Baltimore’s pitching continued to dominate the Royals, as Mike Cuellar held Kansas City to two hits in a 5-0 win for the Orioles at Municipal Stadium. The win completed a series sweep for the Orioles in which they allowed five runs in 29 innings.

There was no no-hit drama, as Juan Rios singled with one out in the bottom of the first. Ed Kirkpatrick tripled with two outs in the second, but the Royals could not get him home. Cuellar walked Joe Foy to start the fourth, then retired 18 of the next 19 batters, with the exception being an error on Baltimore second baseman Davey Johnson in the seventh.

Dick Drago battled to keep the Royals in the game, allowing five runs in 7 1/3 innings. However, that line was skewed by his last two innings. Through six innings, Drago gave up just one hit and two walks, entering the seventh with the teams still scoreless.

The Orioles finally got on the scoreboard with three singles in that seventh inning. The last single was by Johnson and drove in two runs. Cuellar followed with a triple for a third run. Baltimore tacked on two more runs in the eighth when Fran Robinson doubled with one out and Boog Powell followed with a home run.

The loss dropped the Royals to 16-19 on the season. At the end of the day’s action, they were in fourth place in the AL West, six games behind Oakland.

Box score and play-by-play: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/KCA/KCA196905180.shtml

Today’s birthdays: Dennis Leonard (1951), Jim Sundberg (1951), Jaime Bluma (1972), Felix Martinez (1974), Joakim Soria (1984)