For the second time in a week, Baltimore’s Jim Palmer stymied the Royals’ offense, leading the Orioles to a 4-2 win at Municipal Stadium.

Following his complete-game three-hitter in Baltimore on May 11, Palmer held the Royals to one hit through the first eight innings before Kansas City mounted a rally in the ninth. Palmer was perfect through five innings and retired the first two hitters in the sixth before pitcher Tom Burgmeier singled. Palmer then issued two walks but retired Lou Piniella on a fly ball to end the inning.

Royals starter Bill Butler kept the Orioles off the board for three innings, but allowed two runs in the fourth. After Baltimore started the fifth with a Mark Belanger single, Paul Blair bunt single, and Frank Robinson double, Burgmeier entered the game in relief. A Merv Rettenmund sacrifice fly gave the Orioles their fourth run, but Burgmeier did an excellent job keeping the Royals in the game. He pitched the remaining five innings, allowing only one hit, walking none, and picking up two strikeouts.

At last the Royals began hitting in the ninth. Jackie Hernandez led off with a single, but was still at first with two outs. Joe Foy’s double scored Hernandez, and Ed Kirkpatrick cut the deficit to two with a single. That brought the tying run to the plate, but Chuck Harrison flied out to left to end the game.

With the loss, the Royals fell to 16-18 on the season. They were 5.5 games behind Oakland and in fourth place in the AL West.

Box score and play-by-play: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/KCA/KCA196905170.shtml

Today’s birthdays: Rick Huisman (1969), Jose Guillen (1976), Carlos Pena (1978)