and with uncertainty surrounding the status of Melky Cabrera

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Nelson Cruz has only two hits in 15 at-bats against the Kansas City Royals this season. Both are home runs. Cruz hit a two-run homer and the first-place Baltimore Orioles beat the Royals 2-1 on Thursday night to snap a four-game losing streak. Cruz homered in the fourth after Chris Davis drew a walk to lead off the inning. It was Cruzs 12th home run, which is second in the American League to the 15 of Chicago White Sox rookie Jose Abreu. Cruzs 35 RBIs are tied for second in the AL. "Hes one of the best power hitters in the American League over the past five or six years," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "Hes hit in a good hitters park in Texas, but hes got power to all fields." Wei-Yin Chen (5-2) limited the Royals to one run and seven hits over 5 1-3 innings with one walk and one strikeout. Chen, who is 5-1 in his past seven starts, was removed in the sixth after Salvador Perez walked and Alex Gordon singled with one out. Darren ODay replaced Chen and struck out Danny Valencia and retried Johnny Giavotella on a fly to right. Royals rookie right-hander Yordano Ventura (2-3) struck out nine and walked one in 6 1-3 innings, allowing two runs and seven hits. After Cruzs home run, Ventura retired the next 10 batters, striking out seven, including six straight at one stretch. "He made a mistake to Nelson Cruz and it wasnt even a mistake," Yost said. "I think he threw a good fastball to Nelson. It was up and over the middle of the plate and he ambushed it." Cruz hit the first pitch out to right-centre from Ventura, who has a fastball that routinely hits triple digits on radar guns. "We know hes got a great fastball," Cruz said. "He can get you quick. Hes got great stuff. It was one of those at-bats that I got what I was looking for. We were trying to be aggressive and he was throwing a lot of first-pitch fastballs. I was looking for a fastball." With a northwest wind blowing 15 mph and gusting up to 28, it was less than ideal conditions to hit a home run. "You could have made some money off me if youd have bet me that somebody could have gotten a ball out of here tonight," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. Valencias sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in the fourth scored Eric Hosmer for the only run off Chen. "Ventura pitched great," Giavotella said. "We just couldnt back him up with any runs." Left-hander Zach Britton, who had not allowed a run in 7 1-3 innings in his past eight appearances, worked a perfect ninth for his first major league save. Showalter elected to go to Britton after closer Tommy Hunter blew his past two save chances. "Guys graduate," Showalter said. "It was a good start and its good to know that if we need him for a given night hell be ready. Well see how it goes from here." The Royals did not have a baserunner off four Baltimore relievers, who retired 11 straight. "Our pitchers did a really good job and we really needed this win," Cruz said. "Anytime you can win a game by one run its huge. We feel like we can get something going." The Orioles, who went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position, threatened in the seventh and eighth innings, but came away empty. Gordon, a three-time Gold Glove Award winner, threw out J.J. Hardy at the plate to end the seventh for his fourth outfield assist this season and his 58th since moving to the outfield in 2011. Hardy attempted to score from second on Nick Markakis single. Manny Machado and Adam Jones led off the Orioles eighth with singles off Louis Coleman, the third Kansas City pitcher. Kelvin Herrera replaced Coleman and struck out Davis and Cruz and retired Steve Clevenger on a grounder to strand the runners. NOTES: The Orioles recalled RHP Evan Meek from Triple-A Norfolk and optioned RHP Kevin Gausman, who lost a Wednesday start to Detroit, to the same club. ... Markakis snapped an 0-for-14 skid with three singles. ... Royals RHP Wade Davis has a stiff neck and was not available. Scarpe Adidas Saldi . The third-seeded Bouchard, from Westmount, Que., was coming off a semifinal appearance at the French Open. She took the opening set before the unseeded American came back for the 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory. Ingrosso Scarpe Adidas . The Austrian ski federation said Morgenstern was "conscious and well responsive" and his condition would be monitored in the intensive care unit of a Salzburg hospital for the next 72 hours. The federation said it was "way too early" to judge Morgensterns chances of competing in Sochi, and that an update on his condition was not expected before Monday. http://www.adidasscarpescontate.it/ . In taking its goal tally to 99 in all competitions already this season, City delivered another demonstration of its lethal firepower at Etihad Stadium to set up a fourth-round match at home to another second-tier team -- Watford. Scarpe Adidas Outlet . The second-ranked Jayhawks will play the Miners of Texas-El Paso at Imperial Arena in the Bahamas. The game can be seen live on TSN2 starting at 7pm et/4pm pt. Scarpe Adidas Offerte .What they got was a bevy of players chipping in to pick up the slack.Josh Smith scored 18 points and James Harden added 17 as the Rockets used a balanced scoring effort to outlast the Mavericks for a 99-94 victory.TORONTO a€“ Ita€?s impossible to predict how long a career Dalton Pompey will have or how good he will be. There is nothing Pompey can do with this small window of September opportunity to guarantee himself a position on the Blue Jaysa€? 2015 roster. Perhaps, if anything, hea€?s assured himself of an opportunity at some point. These matters are to be determined. In the meantime, sit back and enjoy a hometown boy excel. Pompeya€?s performance in Friday nighta€?s 4-2 win over the Orioles is an example of a young player feeling good about his game. a€?I think Ia€?ve gotten a little bit more confident and comfortable being here,a€? said Pompey. a€?The guys make it a nice environment for me to be here and they treat me well. They treat me as if Ia€?m one of the guys; that Ia€?ve been here for a long time, so ita€?s a credit to them. My family keeps me up through the ups and downs and I get all the support from my family and friends, which is really important to me.a€? There has been a build since Pompeya€?s first career hit, recorded on September 19 at Yankee Stadium. You may recall Pompey was stranded at first base to end that inning and as he made his way toward his leftfield position he crossed paths with outgoing Yankees legend Derek Jeter. Pompey was brief when asked to describe the nature of the exchange, only to say that Jeter wished him a long, prosperous career. The Mississauga nativea€?s first career multi-hit game came on Monday when he went 2-for-5, scoring his first run in the process. Pompey also made a brilliant catch in centrefield, going back to his left and sprawling to rob Dustin Ackley of extra bases for the second out of the fifth inning. Then, on Tuesday, the first big league home run. Pompey did it in style, too, launching a second deck shot to rightfield off of a€?Kinga€? Felix Hernandez, one of the gamea€?s elite pitchers. On Friday, Pompey began his big night with a headlong, diving catch of an Alejandro De Aza foul fly ball down the leftfield line. It was a big play because the Orioles led 1-0 at the time and were threatening for more with Ryan Flaherty on second base and two outs. a€?Hea€?s just obviously an all-around good player,a€? said Drew Hutchison (11-13), the beneficiary of the catch and who pitched five innings for the win in his final start of the season. a€?To ccome up here and not be really fazed and be out there and be confident in yourself, you know just the way he carries himself I think thata€?s more impressive than anything you do on the field.dddddddddddda€? Pompey led off the second inning with a triple and scored on a Munenori Kawasaki bunt single. Pompey doubled and scored on a Kawasaki infield single in the third, head-down hustling from second as Oriolesa€? second baseman Jonathan Schoopa€?s throw pulled first baseman Steve Clevenger off the bag. In the fifth, with Edwin Encarnacion on first base and two outs, Pompey tripled home the Jaysa€? fourth and final run of the evening. a€?I mean it was awesome, you know,a€? said Pompey. a€?I felt like I put a couple of good swings on some balls today and they found some holes and they were able to get to the wall and I just kind of let my speed take over.a€? Remember, Pompeya€?s under a different kind of pressure a€“ hea€?s from the area and people know it. Pompey makes a big play, the stadium erupts; Pompey gets a big hit, the crowd goes wild. The difference in decibel level is noticeable. People are watching, rooting for a hometown boy they can embrace as their own. Hutchison isna€?t alone in his praise of Pompey and how hea€?s handling his first crack at the limelight. a€?Ita€?s always huge when you get off to a good start, especially considering where hea€?s come from,a€? said manager John Gibbons. a€?It wasna€?t like hea€?s been cutting his teeth at Triple-A the last couple of years and all of a sudden hea€?s coming up, I mean hea€?s looked at A-ball, a totally different game down there, Double-A is a different and briefly in Triple-A and now hea€?s facing some of the best of the game. Ita€?s not like hea€?s running into the Average Joe, the guy thata€?s coming up to make the spot start, you know Tillman tonight, Hernandez and those guys the other night. So I mean hea€?s facing some of the top guys in baseball and hea€?s handling himself so well.a€? The 21-year-old has the organizationa€?s attention. With Colby Rasmus already having vacated centrefield and with uncertainty surrounding the status of Melky Cabrera in leftfield, just months after playing for the Dunedin Blue Jays, Pompey could return to Floridaa€?s Gulf Coast next spring with a chance to crack a big league roster. Wholesale Hoodies NFL Shirts Outlet Jerseys NFL Wholesale Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Cheap NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '