There was no doubt the baseball was headed into the left-field seats, so Orioles third baseman Coby Mayo took a couple of seconds to admire how far he’d hit it.
Mayo knew he had crushed the pitch from Royals starter Noah Cameron in the fifth inning; he casually flipped away his bat as he started around the bases. Mayo’s blast was one of four by Baltimore in a 6-1 win over the Royals.
Hey, sure, Oriole Park at Camden Yards is known as a hitter’s park, but three of the hosts’ home runs traveled 417 feet or more.
For a while on Saturday, it seemed like it might become a truly awful night for the Royals. But they somewhat comfortably avoided being no-hit, even if they managed just two hits in all.
The Royals didn’t get their first hit off Baltimore starter Kyle Bradish until the seventh inning, when Jac Caglianone led off with a line single to center. He eventually came around to score the Royals’ lone run.
The Royals’ pitching has been among the worst in baseball, and injuries have played a large part in that. But one low-key issue plaguing the KC staff is the long ball.
With one game to go until the All-Star break, the Royals have allowed the third-most home runs in the American League (127). They’re on pace to give up 214 this season, after allowing 171 a year ago and 146 in 2024 — when they made the postseason.
What’s behind this problem?
“It’s not one answer to that,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “Everything’s different. Like tonight, the one (pitch) to Pete Alonso is well down below the zone. The guy hits it out. I mean, he hits homers.
“Sometimes we’ve made some bad pitches, didn’t execute. Sometimes we’ve gotten ourselves in bad counts. There’s different reasons.”
Cameron allowed five runs in seven innings and four were the result of three home runs. The outcome dropped Kansas City 20 games below .500, at 38-58.
An oh-so-small sliver of good news for the Royals? They are not in danger of breaking the franchise record for home runs allowed in a season. That mark is 239, set in 2000.
Noah Cameron’s night
On the plus side for Cameron, the St. Joseph struck out a career-high nine batters despite giving up five hits and walking two.
It was the first time he’d pitched at least seven innings in a game since June 2 at Cincinnati.
“Striking out people’s fun for pitchers, but obviously I would like to do it in a better game with less runs,” Cameron said.
“But I thought even warming up, I kind of knew that it was going to be a good day, stuff-wise. I felt good. Everything was sharp, coming out well. It’s one of those days that you’re hoping that it’s going to go good just because you feel great. So it kind of sucks, obviously, giving up three homers with that. But we’ve just got to keep going.”
Cameron, whose season record now stands at 5-7, got 18 swings-and-misses and struck out batters using four different pitches on Saturday, according to Statcast.
Walking just two men was also encouraging for Cameron, as he had issued 11 free passes in his previous 13 2/3 innings.
The Mayo home run came on a slider down and in.
“I threw a slider with a pitch before that, so (he) could have been kind of looking in …” Cameron said. “But yeah, really good, efficient slider there. So just hats off to him making a good swing.”
As for Alonso’s long ball, he golfed a pitch from Cameron that was below the zone.
“It almost makes you a little bit more mad just because you executed a pitch,” Cameron acknowledged. “When you make a mistake pitch, it’s like they’re big-league hitters, they’re obviously really good hitters over there, so they’re supposed to hit those out.
“But when you execute a pitch, it’s a little bit more frustrating just because (of) the scouting report — it’s (off-speed pitches are) great against those guys, but I think you just obviously have to come to the realization that they’re big-leaguers too.”
Injury update
Elbow soreness has kept Royals captain Salvador Perez from playing catcher the past two weeks, but he’s remained in the lineup as a designated hitter or first baseman.
There are signs he could return to some work behind the plate after the All-Star break. Before Saturday’s game, he was zinging throws to second base from home plate as he tested out his elbow.
“He’s out here again, throwing right now, just like yesterday. So that’s a good sign,” Quatraro said. “We’re hopeful that that is the case, that coming out of the break he feels good again.”
Up next: The Royals end the unofficial first half of their 2026 season with a 12:35 p.m. Sunday game against the Orioles. Right-hander Seth Lugo will take the ball for the Royals, while right-hander Shane Baz will start for Baltimore.
This story was originally published July 11, 2026 at 8:28 PM.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.kansascity.com ’
