KC Royals’ futility at Kauffman Stadium reaches historic level with loss to Orioles

A fan could not have scripted a better start for the Royals on Tuesday night. Unfortunately, baseball games are longer than three innings.

The Royals kicked off their 10-game homestand with a bang, but followed it with a fizzle as the Orioles won 11-7 at Kauffman Stadium.

Bobby Witt Jr. opened the bottom of the first with a home run. After an out, Salvador Perez walked and MJ Melendez followed with a home run. But that 3-0 lead lasted just three innings even though starter Ryan Yarbrough opened the game with five strikeouts and retired the first nine Orioles in order.

Things turned sour for the Royals in the fourth inning.

After the first out was recorded, eight straight Orioles reached base and five scored. Yarbrough walked three in the inning, and Ryan Mountcastle’s two-run homer and Cedric Mullins’ two-run single were the big hits.

The latter ended Yarbrough’s night.

“The biggest takeaway for me is the three walks that inning,” Yarbrough said. “You’ve got to live with the hits obviously if they string them together, but when you kind of continue letting them build momentum that way by giving them free passes, those are killer, too.

“So it really leaves a bad taste in your mouth, especially when ... you feel like you had gotten off to a really good start and things were really working.“

Mountcastle hit a two-run homer again in the fifth inning, then added an RBI-double as part of a three-run sixth inning as the Orioles took a 10-3 lead.

Catcher Salvador Perez hit a solo homer in the sixth and a two-run shot in the seventh as the Royals cut the deficit to 10-7 but it was too little too late.

Home futility

The Royals have a 7-23 record, with 10 straight losses at Kauffman Stadium. That’s the second-longest home losing streak in team history. They’ve twice had an 11-game home streak (May 6-June 4, 2013 and Sept. 21, 2011-April 23, 2012).

The Royals’ 7-23 record matches the 2005 team for the worst 30-game start in franchise history.

Their 1-13 home mark is the worst after 14 games in club history. Wednesday is the one month anniversary of the Royals’ last home victory.

“It would be nice to win games here for our fans,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “I mean, there’s no doubt about that. But you know, to their credit, I hear the fans, they’re supporting the guys, the ones that are close to the dugout. They don’t get down on the guys. They appreciate what they’re trying to do.

“They’re battling back into games and giving it everything they have. They’re running hard. They’re diving for balls, so I hear the fans appreciate what they’re doing. And they’re into the game. It would be nice to win some games here for them, but to be fair, be nice to win games anywhere.”

There were 10,487 fans on hand Tuesday night to witness the wrong kind of history.

Kurtis Seaboldt WHB (810 AM) noted the Royals are the third team in the last 110 years to lose 13 of their first 14 at home. The others: 2016 Braves and 1913 Yankees (New York started 0-13-1).

Salvador Perez’s night

Perez hit a home run in the sixth inning, added a two-run shot in the seventh, then left the game in the eighth.

Here is the solo shot.

This two-run blast pulled the Royals (temporarily) within three runs.

In the top of the eighth inning, Baltimore’s Anthony Santander swung and missed a pitch. His backswing hit Perez in the glove and he left the game. The Royals said Perez has a bruised middle finger on his left hand.

In the clubhouse, Perez said there’s a chance he could play Tuesday because the the finger wasn’t broken.

“It’s just sore a little bit,” Perez said. “The X-ray was negative so that was good news.”

What’s next: The Royals and Orioles will play the second of the three-game series on Wednesday at 6:40 p.m. Zack Greinke will be on the mound for the Royals. Kyle Gibson will start for Baltimore.