KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ The final month of the 2018 Royals season will be defined by constant revision. The roster will expand over the course of a few days; the pitching staff will endure change on occasion; and the lineup will feature rotation.
On Friday, that rotation turned to a lineup card of four rookies and one more on the mound.
They returned with the Royals' fifth win in six games.
Hunter Dozier, Cam Gallagher and Ryan O'Hearn hit home runs, backing a quality start from Brad Keller that equated a 9-2 Royals victory against the Baltimore Orioles at Kauffman Stadium.
Dozier, Gallagher, O'Hearn and Brett Phillips were the rookies in the nine-man lineup, and they all had hits. Keller picked up the seventh pitching victory of his rookie year. And after winning back-to-back series for the first time in 2018, the Royals commenced a three-game set against Baltimore in a similar fashion.
The Orioles (40-95, after the loss) arrived in Kansas City on Friday with the worst record in baseball. The Royals (43-91) are only three wins better. Every other team in baseball has won at least 10 more games than the Royals. In other words, it's a three-game series that could ultimately determine which team receives the No. 1 pick in next June's MLB draft.
That advantage turned to Baltimore. Because the opener turned to Kansas City.
Keller completed eight innings for the second time in his career, allowing two runs over his 114-pitch outing, a career high for pitch count. The Orioles' Cedric Mullins turned on Keller's second offering of the game for a drive that landed on the Pepsi Porch at Kauffman. But 112 pitches later, Keller departed to a standing ovation after striking out Orioles designated hitter Trey Mancini to end the eighth.
After a bit of a mid-summer slump, Keller has yielded two runs or fewer in each of his past four starts, lowering his earned run average to 3.26 in his first major-league season.
The Royals scored in five separate innings, a different rookie in the mix of each. O'Hearn, Dozier and Gallagher had the highlights with home runs. Dozier's 423-foot blast landed in the shrubs neighboring the fountains behind the left-field wall. He hit the ball on the nose in every plate appearance.
O'Hearn had three hits and four RBIs, including his two-run opposite-field homer in the eighth.
Gallagher, called up earlier Friday from Class AAA Omaha after backup catcher Drew Butera was shipped to the Colorado Rockies in a trade, hit his first major-league home run in 54 weeks. He was in the lineup because starter Salvador Perez is nursing a thumb injury. But Gallagher had not played over the past week in Omaha while battling a quadriceps injury. There was a slight limp to his home-run trot in the sixth inning.
Gallagher's recall was one of a handful of moves the Royals made before Friday's game. They also summoned outfielder Brian Goodwin from his rehab assignment in Omaha. He was 0-for-3 with a walk. Every other starter had at least one hit. The Royals finished with 14. Whit Merrifield reached base four times and scored twice.
