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👑 Friday, April 25 • Baltimore Orioles Series Game 1 👑

Royals pile up 15 hits and leave no doubt

Baltimore Orioles at Kansas City Royals | Kauffman Stadium
Weather: Partly Cloudy (56°) | Wind blowing right to left (10 mph) | Attendance: 27,861 | First pitch: 6:40 PM CT
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Pregame Memo (Manager's Desk)

Coming into this Baltimore series, I made a bullpen call that felt necessary. Stevie Emanuels gave up 5 earned runs to 9 batters in his last outing (and had already been shaky the last time Baltimore saw him), so we optioned him to Omaha to let him reset and tighten the strike-throwing.

The counter move was the one with real weight: Brady Singer is back. At $5.7M, he's not here to “hold a spot”—he's here to prove he belongs, and the calendar reality is obvious as we get closer to the months that shape the trade deadline. With Cole Ragans’ elbow still a watch item, Singer gives us an emergency starter option that feels steadier than trying to patch innings on the fly.

Baltimore Orioles Series Snapshot

Baltimore came in 7–11 but on a three-game win streak, and the offense is legit: .276 team average (best in the AL) and runs scored near the top third of the league. Their staff, especially the starters, has been the softer part—6.26 starter ERA—so the theme for Game 1 was to make their starter work, keep traffic constant, and let our lineup pressure them into the middle relief.

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:

RHP S. Turnbull (2-1, 2.08 ERA) vs RHP G. Rodriguez (0-3, 8.25 ERA)
LHP J. Montgomery (2-2, 4.94 ERA) vs RHP K. Bradish (2-2, 3.86 ERA)
RHP Z. Eflin (2-0, 0.96 ERA) vs RHP E. De Los Santos (0-2, 7.94 ERA)

The top 5 players on their team are:
1. 2B Jackson Holliday (Age: 21, Overall: 80, Potential: 5.0)
2. C Adley Rutschman (27, 80, 5.0)
3. CL Felix Bautista (29, 75, 4.5)
4. SS Gunnar Henderson (23, 70, 4.0)
5. SP Corbin Burnes (30, 65, 4.0)

Series Matchup Board — Game 1

• RHP S. Turnbull (2-1, 2.08 ERA) vs RHP G. Rodriguez (0-3, 8.25 ERA)

Rodriguez’s early numbers suggested opportunity, but we still needed to stay inside our plan—hunt mistakes in the zone, don’t expand, and cash when we get runners in scoring position. For Turnbull, it was about getting ahead and keeping Baltimore from turning singles into stressful innings.
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Game Day Log — Royals vs. Orioles (Game 1)

Inning-by-Inning Beats (Dugout View)

1st
Baltimore struck first with two-out damage: Jackson Holliday singled, and Gunnar Henderson ripped an RBI triple to make it 1–0.
We answered immediately. Maikel Garcia led off the bottom of the first with a solo homer (382 ft) to tie it. That swing mattered—felt like it reset the tone of the whole night. 1–1.

2nd–3rd
Turnbull settled in and started stacking outs, and we began building pressure without payoff—Schneider got hit, Payton singled, Perez doubled in the third, and we had runners in the right places but couldn’t land the finishing ball yet.

4th
This was the game. We created traffic and then punished the mistake. Schneider got hit again, Payton singled, and the inning flipped on one loud swing: Vinnie Pasquantino lined a two-run double to put us ahead. Then Bobby Witt Jr. doubled to bring another run home. Just like that, we’d turned a tie into separation. 4–1 Royals.

5th
Quiet inning offensively, and that was fine—Turnbull was in control and we didn’t need to get greedy.

6th
Another clean punch. With Baltimore into relief, Pasquantino launched a solo homer (384 ft) to stretch it to 5–1.

7th
We added on through pressure and a little chaos. Renfroe singled, Schneider doubled, and Garcia’s ball in play turned into a run and an error that kept the inning alive. The lead jumped to 7–1, and Baltimore’s body language changed.

8th
One more tack-on run came home the hard way: Witt singled, Renfroe doubled, and the runner scored with no throw as we stayed aggressive. 8–1.

9th
Brennan Bernardino finished the night clean—strikeouts, no drama, and the win was tucked away.
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Final

Royals 8, Orioles 1
Royals (15 H, 0 E) | Orioles (8 H, 1 E)

Kansas City beat Baltimore on the strength of starting pitcher Spencer Turnbull's fine effort. The right-hander led his team to a win, 8-1, and earned Player of the Game with a strong, steady line (7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 K).

"Solid game, solid win tonight," said a smiling Turnbull.

Vinnie Pasquantino, who is tied for 9th in the AL in hits with 26, led the offense (2-for-5 with a homer, a double, 3 RBI, 2 runs). Witt continued his early-season pace with 4 hits and another RBI.

Kansas City Pitching Scoreline
Pitcher          Dec        IP     H    R   ER   BB    K   HR    PI   ERA
S. Turnbull     W (3-1)     7.0    6    1    1    1    6    0    92   1.97
B. Bernardino               2.0    2    0    0    0    2    0    28   4.50

The Orioles, now 7-12, continue their poor start.
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Front Office Note / Takeaways

This was the kind of win that feels like it travels—even though we were at home. Early answer after giving up the first run, relentless two-out hitting, and a starter who kept the game from getting noisy. The lineup didn't just win with one swing; it layered the damage: Garcia set the tone, Witt kept the inning pressure alive, and Vinnie delivered the separator and the add-on.

From the roster-management perspective, tonight validated the idea that we don't need to overextend arms when the starter is doing his job. Bernardino's clean two innings are exactly how you protect the bullpen over a long homestand—especially with the Ragans situation still sitting on our medical clipboard.

Figure 1. Pitching look: Brady Singer vs. Stevie Emanuels — role fit and leverage profile.



This comparison presents a practical roster question rather than a flashy one: which traits work best in our current mix—starter stability versus relief leverage. The goal isn’t to “win” the chart; it’s to clarify usage paths and allocate innings to the pitchers whose blend of stuff and command fits the situation.
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Around the League

Tonight’s broader note is simple: the standings are beginning to stretch just enough that every clean series matters. We took Game 1 the way good teams do—responding early to adversity, seizing the big inning, and denying the opponent a second chance. The rest of the headlines can wait until morning coffee and scouting reports.
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👑 FOR THE CROWN — ALWAYS 👑

Kansas City Royals | Regular Season 2025 - Game 20



(OOTP25 Royals Journey — GM/Manager's Dual Log)