BALTIMORE (AP) — The Kansas City Royals, and Alex Gordon in particular, showed their late-night prowess on a dreary night at Camden Yards.
Gordon hit two of Kansas City’s four home runs, Luis Mendoza took a shutout into the seventh inning and the Royals beat the Baltimore Orioles 7-3 Saturday night after the start of the game was delayed by rain for more than three hours.
Salvador Perez and Billy Butler also connected for the Royals, who have 14 homers in their last seven games. Gordon has nine home runs this season, three in this four-game series that concludes Sunday afternoon.
The game started at 10:14 p.m. and spilled into Sunday morning, finally ending at 1:13 a.m.
”Same ballpark, same rain delay, same weather conditions,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. ”They did a better job with it than we did.”
Especially Gordon, who homered in the first inning and again in the seventh, taking advantage of the short distance to left field on both occasions.
Asked to explain his power surge, Gordon said, ”Probably the park a little bit. Take advantage of the places you play and the conditions you play under.”
Mendoza (6-8) gave up three runs and seven hits over six-plus innings in his first appearance against the Orioles since 2008. Two of his 12 career wins have come against Baltimore.
