Kansas City, Mo. ? The losses piling up, injuries mounting, the Baltimore Orioles needed to find some way, any way, to win on the road.

A trip to Kauffman Stadium was all it took.

Cesar Izturis and Nick Markakis each drove in three runs, and the Orioles won again in their favorite road ballpark, beating the Kansas City Royals, 9-5, Thursday night.

“We were looking to kind of get back on track — we haven’t played real well on the road,” Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. “This is a 10-day road trip, and this is a very good way to start that trip.”

Of course it came against the Royals.

Baltimore has won 15 of 18 against Kansas City and is 43-15 against the Royals since 2001, including 24-7 at Kauffman Stadium. The Orioles did it this time with a big night offensively — 12 hits — despite a depleted lineup, superb defense from Izturis at shortstop and a just-good-enough start from Jeremy Guthrie (3-3).

Izturis had three RBIs for the first time in four years, Aubrey Huff homered, and Melvin Mora had two RBIs for the Orioles, who won for just the second time in 11 road games.

“Tonight, I feel we won almost in spite of me,” said Guthrie, who matched a season low with two strikeouts. “But it’s nice to get one in the win column.”

The Royals had hoped a return to the New K would re-engergize them after a miserable California road trip that included five straight losses to the Angels and Athletics.

Even with 24,431 fans screeching for Girls Night Out, the trip home didn’t do any good.

For once, it wasn’t the offense’s fault.

Billy Butler homered and drove in three runs. David DeJesus broke out of a 1-for-18 slump with a run-scoring double after Coco Crisp’s RBI triple in the third inning. The Royals had 11 hits and got four runs and six hits in five innings against Guthrie after scoring nine runs the previous five games.

What hurt the Royals was pitching.

Kansas City entered with the majors’ best ERA at 3.63, but gave up six extra-base hits and walked seven to see its six-game home winning streak end.