BALTIMORE - In his trying first season as the Orioles' manager, Brandon Hyde was not the least bit concerned about his team tying a dubious record on a night it cruised to an easy win.
Baltimore matched a major league mark by allowing its 258th homer this season, but the Orioles hit four of their own in an 8-1 victory against the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.
"We've given up a ton of homers," Hyde said. "What's the record 258? So, if it's 259 or 330, I don't care. I just want us to get better on the mound and obviously finish this year and go into next year trying to do a better job of keeping the ball in the ballpark and staying off the barrel, but home runs are up. We're all tired of seeing them and hopefully we can get better going forward."
Anthony Santander and Renato Nez hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning for Baltimore, which won its first series since July 25-27 at the Los Angeles Angels.
Jonathan Villar opened the scoring with a two-run shot, while Hanser Alberto put the game away with a three-run blast in the sixth.
Whit Merrifield homered leading off the third for Kansas City. The 2016 Cincinnati Reds owned the previous record for home runs allowed in a season, but the Orioles have 35 games to surpass them.
Long balls have hampered Baltimore throughout the year. The Yankees hit 61 homers off Orioles pitching this season, a record for one team against another.
Aaron Brooks (3-7) picked up his first win in eight starts with the Orioles since being claimed on waivers from Oakland on July 6. He allowed one run and seven hits with four strikeouts in five innings. It was also his first win since April 11.
The last team Brooks beat? The Orioles.
"For me coming over to a new organization, I wanted to show positive movement forward and competitiveness," Brooks said. "I feel like I'm finally moving towards that part of my game again. It feels good."
Villar put the Orioles ahead 2-0 in the second with his homer off Mike Montgomery (3-6), whose streak of 14 consecutive scoreless innings was snapped. Stevie Wilkerson later hit an RBI double. He finished with a career-high three hits.
"Credit them," Montgomery said. "They had a good game plan, they did a good job of making me work, chasing pitches