Orioles 3, Royals 2

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Rafael Palmeiro homered and David Newhan drove in the go-ahead run in a three-run seventh inning, leading the Baltimore Orioles to a 3-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday night.

Rodrigo Lopez (6-4) survived a rough first inning and retired the last 15 batters he faced to lead Baltimore to its third win in four games against Kansas City – the Orioles’ first series win since late May.

Lopez allowed two runs and four hits, and struck out four in six innings. Jorge Julio pitched the ninth for his 11th save in 13 chances, completing the four-hitter.

The Orioles retired the last 24 Kansas City batters, and the Royals didn’t have a baserunner after the first inning.

Zack Greinke (1-5) was cruising until the seventh, when the Orioles broke through against the rookie right-hander.

Palmeiro hit a leadoff with a home run to cut the deficit to 2-1. Javy Lopez followed with a double and scored on a one-out double by Jerry Hairston.

Luis Matos was hit by a pitch and Robert Machado reached on an infield hit, loading the bases and ending Greinke’s night. Shawn Camp came in and gave up Newhan’s RBI single before getting Melvin Mora to ground into an inning-ending double play.

The Royals got off to a fast start against Lopez in the first inning. David DeJesus hit a leadoff single, moved to second on Tony Graffanino’s sacrifice and scored on Mike Sweeney’s single. Angel Berroa singled one out later and scored on Dee Brown’s base hit to center, giving the Royals a quick 2-0 lead. But Brown was thrown out trying to stretch the hit to a double – and that was the last batter to reach for the Orioles.

B.J. Ryan threw 1 1-3 perfect inning in relief, and Jason Grimsley got two outs before Julio finished up the four-hitter.

Greinke gave up three runs on seven hits in 6 1-3 innings and struck out a career-high seven. He has suffered from a lack of run support since being called up from the minors. Greinke has received only 18 runs in his eight starts, including just eight in his five losses.

Notes: The Royals have gone six straight games without a home run, their longest power slump since a six-game streak July 23-28, 2002. … Royals 1B Ken Harvey, who leads the Royals in hitting at .327, was given the night off. He grounded out in the eighth, and has just two hits in his last 24 at-bats. … Miguel Tejada extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a bunt single in the fourth inning. He was 2-for-4. … Palmeiro’s home run was his 39th against the Royals, the most by any opponent.

AP-ES-07-01-04 2245EDT