KANSAS CITY -- A pair of early American League Cy Young Award front-runners faced off at Kauffman Stadium on Saturday night -- Baltimore¡¯s Corbin Burnes and Kansas City¡¯s Cole Ragans. The second meeting of the year between the aces was expected to be a duel.

Instead, a high-scoring matchup ensued, one that went in the Orioles¡¯ favor thanks to their early attack vs. Ragans.

The O¡¯s struck for seven runs in the second inning against Ragans, which was more than enough support for Burnes in a 9-7 victory over the Royals. While Ragans was chased after a career-low 1 2/3 frames, Burnes cruised early and allowed three runs over 5 2/3 innings.

Ragans struck out the Baltimore side and worked around a one-out single by Adley Rutschman in a scoreless first. But in the second, the Orioles sent 12 batters to the plate, scoring seven runs on eight hits and a walk in the frame.

¡°He¡¯s still got good stuff, his stuff still played pretty well tonight, like you saw in the first inning,¡± Jordan Westburg said of Ragans. ¡°I think we just did a good job of adjusting, and when he did make mistakes, taking advantage of them.¡±

Ram¨®n Ur¨ªas, James McCann, Rutschman, Ryan Mountcastle and Anthony Santander each had RBI hits before Westburg knocked a two-run single that ended Ragans¡¯ night. The seven-run outburst marked the second-largest inning of the season for Baltimore, which had a nine-run sixth in its 13-4 win over the Angels on March 30.

It was a much different showing from Ragans¡¯ outing vs. the O's on April 3, when the 26-year-old left-hander held them to one hit over 6 1/3 scoreless innings at Camden Yards. In that game, Burnes allowed two runs in 5 2/3 frames before McCann lifted the O¡¯s to a 4-3 win with a walk-off two-run single in the ninth.

¡°We made the adjustment from the first game [Ragans] threw. He¡¯s a guy who likes to attack early in the count, and we talked about it before the game and we did a pretty good job attacking him in the second inning,¡± Santander said. ¡°That¡¯s part of the homework we do as a team. The whole lineup did a really good job with that.¡±

Burnes¡¯ line on Saturday may have been similar to his first start vs. the Royals, but the 29-year-old right-hander was much more dominant this time. He retired 16 of the first 18 batters he faced, yielding only a pair of singles during that span. Burnes didn¡¯t allow a run until his 98th and final pitch, which Salvador Perez deposited over the left-field wall for a three-run homer.

Over his first five starts for the Orioles, Burnes has a 2.76 ERA. He¡¯s the first pitcher to have an ERA that low through the first five outings of his Baltimore career (minimum 25 innings pitched) since Jason Hammel, who had a 1.97 ERA after five starts in 2012.

Burnes was appreciative of the early seven-run cushion he received from his offense.

¡°We¡¯ve got a good offense. Whenever [Ragans] came in the zone, it seemed like we didn¡¯t miss,¡± Burnes said. ¡°You come across teams that are hot like that -- and we¡¯re swinging the bat pretty well to start the year -- so whenever you make a mistake, it seems like the team just doesn¡¯t miss, and we haven¡¯t missed lately.

¡°This Royals team has been like that, too. They¡¯ve been pretty scrappy early on and swinging the bats well.¡±

Kansas City showed that again by clawing back into the game with a four-run seventh that cut Baltimore's lead to 8-7. But Santander drove in an insurance run with his career-high third double in the eighth, then Craig Kimbrel worked a scoreless ninth for his fifth save of the season -- and the 422nd of his career, which tied him with Billy Wagner for seventh on the AL/NL all-time list.

The game ended up being closer than the Orioles would have preferred. But fortunately for them, their early offense was enough to help them withstand the Royals¡¯ rally.

¡°That was one of our best innings offensively of the year, for me,¡± manager Brandon Hyde said. ¡°Facing a really good starter who¡¯s had a lot of success, a lot of success against us, and I thought we just took what was given to us. A lot of singles, a lot of using the whole field.

¡°I thought the approach that inning was outstanding, the way we were really staying on the baseball against a really tough starter.¡±