A Royal Flush

The O's let one slip away on Saturday afternoon, falling to Kansas City 4-3 in front of nearly 27,000 fans at Camden Yards.

I had just stated in my last post how the Birds were getting all the breaks- Orioles Magic- but things went the Royals' way on Saturday. Most noticeable was a swinging-bunt double in the seventh where the ball hugged the foul line but just wouldn't roll foul. That run came in to score to tie the game. Nick Johnson came a few feet away from giving the O's a 5-4 lead in the eighth with a two-run blast that hooked just foul. It was just one of those games...

The Birds went ahead early, handing Wei-Yin Chen a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning. Chris Davis homered for the second straight game in the second inning, J.J. Hardy led-off the third with a solo shot of his own and Adam Jones extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a triple, coming home on Matt Wieters' sac fly. But the bats went silent over the final six frames.

Chen kept the Royals off the board through four innings before allowing a run in the fifth and another in the sixth. He lasted six innings, allowing just the two runs on six hits and a walk while striking out five. Darren O'Day allowed the tying run to cross in the seventh and Pedro Strop surrendered the eventual winning run in the eighth.

The O's (29-18) stayed a full game ahead of the Rays after they fell to Boston on Saturday night. Before the game on Sunday, the O's are set to announce the contract extension of Adam Jones- six years for $85.5 million. Brian Matusz looks for his fifth win in May after the mega-deal is announced.