KANSAS CITY — One night after the Orioles stole a game from the Royals, Maikel Garcia ensured Kansas City got Baltimore right back.

In the ninth inning of a tie game Tuesday night, right-hander Ryan Helsley started out by walking Garcia and Bobby Witt Jr. His erratic nature continued the rest of the frame, with two wild pitches sealing it for Kansas City. The pair of runners moved 90 feet on the first wild pitch. The second — a bouncer that ricocheted away from catcher Adley Rutschman in front of the plate — brought Garcia home.

The 6-5 win for the Royals snaps Kansas City’s eight-game losing streak, and it sets up a rubber match Wednesday afternoon.

“Just kind of beat myself out there,” Helsley said. “Ultimately, I just kind of shot myself in the foot and didn’t really challenge guys. If you’re out there and you’re not throwing strikes, you’re going to have a pretty tough night.”

The wildness from Helsley was part of a rare bullpen transgression from Baltimore’s most reliable relievers. Helsley entered without having allowed a run in six straight appearances. And right-hander Rico Garcia, whose scoreless streak stretched to 11 innings prior to Tuesday’s loss, allowed the game-tying home run in the eighth.

Baltimore seemed lined up to take another game from Kansas City. The Orioles topped the Royals in 12 innings Monday night. This, though, was not the shutdown showing manager Craig Albernaz hoped to see from Garcia and Helsley, and it resulted in a walk-off in the ninth without the Royals having put one ball in play.

“It was tough,” Albernaz said. “Obviously, very uncharacteristic of Helsley. It was tough to watch. He still competed. ... He just didn’t have the feel for pretty much anything today.”

Helsley said he felt good entering the game, and even his first plate appearance against Maikel Garcia was a close contest. He walked Garcia on a 3-2 count, but he “wasn’t really competitive” against Witt.

When Helsley struck out Vinnie Pasquantino for the first out, the slider in the dirt skipped well away from Rutschman, which allowed Garcia and Witt to advance. Five pitches later, in a two-strike count against Salvador Perez, Helsley bounced another slider.

Rutschman’s back-hand glove block knocked the ball in front of him and Garcia raced home.

“That last pitch, gotta keep it in front, keep it close, give Hels a chance to get out of it,” said Rutschman, who recorded two hits in his first game back from the injured list, including a two-run homer.

For a team that has been plagued by slow offensive starts for much of the season, the blast from Coby Mayo in the second inning was a welcome sight. Against left-hander Kris Bubic, Mayo turned on an inside heater and demolished it for a three-run home run that traveled 439 feet and left his bat at 114.2 mph — both career highs.

And even after four runs crossed against right-hander Shane Baz over his 6 1/3 innings, the Orioles used a mighty swing from freshly restated Rutschman to take back the lead in the eighth. It didn’t last.

The streak of scoreless appearances for Rico Garcia had to end at some point. He entered the bottom half of the frame and left an off-speed pitch middle-in for Michael Massey, who delivered a soaring home run to tie the game.

“It was just one pitch,” Albernaz said. “He left the split hanging, and Massey didn’t miss it, and after that, he was nails. Just one mistake and at this level, you make one mistake out over the plate like that, that’s going to happen.”

The Orioles pitching staff lacked sharpness all night, but Baz kept his team in the game.

When Baz is at his best, the command of his four-seam fastball allows him to bury a knuckle curve off it, deceiving hitters with high velocity and big break. Baz was not at his best Tuesday, because he couldn’t command the fastball at all.

Royals hitters barely missed the heater. Through five innings, Baz managed to record a swing and miss or a called strike with his fastball on just three of 32 opportunities — an almost unbelievably low number. He threw it in the strike zone only 28% of the time.

Even then, though, Baz prevented a struggling Royals lineup from cashing in on his errant control.

“Able to work around it, for the most part,” he said. “I felt like I made some good pitches with runners on base. That’s kind of the most important time to execute.”

To end the sixth and strand a runner in scoring position, Baz struck out a pair of batters, and his final pitch of the frame hummed in at 99.2 mph. It was his 84th offering of the night and yet it was his fastest, striking out Isaac Collins. And to begin the seventh, with his 85th pitch, Baz finally recorded a called strike with his fastball.

While the velocity maintained itself into the seventh, Baz wasn’t long for the game. He issued a double to Kyle Isbel and walked Maikel Garcia. And with a wild pitch in there, Baz faced runners on the corners with no outs in a tie game.

Albernaz walked to the mound. After a lengthy discussion, Baz remained and the manager departed without signaling for either Grant Wolfram or Rico Garcia, the relievers warming in the bullpen. He trusted Baz to face Witt for a fourth time.

“I didn’t know if I was going to get a chance to negotiate with him, but I appreciate him letting me stay in, and I’ll be able to earn that from now on,” Baz said.

Part of the calculus was that if Baz could record an out against Witt, it would allow Wolfram to enter against two left-handed hitters in a span of three batters.

Baz got the out, but Witt still got the run home with a sacrifice fly to right.

“A sac fly, but he recorded the out, which was huge for us,” Albernaz said. “I think right there, runner on third with less than [two outs], worst case scenario there, that run scores without recording an out. So, we got an out and Wolfy did the job.”

Rutschman’s short stint on the injured list for left ankle inflammation appeared to have done nothing to dampen the catcher’s hot start to the season. With Gunnar Henderson on second in the eighth inning, Rutschman drove them both home with one swing — a two-run home run into the left-center gap at Kauffman Stadium to give Baltimore a 5-4 lead.

That lead, which came via the first homer of Rutschman’s season, was short lived. And with Helsley’s wildness, the Orioles lost in walk-off fashion.

“Obviously, you don’t want to start an inning that way,” Helsley said of his two walks. “Tried to battle back but wasn’t able to do it.”