Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Kansas City 9, Baltimore 1
When: 2:10 PM ET, Thursday, May 5, 2011
Where: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri
Temperature: 53°
Umpires: Home - Andy Fletcher, 1B - Tim Welke, 2B - Jim Reynolds, 3B - Mike DiMuro
Attendance: 29927

Melky Cabrera homered and drove in four runs, leading the Kansas City Royals to a 9-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles Thursday.

Mike Aviles, Alex Gordon and Wilson Betemit were among five players with at least one RBI for Kansas City, which has won five of six. The Royals recorded their major-league best 14th home win at Kauffman Stadium, where they’ve yet to lose a series this season.

One day after having its four-game winning streak snapped, Kansas City took out its anger on Chris Tillman (1-3) early. The Royals sent nine hitters to the plate in a four-run first, which featured RBI singles from Cabrera, Aviles and Gordon as well as an RBI double by Betemit.

Cabrera’s two-run double to right-center field highlighted a three-run fourth and gave Kansas City a 7-1 lead. That was more than enough for Bruce Chen (4-1), who beat his former team by allowing just one run and five hits in seven innings. The strong start was a positive sign for Chen, who had allowed nine runs and 15 hits in his last two starts after beginning the season 3-0.

Cabrera, who drove in six runs in the series, capped his big day with a solo shot off Clay Rapada in the eighth. It was his third homer of the season.

Adam Jones drove in the lone run for Baltimore, which finished 4-3 on a seven-game road trip.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Baltimore   Kansas City
Chris Tillman Player Bruce Chen
Loss W/L Win
3.2 IP 7.0
3 Strikeouts 5
10 Hits 5
19.64 ERA 1.29
Hitting
Baltimore   Kansas City
Nick Markakis Player Melky Cabrera
2 Hits 3
0 RBI 4
0 HR 1
2 TB 7
.500 Avg .750
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Baltimore 5 0 5 .156 12 5 1 2 0 0
Kansas City 12 1 20 .343 13 5 9 2 2 0