AMERICAN LEAGUE
ROYALS 7, ATHLETICS 3
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- With his speed, Kansas City Royals center fielder Jarrod Dyson can giveth and taketh away about as fast as anybody in baseball.
So it was Thursday. In the span of two innings, Dyson lost a ball in the sun that cost the Royals a lead, and he sliced a run-scoring single that got the Royals back to even and helped ignite a 7-3 victory over the Oakland A's at Kauffman Stadium.
The outcome allowed the Royals to embark on a 10-day, nine-game road trip in the same position they've spent most of the week, in first place in the American League Central.
The Royals remained a half-game ahead of the Detroit Tigers, who beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2 on Thursday, by taking three of four games from the team with baseball's best record.
The victory was the Royals' 10th in their past 11 games and 18th in their past 22. They move to 66-54 on the season as they look to end a postseason drought that has lasted since 1985.
They also won the season series with the Athletics, 5-2, with all of the game played in the past two weeks.
In the sixth inning Thursday, Royals starter James Shields got two quick outs before Stephen Vogt singled, bringing Josh Reddick to the plate. Dyson positioned himself to catch Reddick's fly ball, but he never saw it come down and it was ruled a triple. Vogt scored and Reddick came in on Alberto Callaspo's single to give the A's a 3-2 lead.
The Royals answered with a rally in the seventh, and it was generated by the bottom of the order, which had been productive all afternoon.
Erik Kratz, getting his second start at catcher since the Royals acquired him from Toronto on July 28, singled with one out. Christian Colon then delivered a double off the base of the wall in left, his third hit of the game.
Dyson then stepped up, determined to atone for the ball that was ruled a triple.
He swung at the first four pitches from A's reliever Ryan Cook and fouled each off to the left. The fifth pitch was slashed into right field for an RBI single.
Aoki followed with a hit down the right field line for a triple, scoring pinch-runner Lorenzo Cain and Dyson.
The Royals weren't finished. After Alcides Escobar walked, Billy Butler drove in two with a single to right, and this time the A's had no response. The seventh-inning uprising got James Shields off the hook for a loss and five relievers brought it home.
When Scott Frasor, who opened the ninth, allowed two singles with one out, Greg Holland came in and got the final two outs despite walking one.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
DODGERS 6, BRAVES 4 Drew Butera hit a two-run home run, his first in almost three months, Roberto Hernandez threw six strong innings to earn his first victory with Los Angeles and the visiting Dodgers beat slumping Atlanta. Hernandez (7-8), making his second start since his trade from the Philadelphia Phillies on Aug. 7, allowed 1 run on 3 hits and 4 walks in 6 innings. Adrian Gonzalez drove in three runs with three hits and Dee Gordon scored four runs for the NL West-leading Dodgers, who won three of four in the series.
BREWERS 6, CUBS 2 Mike Fiers struck out a career-high 14 through six innings of three-hit ball, Khris Davis and Mark Reynolds homered, and Milwaukee beat host Chicago to widen their first-place lead in the NL Central. Scooter Gennett drove in two runs with a double, and Elian Herrera and Carlos Gomez each had RBI to help the Brewers move 2 ½ games ahead of Pittsburgh and St. Louis.
INTERLEAGUE
TIGERS 5, PIRATES 2 Max Scherzer struck out 14 batters in eight shutout innings, leading Detroit to a victory over visiting Pittsburgh. Scherzer's performance and a home run from J.D. Martinez gave the Tigers a much-needed sweep of the short two-game series and a split of the four games in the home-and-home series that started Monday in Pittsburgh.
Sports on 08/15/2014