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Bedard shuts down Kansas City to complete three-game sweep

May 31, 2007 - 6:04 AM KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- The hot Baltimore Orioles' bats took the night off Wednesday in Kansas City, but Erik Bedard made sure it didn't matter.

Bedard allowed just four singles over eight outstanding innings to collect his first victory since April 18 as the Orioles beat the Royals, 3-0, in a game that was delayed by rain at the start for 1 hour, 36 minutes.

Jay Payton snapped a scoreless tie with an RBI single in the seventh and Nick Markakis hit a two-run homer in the ninth for Baltimore, which extended its winning streak to a season-best five games.

"Eric pitched a great game," Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo said. "It was a great effort. It was a great pitched game and we had some key hits. Everyone executed tonight and it paid off."

Bedard (4-3) threw eight innings, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out five. He retired the last 11 batters he faced.

"I was throwing strikes and they were aggressive early in the count," Bedard said. "I made some good pitches when it counted. It's always tough when it's 0-0 late in the game, but I stayed in there and battled. I made some good pitches at the right time."

"He persevered," Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo said. "Bedard was outstanding the whole ballgame. I can't say enough about what his effort was tonight. He sucked it up for us extra well, and then went back out there and stayed in for eight innings, and that's what we needed."

Chris Ray came on to pitch a perfect ninth for his 12th save, giving Baltimore its first three-game sweep in Kansas City since April 26-28, 2002. Kansas City righthander Gil Meche matched Bedard pitch-for-pitch until the eighth.

Ramon Hernandez walked to lead off the eighth and was replaced by pinch runner Freddie Bynum before Corey Patterson reached on a bunt single.

"Everybody knew in that situation I was bunting," Patterson said. "I just wanted to make sure to get it down. I got a good touch on it and was able to beat it out. It gave us a lot better chance with first and second and none out than second with one out."

Brian Roberts advanced both with a sacrifice before Payton guided a grounder through the left side of a drawn-in infield to plate the first run of the game.

"I love playing the game in that kind of situation," Payton said. "That's what it's all about. I was fortunate to get the ball through the infield and helped us win a ballgame."

"He likes the stage a little bit," Perlozzo said of Payton. "He bears down. He likes being 'the guy.'"

Despite allowing no more than three runs in any of his last five starts, Bedard had not been the winner in his last seven starts.

"It was a long time ago," Bedard said of his last victory. "It's part of the game. It happened the first two years. It happened last year. It happens every year. You'll go through stretches of pitching well where you just don't get the win."

In his first start since allowing a career-high 11 hits Friday against Seattle, Meche allowed only a pair of singles through seven innings.

"I'm not disappointed with the way I threw," Meche said. "I'm disappointed in the result, but I'll take that kind of pitching every time. It's a different feeling when you pitch well and lose than when you pitch well and win."

Meche (3-4) left his previous start after 4 1-3 innings due to back stiffness. On Wednesday he went 7 1-3 innings, allowing four hits and one run, with four walks and five strikeouts.

"My back didn't really both me that much tonight," Meche said. "It got a little fatigued in the eighth and the seventh innings, but it wasn't a problem. I wasn't able to make the pitches I needed to get out of jams. I knew I had good stuff coming out of the bullpen to start the game. I had a good fastball and that made everything else good, too. But, Bedard isn't a slouch and he had his 'A' game."

Aubrey Huff and Melvin Mora had the only other hits for Baltimore, leading off the second and seventh innings, but they didn't advance past first base.