otherwise kept the Royals off-balance, with his fastball consistently in the mid-90s.

Sale was passed over during the last time through the rotation. The White Sox wanted to give him more rest in his first year as a starter.

“It gives you a little bit more time to recover and catch your breath, I guess you could say, but you’ve still got a couple of months left,” Sale said. “You’ve just got to keep going with it.”

The Royals were impressed.

“If he stays healthy he has a chance to win a bunch of ballgames in his career,” Francoeur said.

Addison Reed worked the ninth for his 20th save in 23 chances, retiring Eric Hosmer on a double-play grounder with runners on first and second to end the game.

Mendoza (5-8) gave up seven hits and four runs in 7 1/3 innings.

Butler made it 2-1 in the seventh with his 21st homer. Konerko tied it in the bottom half with a line drive to left that just cleared the wall and landed in the bullpen.

The Royals had runners on first and third in the eighth, but Sale got out of it. Shortstop Alexei Ramirez made a diving stop on Alex Gordon’s soft liner. Sale tagged out Tony Abreu trying to score on Alcides Escobar’s safety squeeze and struck out Lorenzo Cain on three pitches, pumping his left fist on the way to the dugout.

“We know what’s on the line and where we want to go,” said Beckham, who hadn’t homered since June 20. “If we’re going to get there, everybody’s got to step up and pitch in.”

— Associated Press —