KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ The Royals powered their way back from a deficit, then went ahead on a gift in a 9-8 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday at Kauffman Stadium.
The power was supplied by Mike Moustakas, who tied the game with a three-run homer in the fourth inning.
The gift was wrapped by Orioles third-baseman Manny Machado.
Alex Gordon was hit by a pitch and Drew Butera singled to open the fifth. Alcides Escobar put down a sacrifice bunt that was fielded by Machado, who wheeled and threw the ball to second base.
The only problem was nobody was covering the bag. The ball sailed into the outfield as Gordon scored to break a 5-5 tie.
A Moustakas fielder's choice ground-out pushed the lead to 7-5. In the sixth inning, Jorge Soler rocketed his first home run in a Royals' uniform, a solo shot to center that was measured at 464 feet, according to MLB Statcast, making it the team's longest home run of the year.
The Orioles battled back to make it a one-run game, but Drew Butera's solo homer in the seventh provided a cushion and closer Kelvin Herrera collected his third save of the series _ although he surrendered a run in the ninth _ as the Royals completed a three-game sweep and improved to 16-21.
The Royals have won four straight and six of seven after reaching a season-low 10 games under .500 on May 7
How badly did the Royals want this one? Consider their defense in the eighth inning. Lorenzo Cain crashed into the wall and held on to a deep drive by Jonathan Schoop, waiving off trainers who had headed out of the dugout.
Cain then hustled down a fly ball in right center off the bat of Machado, when Jorge Bonifacio couldn't find the ball in the sun.
But the wildest play was provided by pitcher Joakim Soria, who got Mark Trumbo to hit a pop foul near the Orioles dugout. Butera lost track of it, so Soria hustled off the mound and made a basket catch deep in foul territory to end the inning.
The Royals trailed 5-0 when Brandon Moss opened the fourth with a walk and Whit Merrifield followed with his second hit of the game.
Gordon moved both runners ahead 90 feet with a ground-out to first base and Butera brought in Moss with a well-placed single near the right-field line.
Escobar followed with an RBI single up the middle bringing up Moustakas, who had driven balls deep to left and center in his first two plate appearances.
This time, Moustakas pulled Kevin Gausman's offering and lined it into the right-field bullpen. The three-run shot, Moustakas' team-leading ninth home run, had brought the Royals all the way back to 5-5.
The Royals had answered the Orioles' own fourth-inning uprising that was capped by Caleb Joseph's two-run homer against Chris Young.
