Kyle Gibson
By PATRICK STEVENS
Associated Press
BALTIMORE (AP) — Gunnar Henderson homered for the second consecutive day, and the Baltimore Orioles defeated Kansas City 11-3 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep and extend the Royals’ losing streak to six.
Starter Kyle Gibson, from Greenfield, earned his fourth consecutive victory for Baltimore, while Ramón Urías had four hits and Ryan O’Hearn homered as part of a three-hit day that also included two walks and four runs scored. The Orioles (41-24) have won four in a row for the first time since May 9-13 and are 17 games over .500 for the first time since July 26, 2016.
It was Baltimore’s fourth series sweep of the season and first since May 19-21 at Toronto.
The Orioles took the lead for good in the third against Mike Mayers (1-2), who loaded the bases before recording the inning’s first out. Josh Lester then singled up the middle to score two runs, and James McCann followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 6-3.
Aaron Hicks added an RBI double in the fourth against Mayers, who yielded four runs in five innings of relief for the Royals.
Gibson (8-3) allowed three runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings. The 35-year-old right-hander is 4-0 with a 2.61 ERA over his last five starts.
The Orioles took a 3-1 lead against opener Carlos Hernández thanks to Austin Hays’ sacrifice fly and Urías’ two-run double. Kansas City tied it in the third on Perez’s two-run homer to left-center off Gibson.
With eight victories, Gibson is tied for the third most in the major leagues. Tampa Bay’s Shane McClanahan has 10 and Texas’s Nathan Eovaldi has nine.
Gibson is one of five pitchers with eight and one of two American Leaguers, the other is Tampa Bay’s Zach Eflin.
National League pitchers with eight wins include Los Angeles’s Clayton Kershaw, Arizona’s Merrill Kelly and Pittsburgh’s Mitch Keller.
Gibson’s next scheduled start is Saturday at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs have not yet announced a starter for the 2:20 p.m. game.
