Brady Singer tallied nine strikeouts over six innings and Vinnie Pasquantino delivered a pinch-hit, three-run triple as the Kansas City Royals completed a three-game sweep of the visiting Oakland Athletics with an 8-4 win on Sunday.
Kansas City carried a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth after Singer struck out Max Schuemann with two on and two outs to sew up his fourth quality start of the season. Freddy Fermin singled and Hunter Renfroe walked to lead off the Royals’ sixth before Dairon Blanco’s sacrifice bunt advanced both runners.
Michael Massey was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out for Pasquantino, who hit for ninth-place hitter Garrett Hampson against Oakland reliever Tyler Ferguson. Pasquantino grounded Ferguson’s 1-2 sweeper down the first-base line for his first career triple to extend Kansas City’s lead to 7-1.
Maikel Garcia followed with a groundout that scored Kyle Isbel, who replaced Pasquantino.
Garcia finished 2-for-4 with two doubles for the Royals, while Bobby Witt Jr. doubled and tripled in three at-bats. Both had two RBIs.
Singer (4-2) surrendered one run on six hits and walked one. Will Smith and Nick Anderson each pitched a scoreless inning in relief as Kansas City swept the Athletics for the first time since June 2015.
Oakland loaded the bases trailing 2-1 with two outs in the top of the fifth before Singer got Brent Rooker to ground out. The Royals extended their lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the frame on Garcia’s RBI double and Witt’s sacrifice fly.
Garcia’s knock in the fifth chased Athletics starter JP Sears (3-3), who allowed four runs on five hits over 4 1/3 innings. Sears struck out four and walked two.
Schuemann, Rooker and JJ Bleday each had two hits for Oakland, which has lost eight straight and 13 of its last 15 since starting the season 17-17. Rooker launched a three-run homer off Matt Sauer in the ninth inning, his 11th long ball this season.
Kansas City led 2-0 after seeing eight pitches in the bottom of the first.
Garcia yanked a first-pitch double and scored the game’s first run on Witt’s double to deep left-center. Salvador Perez plated Witt with a single before Sears settled down and eventually induced an inning-ending double play.
Singer retired 10 of the Athletics’ first 11 batters before surrendering Oakland’s first hit to Rooker, who blooped a single to center with one out in the fourth. Rooker scored on Tyler Soderstrom’s two-out double to pull the Athletics within 2-1.
–Field Level Media
