Major League Baseball
Baltimore 4, Kansas City 0
When: 7:05 PM ET, Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Where: Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, Maryland
Temperature: 67°
Umpires: Home - CB Bucknor, 1B - Fieldin Culbreth, 2B - Jim Reynolds, 3B - Manny Gonzalez
Attendance: 19178

BALTIMORE -- The Orioles could not come up with much offense versus Kansas City. However, the way Chris Tillman pitched, Baltimore did not need a lot.

Ryan Flaherty hit a key two-run double and Tillman threw 7 1/3 shutout innings as the Baltimore Orioles handed the Kansas City Royals their seventh straight loss, 4-0 in the series finale Wednesday.

The Orioles (35-23) finished with only four hits but posted the four runs and swept the three-game series. Also, they have won four straight and seven of eight.

In addition, they are a season-high 12 games over .500.

For Kansas City (30-29), the skid is its longest of the season. The game proved rather quiet after the wild melee that disrupted Tuesday's game when Orioles shortstop Manny Machado got hit by a Yordano Ventura pitch and charged the mound. Baltimore was more than happy to simply finish off the sweep quietly.

"Sometimes the greatest emotions show themselves in silence, so to speak," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "If your actions speak pretty loud, you don't have to talk a lot about it."

The Royals and Orioles will not play again this year unless they meet in the playoffs.

Tillman (8-1) turned in a dominant performance en route to winning his seventh straight decision. He scattered eight hits while matching a career high with nine strikeouts and not walking a batter.

He threw 110 pitches -- 81 for strikes. The right-hander controlled all of his pitches all night long. Tillman found himself in trouble just once, and the Royals could not come up with the big hit.

"I think fastball command from the get-go was pretty spot on," Tillman said. "I felt pretty good in the bullpen coming in and I was able to carry it over."

Brad Brach came on and got out of a bases-loaded jam with two outs in the eighth. Brach finished it in the ninth to earn his second save.

Flaherty is hitting better lately after a slow start. He went 1-for-3 and has hits in eight of his last 10 games, moving his average from .175 to .217.

He can play several positions -- now spending a lot of time at third as Machado plays mostly at shortstop with J.J. Hardy injured -- but wants to pitch in at the plate.

"It's just nice to try to help contribute and try to help the team win the game," Flaherty said. "Yeah, you hear versatility enough so if you can do something offensively, it's nice."

Kansas City starter Edinson Volquez (5-6) started strong but ended poorly. He retired the first seven Orioles and gave up only one hit through four shutout innings before giving up four runs on three hits with two key walks in the fifth as Baltimore scored all four of its runs.

Volquez allowed four runs on four hits through his 4 2/3 innings and has lost his last two starts.

That proved to be too much for the struggling Kansas City offense, which has been outscored 42-8 in this slide. The Royals also are 3-for-40 with runners in scoring position during this stretch.

"It's very frustrating," said Kansas City center fielder Lorenzo Cain. "I know we're all capable of playing a lot better. We have to find a way to get it going."

The four-run fourth was the main inning where Baltimore did much on offense as Kansas City outhit the Orioles 9-4. But the Royals left nine on base and could not string hits together to produce runs.

Neither team did much offensively early. The Orioles left a runner on third in the third but finally broke through with four runs in the fifth.

They loaded the bases with one out thanks to walks to Jonathan Schoop and Nolan Reimold sandwiched around a Pedro Alvarez single. Flaherty then lined a two-run double over the head of right fielder Paulo Orlando for a 2-0 lead.

Adam Jones followed with a sacrifice fly for the third run before Hyun Soo Kim ended Volquez's night with an RBI single that made it 4-0.

That proved to be enough as the Royals could not solve Tillman and later, Brach.

"I've tried not to get frustrated," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "I know these guys are trying. We're just not being very productive right now. You've just got to keep working."

NOTES: Manager Buck Showalter said the Orioles have yet to hear anything from Major League Baseball after last night's brawl involving 3B/SS Manny Machado. The team expects that Machado will receive some penalty and will react depending upon what's handed down. The Royals also haven't heard anything about RHP Yordano Ventura. ... C Caleb Joseph (testicular injury/surgery) will report to Double-A Bowie, about 30 minutes from Oriole Park, on June 14 to slowly start rehab work. He won't be able to catch just yet but might be able to play as a DH. ... Orioles 1B Chris Davis will get his first day off this season. Showalter said he's battling a few minor issues, including a thumb problem. But Davis will return Thursday or Friday in Toronto. ... The Royals recalled INF Christian Colon from Triple-A Omaha and optioned C Tony Cruz to the same team. ... Royals OF Brett Eibner will start a rehab assignment with Omaha on Thursday. He has been on the disabled list since June 1 (left ankle sprain).
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Kansas City   Baltimore
Edinson Volquez Player Chris Tillman
Loss W/L Win
4.2 IP 7.1
5 Strikeouts 9
4 Hits 8
7.71 ERA 0.00
Hitting
Kansas City   Baltimore
Salvador Perez Player Nolan Reimold
2 Hits 1
0 RBI 0
0 HR 0
2 TB 2
.500 Avg 1.000
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Kansas City 9 0 10 .257 18 12 0 1 0 0
Baltimore 4 0 6 .148 8 8 4 4 1 0