Whit Merrifield's blast gives Royals victory over Baltimore Orioles

Brett Phillips, who also homered, drew a walk against Mychal Givens (0-7) to open the ninth and took second on a sacrifice bunt to bring Merrifield to the plate.

Kansas City left fielder Whit Merrifield hit a two-run, walk-off homer with one out in the ninth inning to lift the host Royals to a 5-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles at Kauffman Stadium on Friday.

Brett Phillips, who also homered, drew a walk against Mychal Givens (0-7) to open the ninth and took second on a sacrifice bunt to bring Merrifield to the plate. Merrifield has reached safely in 21 straight games, and the Royals have won six of their last seven.

Tim Beckham had four hits including a homer and Trey Mancini also homered for the Orioles, who had taken the lead with two runs in the top of the eighth inning.

Mancini opened the eighth with his 21st home run of the season and Beckham doubled in the go-ahead run after Adam Jones singled. Mancini has nine homers and 24 RBIs since the All-Star break.

Beckham, who hit his 10th homer in the fourth inning, finished a triple short of a cycle.

Brian Goodwin had three hits and an RBI and Phillips had two hits as the Royals won their third consecutive series, a season first.

Baltimore (40-96) and Kansas City (44-91) have the two worst records in the majors. The Orioles have the worst road record, 16-52, and the Royals have the worst home record, 24-45.

Baltimore loaded the bases in the second inning off Heath Fillmyer on singles by Chris Davis, Beckham and Renato Nunez before John Andreoli hit a sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead.

Fillmyer gave up nine hits and two runs in seven innings, equaling his longest start of the season. He struck out six and walked one.

Beckham's homer in the fourth inning gave Baltimore a 2-0 lead before Phillips homered with two outs in the last of the fourth to cut the Royals' deficit to 2-1.

Ryan O'Hearn, who homered and drove in four runs on Friday, walked to open a two-run sixth inning off Dylan Bundy. Brian Goodwin doubled in O'Hearn to tie it at 2-2 before Rosell Herrera singled in Goodwin for a 3-2 lead.

Bundy gave up eight hits and three runs in 5 1/3 innings, with eight strikeouts and one walk. It was a step up from his first start against the Royals on May 8 this season, when he did not retire any of the seven batters he faced and gave up four homers in the first inning of a 15-7 loss.

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