BALTIMORE (AP) – Hanser Alberto hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the eighth inning, and the Baltimore Orioles ended an eight-game losing streak by beating the Kansas City Royals 4-1 Tuesday night.

Royals reliever Jacob Barnes (1-2) sandwiched a pair of walks around two outs before Alberto hit a 1-1 pitch into the Baltimore bullpen for his eighth home run. As the ball cleared the wall, Alberto raised his right arm in the air and smiled broadly approaching second base.

Hunter Harvey (1-0) worked a perfect eighth to earn his first major league win and Mychal Givens got three outs for his 10th save.

Baltimore had lost 13 of its previous 14 games, including the series opener to Kansas City on Monday.

Both starters were very sharp, and neither factored in the decision.

Dylan Bundy allowed the Royals one run and five hits over seven innings with seven strikeouts.

Brad Keller didn’t let a runner get past first base until the sixth, when Chance Sisco drew a leadoff walk and went to second on a single. With one out, right fielder Bubba Starling ran far to his right to make a diving catch of a sinking liner by Anthony Santander, and Keller finished his outing by retiring Renato Nunez on a fly ball.

Keller gave up three hits and left with a 1-0 lead, but his bid to earn his first win since July 24 ended when reliever Richard Lovelady allowed a game-tying single to Rio Ruiz in the seventh.

Kansas City’s lone run came in the second inning, when Meibrys Viloria hit a sacrifice fly following singles by Alex Gordon and Ryan O’Hearn.

RUTSCHMAN ON RISE

Catcher Adley Rutschman, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 draft, is moving quickly up Baltimore’s minor league chain.

Less than 24 hours after going 5 for 5 for short-season Class A Aberdeen, Rutschman received a promotion to Class A Delmarva on Tuesday. He is expected to join the Shorebirds on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old Rutschman began his pro career in the Gulf Coast League and concluded his brief stint with Aberdeen on a 10-game hitting streak.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: RHP Danny Duffy (left hamstring strain) threw 65 pitches in a simulated game Tuesday. “We’ll see (Wednesday) how he feels and we’ll evaluate after that,” manager Ned Yost said. Duffy hasn’t pitched since Aug. 3. … SS Adalberto Mondesi (shoulder) began his rehab assignment with Triple-A Omaha by playing DH and striking out his first three trips to the plate.

Orioles: OF Mark Trumbo has missed the entire season while recovering from knee surgery but still has hopes of returning when rosters expand in September. “Probably have to send him out to play some (rehab) games prior to that, but as of right now everything is one track,” manager Brandon Hyde said. … OF Dwight Smith Jr. (left calf strain) went 3 for 5 for Triple-A Norfolk on Monday to open his rehab assignment. “There’s no problem at all. He came out healthy,” Hyde said. Smith went 1 for 2 at the DH Tuesday night and will move to the outfield Wednesday.

UP NEXT

Royals: Mike Montgomery (3-5, 4.63 ERA) pitches in the series finale Wednesday night. He’s 2-1 with a 1.00 ERA in his last three starts and 2-3 with KC after being traded from the Cubs.

Orioles: Aaron Brooks (2-7, 6.49) remains in search of his first win since April 11, when he beat Baltimore for Oakland. The right-hander is winless in seven starts with the Orioles since being claimed on waivers on July 6.

BALTIMORE (AP) – Nicky Lopez and Nick Dini homered on successive pitches in the seventh inning and the Kansas City Royals stretched Baltimore’s latest losing streak to eight games, defeating the Orioles 5-4 Monday night.

Kansas City (45-80) won for only the sixth time in its last 22 games, and Baltimore (39-86) absorbed its 13th loss in 14 games. The only team with fewer wins than these two struggling clubs is Detroit.

Orioles starter John Means (8-9) kept Kansas City hitless until Lopez led off the sixth inning with a single to spark a three-run uprising that wiped out a 1-0 deficit.

It was 3-2 before Lopez hit a drive off Gabriel Ynoa and Dini ended an 0-for-10 run with his first major league homer on his 15th plate appearance.

Jorge Lopez (2-7) allowed one run and two hits over five innings and Ian Kennedy, the last of five Kansas City relievers, gave up a home run to Rio Ruiz in the ninth before recording his 22nd save.

Jonathan Villar also homered for the Orioles, who have endured skids of five games (twice), six games and 10 games this season.

SKIDDING CUTHBERT

Royals 1B Chestor Cuthbert went 0 for 4 and is hitless in last 34 at-bats since Aug. 8.

HIGH SCHOOL REUNION

Means and KC’s Bubba Starling, who played together at Gardner-Edgerton High in Kansas, faced each other in the big leagues for the first time. After their senior year, Starling signed with KC as the fifth overall pick in the 2011 draft and Means went to college after nixing a chance to sign with Atlanta.

Means got the better of his old friend in the reunion, retiring Starling on a grounder and strikeout.

FORGET NO. 1

Should the Orioles finish with the worst record in the majors, they will again get the No. 1 pick in the draft next June. That has absolutely no bearing on how they play over the final six weeks, manager Brandon Hyde said.

“It’s obviously been a really tough year. We knew that coming in,” Hyde acknowledged. “But we’re not going to stop fighting and competing. If you ask any player in (the clubhouse), they could care less about the No. 1 draft choice. It’s about trying to win every single night. Our coaching staff feels the same way.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: SS Adalberto Mondesi (shoulder) is slated to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Omaha on Tuesday. He’s been out since July 17 and has missed 30 games. “We’re in no hurry to rush him back. We need to make sure he’s good,” manager Ned Yost said. … LHP Danny Duffy (right oblique strain) plans to continue his rehab stint Tuesday at Omaha. “He’s going to go four innings and limit his pitch count to around 15 per inning,” Yost said.

Orioles: C Chance Sisco was sore but available after being hit in the groin by a foul ball on Sunday in Boston. Earlier in the same inning, Sisco was struck on the left arm by a foul ball. … OF Dwight Smith Jr. (left calf strain) began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Norfolk as a DH and is poised to play the outfield on Tuesday.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Brad Keller (7-13, 4.10 ERA) attempts to break a career-high, four-start losing streak in the second game of the series Tuesday night. In his last outing, Keller pitched six innings of no-hit ball before St. Louis tagged him in the seventh.

Orioles: Dylan Bundy (5-13, 5.25) seeks his first win in five starts since beating Arizona on July 23.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Pete Alonso hit his 40th home run to break the National League rookie record, capping a late outburst by the New York Mets in their 11-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday.

Michael Conforto hit a long homer in the first inning and drove in four runs. Amed Rosario put the Mets ahead 6-4 with a two-run single in the seventh, and Alonso went deep in the ninth on an 0-2 pitch. He snapped a tie with Cody Bellinger, who launched 39 long balls for the Dodgers in 2017 on the way to winning Rookie of the Year honors.

Back in the thick of a crowded NL wild-card race thanks to a second-half surge, New York completed a 3-3 road trip and improved to 24-10 since the All-Star break.

Alonso also had an RBI double and scored three times during his second consecutive three-hit game. Rosario had three hits and three RBIs in the leadoff spot, and Joe Panik added three hits as the top four batters in the Mets’ lineup combined to go 11 for 18 with nine RBIs and seven runs.

New York scored six times in the seventh to turn a 4-3 deficit into a 9-4 lead. J.D. Davis tied it with a pinch-hit RBI single and Rosario had the go-ahead single two batters later. Alonso, Conforto and Wilson Ramos added RBI base hits later in the inning.

New York battered Royals reliever Kevin McCarthy (2-2), who was charged with four runs in just one-third of an inning.

Jeurys Familia (4-1) got the win, throwing two innings and allowing one run.

Conforto put the Mets up 3-0 in the first, sending the first pitch he saw from starter Glenn Sparkman 452 feet to right field for his 25th home run.

Sparkman settled down after that to throw six solid innings. He set down 14 of his next 15 batters and pitched around a couple of one-out singles in the sixth.

Mets starter Zack Wheeler didn’t allow a hit through the first three innings, but things snowballed over the next two. He gave up four runs — three earned — on five hits in five innings and committed a costly throwing error in the fifth.

The Royals got one run back in the fourth on an RBI groundout by Ryan O’Hearn, then took the lead an inning later. Kansas City loaded the bases with nobody out and all three runners came around to score. Whit Merrifield had an RBI single in the inning. Nicky Lopez and Hunter Dozier also had RBIs.

Brett Phillips had his first two big league hits of the season, including a double in the seventh. He was 0 for 6 in his first two games of the year this weekend.

STATS AND STREAKS

Mets catcher Tomás Nido snapped an 0-for-24 skid with a double in the seventh. … Ramos singled in the seventh to extend his hitting streak to 13 games, tied for the longest active run in the majors with Cincinnati’s Jose Iglesias. … Rosario moved from shortstop to left field in the bottom of the seventh, his first major league appearance in the outfield. … Cheslor Cuthbert went 0 for 4 for the Royals, matching Chad Kreuter’s team record with his seventh straight 0-for-4 game. Cuthbert is hitless in 30 at-bats dating to Aug. 8. … Kansas City is 1-10 in series rubber games this season and 1-24 dating to May 30, 2018.

TRAINER’S ROOM

With an off day on Monday, the Mets decided to keep Davis out of the starting lineup for a second consecutive day as he nurses a sore calf. After his pinch-hit single, he went first to third on Nido’s double but was then removed from the game.

UP NEXT

Mets: Return home Tuesday night to begin a nine-game homestand against playoff contenders. Steven Matz (7-7) starts the series opener against All-Star Game MVP Shane Bieber (12-5) and the Cleveland Indians. Mets manager Mickey Callaway was Cleveland’s pitching coach under skipper Terry Francona before getting the job in New York.

Royals: Head out of town for a seven-game trip beginning Monday night in Baltimore. Jorge Lopez (1-7) makes his 12th start of the season.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jacob deGrom pitched seven sharp innings and Pete Alonso put the New York Mets ahead with a two-run single in a 4-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night.

Alonso got three hits and snapped a 1-all tie with two outs in the seventh when he rolled a bases-loaded grounder up the middle. Juan Lagares, who also had three hits, added an RBI triple in the eighth.

The bottom three batters in New York’s lineup went 5 for 11 and combined to score all four runs.

Last year’s NL Cy Young Award winner, deGrom (8-7) gave up one run and three hits while striking out five. Since the All-Star break, he has permitted just five earned runs in 45 innings for a 1.00 ERA.

Royals starter Jakob Junis (8-11) allowed a one-out single to Lagares in the seventh and hit No. 9 batter Aaron Altherr with a pitch. Kansas City manager Ned Yost brought in Jake Newberry, who walked Amed Rosario to load the bases.

Yost again went to his bullpen, this time to submarine left-hander Tim Hill. He struck out pinch-hitter J.D. Davis on three pitches, but couldn’t finish off Alonso. The rookie slugger narrowly missed a grand slam down the right field line when a crew chief review determined the ball sliced just foul, upholding the initial call on the field.

With the runners going on a full-count pitch, Alonso then fisted a grounder up the middle to drive in Lagares and Altherr for a 3-1 lead. Second baseman Whit Merrifield made a sliding stop in shallow center and fired home to try to get Altherr, but Hill cut off the throw.

In the bottom half, deGrom got out of trouble with the help of a double-play ball. Lagares’ triple in the eighth drove in Luis Guillorme.

Justin Wilson threw a scoreless inning and Seth Lugo worked a perfect ninth for his third save.

Junis dealt with traffic on the basepaths all night, but managed to work around seven hits, all singles, a walk and two hit batters to allow just three runs in 6 1/3 innings. His defense turned two double plays behind him to help him out of jams in the second and fifth, but the Royals’ bullpen couldn’t finish off the seventh inning for him.

Hunter Dozier had two of Kansas City’s three hits, his second straight multihit game.

STATS AND STREAKS

Mets catcher Wilson Ramos singled twice to extend his hitting streak to 12 games, tied with Cincinnati’s Jose Iglesias for the longest active streak in the majors. During the streak, Ramos is batting .477 with three home runs and 11 RBIs. … It was the 16th consecutive start in which deGrom allowed three runs or fewer, dating to May 22. He has a 1.92 ERA in that span, but the Mets are just 7-9 in those games.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: LHP Danny Duffy (left hamstring strain) will throw a four-inning simulated game Tuesday and, if all goes well, could be activated from the injured list next weekend.

Mets: Placed reliever Robert Gsellman on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Wednesday, with tightness in his right triceps. RHP Walker Lockett was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse. Lockett has started four games for the Mets this season, going 1-1 with a 7.79 ERA. … Davis was out of the starting lineup after leaving Friday night’s game with calf tightness. He said he felt fine and it was just a precautionary measure.

UP NEXT

Glenn Sparkman (3-8) faces Mets RHP Zack Wheeler (9-7) in the finale of the three-game interleague series Sunday.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Mike Montgomery outpitched Noah Syndergaard, and the Kansas City Royals ended their scoreless drought Friday night in a 4-1 victory over the New York Mets.

The hottest team in the majors until this week, the Mets have lost four of five after a 15-1 stretch propelled them into the crowded NL wild-card race. They dropped the series opener in a rematch of the 2015 World Series won by Kansas City in five games.

Montgomery (3-5) pitched six strong innings and allowed just one unearned run on five hits while striking out three and walking two. It was the second consecutive start in which he didn’t permit an earned run, following seven smooth innings Saturday in a 7-0 win over Detroit.

The left-hander is 2-3 with the Royals since they acquired him from the Chicago Cubs.

Ian Kennedy tossed a scoreless ninth for his 21st save in 24 opportunities. He retired Amed Rosario on a bases-loaded grounder to end it.

The Royals, coming off back-to-back shutout losses to the St. Louis Cardinals, finally snapped a 22-inning scoreless string in the fifth. And it was the bottom three guys in the lineup who came through. After Ryan O’Hearn singled, Meibrys Viloria and Nicky Lopez followed with consecutive RBI doubles off Syndergaard to give Kansas City a 2-1 lead.

The Royals added a couple of insurance runs in the eighth when Brett Phillips drew a bases-loaded walk from Edwin Díaz, and Bubba Starling singled home a run.

Outside of the fifth, Syndergaard (8-6) gave up little else. He threw six innings and allowed just the two runs on five hits with six strikeouts, snapping a streak of six consecutive starts of at least seven innings. But after an RBI single from Michael Conforto in the third, the Mets couldn’t generate anything else on offense.

SOLER ON A TEAR

Jorge Soler extended his torrid streak at the plate. The Royals’ designated hitter reached base in all four plate appearances with a double and three walks. Over his last nine games, he is hitting .450 with a .639 on-base percentage and a 1.292 slugging percentage for a 1.930 OPS. In that span, Soler has eight home runs and 12 RBIs.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: LHP Danny Duffy (left hamstring strain) threw a two-inning simulated game and looked good, according to manager Ned Yost. The team will see how Duffy feels on Saturday, then decide whether to have him pitch another simulated game or send him out for a rehab assignment. … SS Adalberto Mondesi (left shoulder) took batting practice on the field for the first time since getting hurt July 16.

Mets: Left fielder J.D. Davis exited with a calf problem after beating out an infield single late in the game. … RHP Robert Gsellman was unavailable due to triceps soreness he’s been dealing with for a couple of days. … OF Brandon Nimmo was scheduled to begin a rehab assignment with Class A St. Lucie. Nimmo, on the 60-day injured list, hasn’t played since May 20 because of a bulging disk in his neck.

ROSTER MOVES

Royals: Designated OF Billy Hamilton for assignment and recalled outfielder Brett Phillips from Triple-A Omaha. The speedy Hamilton, who signed a one-year deal with the Royals in the offseason, hit .211 in 93 games and stole 18 bases. Phillips appeared in 36 games for Kansas City in 2018 after coming over in a trade with Milwaukee, but had spent all of this season at Omaha before making his season debut on Friday. In those 36 games, Phillips hit .188 with two home runs.

Mets: Selected the contract of RHP Paul Sewald from Triple-A Syracuse and optioned RHP Drew Gagnon to their top farm club. In addition, RHP Tim Peterson was designated for assignment. This is Sewald’s third stint in the big leagues this season.

UP NEXT

Mets ace Jacob deGrom (7-7) faces Jakob Junis (8-10) in the second game of the series Saturday.