Brown, Allen boost A’s in 5-3 win over Royals

By CODY FRIESEN
Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Seth Brown hit his 10th home run of the season, Nick Allen had two RBIs and the Oakland Athletics defeated the Kansas City Royals 5-3 on Sunday.

Brown leads the team in HRs, and belted a solo shot to right in the sixth inning to make it 2-0.

“I’ve faced (Royals starter Brady Singer) quite a few times now and I felt confident going in,” Brown said. “I knew what I wanted to do with my approach and I worked out well today.”

Kansas City responded in the bottom of the sixth with three runs, including Carlos Santana’s two-run single and a pinch-hit RBI bloop single by Edward Olivares.

Allen then hit his two-RBI single in the seventh, and Cristian Pache added an insurance run in the ninth with an RBI single.

“It was a two-out rally in the seventh,” Oakland manager Mark Kotsay said. “… We had some momentum and for Nick to drop one into centerfield like that, we haven’t been getting many of those types of hits. It was good to see a ball fall in for us and give us a lead there.”

The win clinched the series, snapping an eight-series losing streak for the A’s. It was also the first time Oakland won back-to-back since May 24 and 25 at Seattle; the A’s had lost 30 of their last 39 games.

Oakland starter James Kaprielian gave up three runs on two hits in 5 1/3 innings of work with two strikeouts and four walks. He was chased after giving up a leadoff triple to Nicky Lopez and two walks, and Sam Moll allowed all those runners to score.

“Overall, I would say the performance (from Kaprielian) was really good,” Kotsay said. “He almost ended up on the wrong side of it with a fluke hit that falls in thankfully we were able to get him off the hook and get him a win.”

Oakland relievers Moll, Domingo Acevedo (1-1) and Zach Jackson held the Royals scoreless, and Lou Trivino recorded his fourth save of the year.

Brady Singer (3-3) gave up five runs on seven hits in a career-high 8 1/3 innings with five strikeouts and a walk. All runs came with two outs. Singer became the first Royal to lose a start of at least 8 1/3 innings since Danny Duffy in July 2017.

“Brady was terrific. Couldn’t ask for anything more,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “So close to that being at least seven with just two runs. He did everything we needed him to do and he was efficient and so close.”

Kansas City dropped its sixth consecutive rubber game at home, dating back to September.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Kansas City placed RHP Josh Staumont (neck strain) on the 15-day injured list and recalled Matt Peacock.

Athletics: Jonah Bride exited the game after colliding with Chad Pinder on Olivares’ hit in the sixth.

ROSTER MOVES

Athletics: Recalled LHP Sam Selman from Triple-A Las Vegas and LHP Jared Koenig was optioned back to Las Vegas.

Royals: RHP Jackson Kowar was recalled from Triple-A Omaha and LHP Foster Griffin was optioned to Omaha.

UP NEXT

Athletics: Oakland’s Paul Blackburn (6-3, 2.97 ERA) will take the mound Monday to open a three-game series against the American League-leading Yankees as part of a 10-game road trip. LHP Jordan Montgomery (3-1, 2.97) will pitch for New York.

Royals: Continue a 12-game stretch against AL West opponents, taking on the Texas Rangers. Kris Bubic (1-4, 7.41) will get the start against Texas LHP Martin Perez (5-2, 1.96).

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