KANSAS CITY - After scoring 31 runs in five playoff games and 10 in the first two games of the American League Championship Series, the Orioles were held in check by Kansas City pitching tonight and and now the Royals are closing in on a World Series berth. Billy Butler's sac fly in the sixth put Kansas City ahead and the Royals' late-inning relievers made a lead hold up again to beat the Orioles 2-1 in front of 40,183 screaming fans at Kauffman Stadium. The Orioles were held to just three hits for the game, none after the third inning. K.C. pitchers combined to retire the last 16 O's hitters and 21 of the last 22. They were that dominant tonight.

The Royals take a commanding three games to none lead in the best-of-seven series and the Orioles face elimination here tomorrow afternoon. They'll now need four straight wins to return to the World Series for the first time since 1983. In a 1-1 tie, Kansas City pushed across the go-ahead run in the sixth. Nori Aoki led off with a single off starter Wei-Yin Chen and Jarrod Dyson came in to pinch-run. Dyson moved to third on Eric Hosmer's one-out single and manager Buck Showalter called for Kevin Gausman out of the bullpen. Butler hit a 98 mph Gausman fastball to left for a sac fly and 2-1 lead. It was his fifth RBI of the postseason. Gausman retired all eight hitters he faced tonight on 33 pitches. With a one-run lead, the Royals had the game set up to bring in late-inning relievers Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland. That trio held O's hitters to a .172 average in the first two games, allowing one run over eight innings. Tonight, Herrera pitched a 1-2-3 seventh, Davis a 1-2-3 eighth with two strikeouts, and Holland ended it with a 1-2-3 ninth. The Orioles got their first lead of this series in the top of the second. Steve Pearce, who was 0-for-9 the first two games, doubled to left-center with one out and scored on J.J. Hardy's RBI double for the 1-0 lead. It was Hardy's third RBI of the postseason. Kansas City tied it 1-1 in the fourth, but could have had more. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases, but Chen got Alex Gordon to ground out as a run scored. He then got Salvador Perez on a popup with runners at second and third. Former Oriole Jeremy Guthrie pitched well in his first career postseason start. Over five innings, he allowed three hits and one run on 94 pitches. Not a bad outing since he had not pitched since Sept. 26. Jason Frasor pitched a scoreless sixth for Kansas City. Chen took the loss. Over 5 1/3 innings, he gave up seven hits and two runs with one walk and four strikeouts on 80 pitches. The Orioles have just one quality start in six postseason games. Kansas City improves to 7-0 this postseason and has now won 10 consecutive postseason games to tie for the third-longest streak in baseball history. In Game 4 on Wednesday afternoon at 4:07 p.m., Miguel Gonzalez (10-9, 3.23 ERA) pitches against left-hander Jason Vargas (11-10, 3.71 ERA).