BALTIMORE — The ball trickled up the third-base line, rolling so slowly that Baltimore third baseman Wilson Betemit could have counted the stiches.

Betemit hoped the ball would roll foul as it spun in the chalk. It stayed fair. And thanks to a good bit of hustle, Eric Hosmer ended up on second base with a 55-foot double that played a key role in Kansas City’s 4-3 comeback victory over the Orioles on Saturday.

Hosmer went 3 for 4 with two RBIs to help the Royals make up a three-run deficit. He singled in the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning, but his swinging bunt in the seventh was no less significant.

With the Orioles up 3-2, Hosmer hit the slow-roller that turned into a unique two-base hit.

“Greatest double I’ve ever seen,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “That’s a heads up play by Hosmer to be able to get to second base.”

Humberto Quintero followed with an RBI double down the left-field line to make it 3-all.

“It’s one of those things where you’re just running down the box hoping it stays fair,” Hosmer said of his hit. “To be honest with you, I kept shuffling, shuffling, and I realized I had a chance at second. I saw his back turned, so I just decided to take off.”

Betemit committed himself to letting the bunt roll, a decision that did not pay off.

“I can do nothing about it. It stayed on the line,” Betemit said. “I had to wait, fair or foul, and it stayed inside. I didn’t have time to get the ball to second to get the out.”

In the Kansas City eighth, Mike Moustakas led off with a single off Pedro Strop (3-2), who came in with 13 straight scoreless appearances. A walk and a single loaded the bases for Hosmer, who lined a single to left.

Greg Holland (1-2) pitched the seventh, and Jonathan Broxton got three outs for his ninth save in 11 chances.

Chris Davis and J.J. Hardy hit solo home runs for the Orioles, and Adam Jones extended his career-best hitting streak to 17 with a third-inning triple. It was only the second time this season that Baltimore lost a game in which it homered.

Kansas City closed to 3-1 in the fifth inning when Johnny Giavotella led off with a double and scored on a single by Hosmer.

Billy Butler homered off Orioles starter Wei-Yin Chen in the sixth to make it 3-2.

Then came Hosmer’s seventh-inning dash.

“Usually, when the ball comes off the grass there at our park it goes foul,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “The only thing you can do is line it up where your body is facing the runner as opposed to behind him so you can see. But I’d say a high percentage of time that ball rolls foul. That was another example where things just didn’t go our way.”

Kansas City starter Felipe Paulino gave up three runs, five hits and five walks in 5 2-3 innings. He allowed only one homer in four starts this season before surrendering two to the hard-hitting Orioles, who lead the majors with 72.

Davis staked the Orioles to a 1-0 lead with an opposite-field drive to left in the second inning. It was his eighth homer of the season and second in two games.

Later in the inning, Royals center fielder Jarrod Dyson collided with left fielder Alex Gordon after Gordon caught a line drive for the third out. Dyson limped to the dugout with a right hamstring bruise and was replaced by Mitch Maier.

Yost said Dyson probably would not start Sunday. “He might be a little sore but I think he will be available to play,” the manager said.

Hardy led off the third with this 10th home run, Jones hit a one-out triple and Matt Wieters followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.

NOTES: Jones and the Orioles have reached agreement on a six-year contract through 2018, a deal worth about $85 million. The formal announcement will come Sunday. … Kansas City snapped a 3-game skid. … Baltimore fell to 6-2 on Saturdays. … KC’s Jeff Francoeur went 2 for 4 and is 13 for 25 in his last six games.

NEW YORK – On Tuesday night, after another mediocre game at the plate, Alex Rodriguez insisted he was ready to go on a tear.

He knew what he was talking about.

A-Rod gave Will Smith a rude welcome to the major leagues Wednesday night, hitting two homers off the rookie to back another strong start for Andy Pettitte and lead the New York Yankees over the Kansas City Royals 8-3.

“I said it with conviction not because it was going to sound good here in my locker but because I felt it,” Rodriguez said. “It’s good to back that up.”

Rodriguez snapped a 52 at-bat homerless drought and drove in three runs for New York. Curtis Granderson also connected off Smith and the Yankees scored three times in the fifth with help from some inept relief pitching.

Derek Jeter had three hits to tie Paul Waner for 15th with 3,152. Before Jeter singled in the eighth, Waner had been the only player who reached a bigger hits milestone than Jeter in a Yankees uniform. “Big Poison” got just one hit with New York, his final one in a career spent mostly in Pittsburgh.

New York scored as many as three runs in the first inning for the first time in 31 games since April 19 and finished a 3-3 homestand. The Yankees start a 10-game trip at Oakland on Friday following their first consecutive wins since taking three in a row from May 10-12.

Pettitte (2-1) followed eight innings of four-hit ball against Cincinnati with seven-plus crafty innings in his third start since coming out of retirement. He gave Smith a lesson in mixing pitches and working out of difficult situations.

“I feel like I’m moving the ball around the zone and that makes it difficult to hit,” Pettitte said.

In the third inning, first baseman Mark Teixeira started a double play with a diving stop. Pettitte got out of a bases loaded jam in the fourth with a strikeout – one of his eight Ks – giving a slight fist pump walking off the mound.

“He’s as good as I’ve ever seen over there,” Pettitte said about Teixeira.

Pettitte gave up seven hits, including homers to Billy Butler and Mitch Maier. The 39-year-old left-hander has not lost to Kansas City since 1999. In 24 games against the Royals, he is 14-3.

“I faced him before he retired and now after he came back, and I actually see things different that he’s doing,” Butler said. “He’s throwing more off-speed stuff, more curveballs and changeups. Before it was 90 to 94 with hard cut in on you. You knew he was throwing it and he knew you knew he was throwing it, and it was going to beat you. But he’s crafted his game and his last two starts have been great.”

Smith (0-1), a 22-year old called up from Triple-A Omaha on Tuesday – not the actor with a movie coming out this weekend – started off with an out for the scrapbook: He got Jeter to hit a grounder to shortstop. But it was rocky the rest of the first for the lefty who was two months shy of 6 when Pettitte made his debut in 1995.

“I was nervous a little bit, facing a future Hall of Famer to start your career, in Derek Jeter,” Smith said. “That was cool at the same time, but you still got to go out there and make your pitches and get people out.”

Granderson homered to deep right on a 1-2 pitch. TV showed Smith’s mom in the stands shaking her head: welcome to the big leagues, son. After a walk to Teixeira, A-Rod crushed a ball into the left field stands for a 3-0 lead.

By the time Nick Swisher hit a pop up with two outs, Smith’s mom couldn’t watch: she had covered her face with her hands. It was an out, mom.

When Rodriguez homered in the third to center field, mom sat stunned with her hands behind her head.

“She was nervous. She’s been like that since I was in high school,” Smith said. “She and my dad … my dad used to pace around the stadium. They always get nervous and always will be.”

Rodriguez had just one RBI since he last homered and drove in three runs on May 6 at Kansas City, 15 games ago. It was Rodriguez’s 60th multihomer game.

Smith was lifted after giving up a one-out single in the fourth. He yielded five runs and six hits in 3 1-3 innings. Luis Mendoza, the pitcher originally slated to start Wednesday night, relieved.

Rodriguez came up in the fifth with the bases loaded and grounded into a fielder’s choice. Jeter, who bunted for a hit, was forced out at home.

The Yankees came in 8 for 41 (.195) with the bases loaded but they didn’t need a hit in that situation in the fifth to score their runs. The Yankees walked three times and were twice hit by pitches in the inning. Robinson Cano had an RBI fielder’s choice – a nice diving stop by shortstop Alcides Escobar – and Andruw Jones and Teixeira, back in the 3-hole after two games batting seventh, walked to force in runs.

“It’s a club that a lot of times works the count really well and is going to have its share of walks,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

Eric Hosmer went 3 for 4 with an RBI to raise his average to .191 for the Royals.

NOTES: The Royals dropped to 4-3 in the deciding game of series this season. … New York went 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position, leaving the Yankees 9 for 85 (.106) in their last nine games.

– Associated Press –