Lopez sparks Royals with career-high 4 RBIs

KANSAS CITY -- The four-game losing skid that sent the Royals into the All-Star break seemed like it was ages ago by Friday night.

Refreshed out of the break, they began the second half of the season with a 9-2 win over the Orioles on Friday night, riding an early offensive surge and shutdown innings by the bullpen to take the opener of a three-game weekend set at Kauffman Stadium.

“You always need those reminders that you have the kind of team that can bring the whole package with the timely hits right out of the gate,” manager Mike Matheny said.

Led by Nicky Lopez’s career-high four RBIs and Whit Merrifield’s ninth career four-hit game, the Royals’ offense erupted for nine runs and 15 hits -- and it began right from the start against Orioles starter Keegan Akin.

Kansas City batted around in the second inning, starting with Jorge Soler’s leadoff walk and ending with his flyout to the warning track that nearly was a grand slam -- it was a moonshot that went a projected 377 feet and would have been a home run in 13 ballparks.

So the Royals settled for a four-run inning and didn’t relinquish that lead. Fresh off their All-Star Game appearances, Merrifield and Salvador Perez both knocked two hits in the first two innings. Hanser Alberto doubled twice against his former team. Lopez continued his production into the second half with a two-run single in the second and a two-run double in the seventh.

Lopez has been everything the Royals have needed when they pegged him to fill in for an injured Adalberto Mondesi at the beginning of the season. The 26-year-old was going to start the season at Triple-A Omaha to get his swing right after a dismal 2020 season. Instead, he’s been able to thrive in the Majors and be the ideal No. 9 hitter, acting as another leadoff man to get on base as the lineup turns over for Merrifield at the top.

Lopez’s two-strike approach looks like it did as he worked his way through the Minor Leagues -- he’s swinging and missing less and driving the ball more. Both of his hits on Friday came with two strikes.

“That’s everything we’ve seen through the Minor League system,” Matheny said. “You’re talking about a guy with really low swing and miss rates, always. That’s a gift, and it’s good to see him putting that into play and trusting it right now. Not trying to do too much.

“And then you got a guy on base for damage to happen at the top of the order. And Whit being Whit, what a great day there. Everything you could ask for.”

Lopez has embraced his role at the bottom of the order and often uses it to his advantage.

“I’m just trying to get on for Whit,” Lopez said. “ … You know he’s behind me, so more times than not, I’m going to get a good pitch to hit every at-bat. It’s great having someone like Whit, an All-Star, someone who’s established, behind me.”

This win was reminiscent of the Royals’ start to the season, when the offense erupted in the first series and led to a hot start. The first month was carried by the bullpen, and that looked similar to Friday night, when five relievers kept the Orioles at bay through five innings -- a welcome sight after the unit struggled in the final games before the break.

It took over for starter Danny Duffy, who allowed one run in four innings and exited after 54 pitches after a comebacker in the first inning struck his left knee. He walked off the field after the play and felt fine until he had to run to cover first base in the fourth; the contusion tightened, and he felt like it was going to alter his mechanics if he kept pitching.

“It tightened up, and with the risk of overcompensating, messing with something else, I felt like I had given everything I had to that point,” Duffy said. “I hate coming out of games like that, especially coming out of the break, you want to stretch out and give some more frames. But we won the game, that’s all that matters.”

After entering the All-Star break having won just three of their previous 18 games, the Royals hope this can be the start to a second-half turnaround. The 15 hits matched a season high, when they did it against Boston on June 20 and Texas on Opening Day.

“We’ve done this before,” Merrifield said. “We’ve had games like this before. We need to find ways to play games like this more often. So come back tomorrow, worry about it when it gets here and try to go about it the same way.”