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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. Cheap Nike Air Max 270 Ispa . The ninth-seeded Safarova doused Swede Johanna Larsson 6-2, 6-3 on the green clay at Family Circle Tennis Center. The Czech player was a finalist here two years ago and captured back-to-back doubles titles in 2012 and last year. Nike Air Max 270 Ispa Black . "Hes over there," the first baseman said. "You dont need to talk to anybody else." Indeed, Peralta did it all as the majors top team won again. http://www.max270cheap.com/air-max-270-womens-sale.html. The Raptors general manager has his list of possible draft selections whittled down to a handful ahead of Thursday nights NBA draft in Brooklyn, New York. The Raptors, who have auditioned dozens of players over the past couple of weeks, have the 20th overall pick in the first round, as well as the 37th and 58th picks in the second. Nike Air Max 270 React Black . His second visit, not so much. Roark (7-5) allowed four runs on 10 hits and one walk over six innings in a 7-2 setback in front of several friends and family members, as the Cubs snapped his personal streak of four consecutive victories on Friday. Air Max 270 Black Cheap .com) - Oregon wasnt going to let Arizona ruin its national title dreams for a second straight season.PIESTANY, Slovakia -- With first place in Group B of the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup sealed, Canadas under-18 mens hockey team didnt let up in routing host Slovakia 5-1 on Wednesday. Canada got goals from Ethan Bear, Lawson Crouse, Mitchell Marner, Travis Konecny and Tyler Soy but most importantly stayed healthy going into Fridays semifinal showdown with the United States. "I thought we did a lot of little things well," coach Jody Hull said. "Its a tough game to play knowing that youve already clinched first place, but I think we accepted the challenge and kept things very simple in our game plan. The biggest was to stay with our team structure and to get through the game without any injuries." In getting through pool play undefeated, Canada outscored its opponents 15-3. One of the keys to getting through the Slovakia game was scoring early, which Bear did 5:20 in. That took some of the pressure off in a game that had no tangible meaning. "Its just a different game," Hull said. "It was three games in three nights for our guys, and they played hard the first couple nights. Thhats always difficult.dddddddddddd I thought that we were able to manage ice time very well and get everyone into the game." Soy, who scored Canadas fifth goal of the game, said players tried not to think about nothing being on the line. "As a team we didnt want to take the night off or not go as hard as we can," the Cloverdale, B.C., native said. "We just want to keep building with what weve already started and treat it as if it was just any other game and go hard. Were still building as a team and were just getting that much better as we go along." Next up is the U.S., which has won two of its three games so far at the tournament. Hull said his team has a good chemistry going, and Soy hopes that continues to show on the ice in the semifinal round. "I cant wait," Soy said. "I feel like the U.S. and Canada have made a pretty big rivalry in the past couple years and Im really excited for us moving forward." The medal games are set for Saturday. Canada has won this tournament six years in a row, and 18 of the past 23 times since it began in 1991. ' ' '