ROYALS 6, ATHLETICS 4
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Royals and A's picked up right where they left off.
In their first meeting since last September's dramatic wild-card game, Paulo Orlando delivered a go-ahead triple in the eighth inning Friday night to help Kansas City to a 6-4 victory over Oakland in another back-and-forth affair.
Omar Infante also drove in a pair of runs for the Royals, whose 12-inning victory over the Athletics last year ultimately spurred them all the way to Game 7 of the World Series.
Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis (2-0) each pitched a scoreless inning in relief of the Royals' Jeremy Guthrie, and Greg Holland breezed through the ninth for his fourth save.
Dan Otero (0-1) gave up both runs in the eighth inning for Oakland.
Stephen Vogt hit a pair of solo home runs, and Ike Davis also went deep for the A's, whose team bears little resemblance to the one that lost that playoff game at Kauffman Stadium last year. For one thing, their designated hitter these days is Billy Butler, who was playing for the Royals back then.
Butler went 1 for 4, extending his hitting streak to 10 games to start the season.
The A's jumped in front on Brett Lawrie's sacrifice bunt in the second inning, and Kansas City pulled ahead with five consecutive two-out singles in the third.
Oakland quickly answered when Davis homered on the first pitch he saw in the fourth, and Vogt tied it at 3 with his first home run just two pitches later.
Kansas City went in front again in the sixth on Infante's single, but Royals Manager Ned Yost elected to leave Guthrie in rather than go to Herrera at that point. Vogt made him pay with a drive to right for his first career multi-home-run game.
Later in the inning, Lawrie was on first base when Josh Reddick lined a pitch off Herrera toward third, where Mike Moustakas fielded it. He flipped to Alcides Escobar covering second, but Lawrie's late slide over the bag caused a collision that left Escobar crumpled on the dirt.
He was helped off the field without putting any weight on his left leg, while Lawrie had to be escorted by his teammates through a horde of angry Royals and back to the Oakland dugout.
The Royals said Escobar is day-to-day with a sprained knee.
ANGELS 6, ASTROS 3 Mike Trout homered twice to become the youngest player in history with 100 home runs and 100 stolen bases, and the Los Angeles Angels beat the host Houston Astros.
YANKEES 5, RAYS 4 Alex Rodriguez inched closer to Willie Mays with two more home runs, and the visiting New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays.
RED SOX 3, ORIOLES 2 Xander Bogaerts blooped a winning single with one out in the ninth inning and the host Boston Red Sox won a game that included a couple of much harder hits, edging the Baltimore Orioles.
INDIANS 4, WHITE SOX 2 Trevor Bauer won consecutive starts for the first time in his three-plus seasons in the major leagues, helping the Cleveland Indians beat the visiting Chicago White Sox to stop a four-game losing streak.
TIGERS 2, WHITE SOX 1 Jose Iglesias singled through a drawn-in infield to drive in the winning run with one out in the ninth inning, and the host Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox to improve their major league-best record to 9-1.
TWINS 3, INDIANS 2 (11) Trevor Plouffe led off the 11th inning with a soaring home run to lift the Minnesota Twins to a victory over the visiting Cleveland Indians.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
PADRES 5, CUBS 4 The San Diego Padres beat the host Chicago Cubs when Wil Myers hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning, right after Myers had taken a close pitch for a ball that would have been a third strike.
PIRATES 6, BREWERS 3 Vance Worley worked six effective innings and the host Pittsburgh Pirates snapped out of a lengthy slump to top the Milwaukee Brewers.
NATIONALS 7, PHILLIES 2 Max Scherzer struck out nine over eight innings for his first victory with the Nationals and Bryce Harper hit a three-run home run as Washington beat the visiting Philadelphia Phillies.
METS 4, MARLINS 1 Bartolo Colon hit a tying sacrifice fly for his second RBI in two starts, later pounced off the mound to make a key play, and pitched the host New York Mets past the Miami Marlins for their sixth consecutive victory.
CARDINALS 6, REDS 1 Michael Wacha pitched seven strong innings and Yadier Molina delivered a bases-clearing double to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a victory over the visiting Cincinnati Reds.
INTERLEAGUE
BRAVES 8, BLUE JAYS 7 Pinch-hitter Jonny Gomes had a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning, Freddie Freeman added a two-run shot and the Atlanta Braves beat the host Toronto Blue Jays.
Sports on 04/18/2015