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. Vapormax Plus Pas Cher Chine . A-Rod is also disqualified from any post-season play. So at the tender age of 38, he will miss all of next season. As a result of missing the coming season, hes also out $25 million (which coincidentally is my hourly rate). Vapormax Flyknit 2 Noir Pas Cher . While the pair of Spain internationals return, midfielder Xavi Hernandez will not be included in the squad after failing to recover from a muscle strain to his left leg. http://www.vapormaxpascher.be/air-max-va...5-pas-cher.html. The football club recently announced an increase in season ticket prices in five of the seven categories at Investors Group Field for 2014. While most increases are in the two to three per cent range, the clubs most affordable season tickets will jump from $199 to $250 — a 26 per cent leap. Vapormax Plus Belgique . Last year, Matt Kuchar closed with a 4-under 68 to beat Kevin Chappell by two strokes for his second win of the 2013 season and sixth of his career. Vapormax Plus Femme Pas Cher . As they are wont to do, the Spurs made things real easy. The Spurs signed Parker to a multi-year contract extension on Friday, ensuring that the six-time All-Star point guard will be in the fold whether Duncan and Ginobili are able to continue their careers or not.Chapel Hill, NC (SportsNetwork.com) - Marcus Paiges layup with 8.5 seconds left lifted the 18th-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels over the fifth-ranked Louisville Cardinals, 72-71, on Saturday. Brice Johnson made a short jumper with 38.1 seconds remaining to give North Carolina a 70-69 edge, but Louisvilles Terry Rozier responded with a baseline jumper at the other end. Paige then drove to the hoop and made a layup high off the glass to put the Tar Heels back in front. Wayne Blackshear missed a 3-point attempt from the corner and Roziers putback layup attempt was off the mark as time expired. Today we tried to run a set play and then break into freelance at the end of that, said North Carolina coach Roy Williams. We did want to get Marcus the ball coming to the top of the key and see what happens after. We had a screen for a guy to go to the basket and a couple other things. Kennedy Meeks had 13 points, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks for the Tar Heels (12-4, 2-1 ACC), who bounced back from a 71-70 loss to Notre Dame on Monday. Johnson tallied 11 points and 11 boards. J.P. Tokoto and Paige each scored 10 points for North Carolina, which trailed by 13 with 8:43 to play. Rozier finished with 25 points for the Cardinals (14-2, 2-1), who had a three- game winning streak snapped. Chris Jones added 19 points. Louisville coach Rick Pitino fell to 0-6 all-time against North Carolina, with three games coming while he was coaching Kentucky. Were playing very good basketball, said Pitino.dddddddddddd Im excited, but were hurting very much right now. It stings as much as any game Ive coached. Our players are very hurt by it, but thats the ACC. There will be a lot of games like this. A lot of great teams in the ACC. Well move on from there. Trailing 63-50, Meeks made two free throws and Joel Berry II connected from beyond the arc to start North Carolinas comeback. After Blackshear made a jumper, Paige hit a 3-pointer to make it a seven-point contest. Rozier responded with two free throws, but the Tar Heels ended the game on a 14-4 surge. Tokotos tip-in pulled North Carolina within 69-68 with 2:09 left. Johnson was blocked by Montrezl Harrell on his teams next trip down the court. Blackshear missed a 3-pointer for Louisville and Mangok Mathiang lost control of the ball after pulling down the offensive rebound. Johnson followed his jumper from in close to give North Carolina a 70-69 lead. The score was 34-34 following a first half that featured five lead changes and five ties. Trailing 38-36, the Cardinals used a 13-2 spurt to build a nine-point advantage. The score was 63-50 following Jones jumper and a Blackshear 3- pointer. Game Notes North Carolina improved to 10-3 all-time against Louisville ... Harrell had nine points ... The Tar Heels had 17 offensive rebounds, compared to nine for the Cardinals. ' ' '