Kansas City starter Brian Bannister pitches to Baltimore's Freddie Bynum. Bannister hurled the Royals to a 4-0 victory Sunday in Kansas City, Mo.

Kansas City, Mo. ? Twelve straight losses to the Baltimore Orioles was a dirty dozen for Kansas City Royals.

Brian Bannister allowed two singles in eight innings, and the Royals beat Baltimore, 4-0, Sunday to end their skid against the Orioles.

It was Kansas City’s first victory over Baltimore since July 25, 2006.

“Regardless if you were here all 12 of those losses, I think we needed to take it on ourselves to end this thing,” Bannister said. “As a starting pitcher, a shutout is the best medicine to end a losing streak. To beat this streak and to beat my own personal losing streak, there were a lot of factors going into it, so I was pretty motivated to pitch a great game.”

Bannister struck out five and walked two to end a personal four-game losing streak. He did not allow a runner to reach second. Joakim Soria tossed a perfect ninth to finish Kansas City’s fourth shutout of the year.

The losses to the Orioles had begun to wear on the Royals.

“I hurt as badly losing that many games in a row to the Baltimore Orioles as if I had been here for all of them,” Royals rookie manager Trey Hillman said. “I want to turn the pride factor up for this organization as high it can possibly be turned up. It’s irrelevant that it wasn’t exactly the same group of guys, or the same staff or the same manager. Losing that many games in a row to anybody is embarrassing.”