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Trachsel goes the distance as Orioles pound Royals

May 29, 2007 - 4:02 AM KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Steve Trachsel is on a roll. The same can't be said for the Kansas City Royals.

Trachsel tossed a complete game, his first nine-inning complete game since August 18, 2003 against the Colorado Rockies and won his third straight start Monday as the Baltimore Orioles posted a 9-1 victory over the Royals in the opener of a three-game series.

Trachsel (4-3) allowed five hits to win three consecutive games for the first time since August 18-29, when he was a member of the New York Mets. He had a four-inning complete game win on May 11, 2006 at Philadelphia in a game shortened by rain.

"Trachsel made them put the ball in play," Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo said. "We made some good defensive plays for him and he kept pumping strikes. I think he tries to get ahead early. Some teams take some pitches. I thought they went out and swung at them tonight."

"We helped him early on, we were swinging at the first pitch," Royals manager Buddy Bell said. Trachsel, who threw 102 pitches and had only tossed 50 through six innings, blanked the Royals for six before allowing a run on a groundout by Mike Sweeney in the seventh. By then he had so much run support, it didn't matter.

"They were extremely aggressive," Trachsel said. "Once we got the early lead I was able to mix up my pitches and throw strikes with all of them. They were swinging at 1-0 curveballs. When they're doing that and hitting balls on the ground, the pitch count should stay low."

Ramon Hernandez hit his fifth career grand slam in the fourth inning off Kansas City starter Scott Elarton (1-1). The blast highlighted a five-run uprising in the frame and gave Baltimore a 6-0 lead.

"I was trying to get a pitch to hit and a good count to hit and I got it," Hernandez said. "I was trying to hit the ball hard and trying to get at least one in. Luckily, it went out of the park."

"Ramon has been struggling a little bit and he came up in the right spot," Perlozzo said. "He was patient and got a ball to hit. That was a big hit for us." Elarton allowed seven runs and six hits with four walks in five innings. The 6-7 righthander has failed to pitch more than 5 1/3 innings in any of his starts this season.

"Just another example of how walking guys kills you," Elarton said. "It hurt me in the first and it hurt me in the fourth. If I don't walk anybody in those situations, it's a different game."

"Scotty just couldn't find the plate there in the fourth inning," Bell said. "That's at least the second straight game that he's had trouble in the fourth. I don't know what else to say." The Royals have lost five straight overall and and are a major league-worst 9-19 at home. Kansas City is 11-15 this month and has not finished a month above the .500 mark since July 2003.

"If there was an answer, I wish somebody would share it with us," Elarton said. "You've just got to go out there and keep battling. I wanted to get out there today and turn it around and it's just plain unfair for everybody because we were on a good roll and it's turned back around just as quick as it got started. We had that taste of success and that makes it even more disappointing."

The Orioles are 4-0 against the Royals this season and have won 19 of the last 24 games between the teams dating to 2004.