KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) The Kansas City Royals and Oakland Athletics spent the night trading big blows, and they werent limited to the balls they kept sending out of spacious Kauffman Stadium.
Three guys were hit by pitches, too one of them smack in the helmet.
Yet it was Hunter Dozier who delivered the timeliest hits on Wednesday night, belting a two-run homer in the third inning before driving in the go-ahead run with a base hit in the seventh. When Tim Hill notched a pair of perfect innings in relief, and Ian Kennedy survived a harrowing ninth, the Royals had escaped with a 6-4 victory against a club that has owned the AL Central all season.
Weve had some opportunities the last two games to get some runs or tack on some runs and we didnt do it, Royals manager Ned Yost said. Tonight was a pretty good night for our offense.
Hill (2-0) dazzled in relief of Jacob Junis before Kennedy kept everyone on edge. He walked Jurickson Profar to begin the inning, then struck out Chris Herrmann and Corban Joseph, before Marcus Semien singled to bring the go-ahead run to the plate. Kennedy responded by getting Robbie Grossman to hit a lazy flyball to left field to earn his 23rd save this season.
It was set up perfectly for Timmy, Yost said. The way their lineup was set up was perfect. He threw the ball extremely well. Then Ian came in with great stuff, too.
Blake Treinen (6-5) faced four batters in the seventh inning without recording an out for Oakland. He allowed three hits and a walk, and Jake Diekman allowed one of his inherited runners to score.
Its frustrating when you feel when you feel like your stuff is playing well and youre locating, Treinen said. I think I only missed the spot once.
Semien and Mark Canha homered for the As, who twice blew two-run leads in squandering a chance to go a season-best 22 games over .500. Oakland (76-56) had won 19 of 24 against the Central Division.
The big blows began with the second pitch, when Semien launched a solo shot off Junis to give the As the lead. The Royals starter proceeded to hit Matt Chapman in the helmet with a pitch two batters later, the impact launching the headgear all the way toward the warning track.
Chapman stayed in the game to score on Seth Browns groundout before heading for the clubhouse.
Hes all right, no concussion symptoms as of right now, As manager Bob Melvin said. That was scary.
The Royals tied it in the third when Tanner Roark served up Doziers two-run shot. The homer over the left-field bullpen was bookended by Roark hitting Whit Merrifield and Alex Gordon with pitches.
Oakland jumped back ahead in the fifth on Canhas two-run homer, and the Royals quickly answered over the next couple innings. Jorge Soler got the first run back with an RBI double in the fifth, and OHearn tied it 4-all when he belted a 0-2 pitch to right field to open the sixth.
Roark wound up allowing four runs on five hits and a walk in six innings, striking out four. Junis gave up four runs on seven hits and a walk, striking out five.
Got off to a tough start. Command was all over the place, Junis said. I kind of grinded through it and figured a way to get through six innings and give us a chance.
