AMERICAN LEAGUE

Royals' streak ends with thud

Oakland third baseman Josh Donaldson celebrates the first of his two home runs as the Athletics halted the Kansas City Royals’ eight-game winning streak Tuesday in Kansas City, 11-3.
Oakland third baseman Josh Donaldson celebrates the first of his two home runs as the Athletics halted the Kansas City Royals’ eight-game winning streak Tuesday in Kansas City, 11-3.

ATHLETICS 11, ROYALS 3

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Oakland Athletics' combination of Jon Lester and Josh Donaldson was too much for the Kansas City Royals.

Lester pitched six strong innings and Donaldson homered twice and drove in four runs as the Athletics won 11-3 Tuesday night, snapping the Royals' eight-game winning streak.

Lester (13-7) has won all three of his starts since joining the A's in a trade from Boston in a deadline deal on July 31 that sent All-Star outfielder Yoenis Cespedes to the Red Sox. Lester struck out nine and allowed three runs on six hits and two walks.

The timing of the trade was bad for the Royals, having to face Lester twice in 10 days.

"I'd rather face Cespedes four times in a game than face Lester one game," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "That's just me. That's not taking anything away from Cespedes. He can beat you with one swing of the bat."

The Royals have won 11 of 13, with both losses coming against Lester -- who improved to 9-3 with a 1.84 ERA in 13 career starts against Kansas City.

Donaldson homered in the seventh and eighth off left-hander Bruce Chen for his third multi-homer game of the season. He also added an RBI double in the first and a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

"It helps when you have contributors up and down the lineup," Donaldson said. "We believe that it's going to happen more times than not. We had some balls that were hit hard for outs, and then we had a lot of balls that fell in for us tonight."

Brandon Moss had four hits, matching his career high, as the A's finished with a season-high 20 hits.

"He looked like Wade Boggs up there," A's manager Bob Melvin said.

Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie (8-10) allowed six runs on 11 hits in 4 2/3 innings.

"Obviously, we would have loved to gone out there and had a better performance from myself and the pitchers to keep us in the game," Guthrie said. "We play 162 of these and you take them for what it's worth. They strung together a bunch of hits and they had a tough pitcher and won the game."

Salvador Perez and Lorenzo Cain doubled in the Royals' three-run fifth.

Despite Tuesday night's loss, the Royals are the team that others are chasing at the moment.

"They seem to do this once or twice a year, go on a big run, and a lot of times it's a matter of when you catch them," Melvin said. "The last couple years they've gone on streaks like this, and when you look at their club you can see why."

Start with the pitching staff, which just might be the best in the majors right now.

While they might not have the names of the A's or Tigers -- Jon Lester and Jeff Samardzija, or Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander -- they have a bunch of guys who've been just as stingy: Shields has pitched to a 1.63 ERA in his last seven starts, Jason Vargas has proven to be a dependable veteran, and Yordano Ventura and Danny Duffy have unleashed their vast potential.

Ventura allowed just two hits in the Royals' 3-2 victory over Oakland on Monday night, while Duffy is carrying a 2.57 ERA and hasn't lost in his last five starts.

Their bullpen, anchored by All-Star closer Greg Holland, has likewise been a steel trap.

Then there's the offense, which has finally started to produce after an ugly first three months. Billy Butler is starting to resemble his All-Star vintage of a couple years ago, third baseman Mike Moustakas appears to have righted his swing after banishment to the minor leagues, and veterans such as Omar Infante and Alex Gordon have proven to be stabilizing forces.

Throw in the experience that one of the youngest teams in baseball got last year, and all of a sudden these aren't your daddy's Royals anymore -- they're your grandpa's Royals, the club that was always in playoff contention in the 1970s and early '80s.

"We're out there playing and having fun," Butler said. "We've kept grinding, and we don't let anything affect us. It doesn't matter who we're playing, we just play our game."

Sports on 08/13/2014

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