Nick Kurtz’s solo home run in the top of the ninth broke a tie and gave the Athletics a 3-2 win over the host Kansas City Royals on Sunday.
The Athletics, who swept the three-game series, also got a home run from Austin Wynns. Kurtz was 2-for-4 and Brent Rooker was 2-for-3.
The Royals lost their sixth straight and have only scored 11 runs in those games, despite a players-only, closed door meeting after Saturday’s 4-0 loss. Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino were each 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Kurtz, leading off the inning, lined closer Carlos Estevez’s 1-2 four-seam fastball over the right-centerfield fence an estimated 411 feet for Kurtz’s sixth homer. It was the first home run given up by Estevez in 30 2/3 innings this season. Estevez (2-2) was the loser.
Tyler Ferguson (2-2) got the win with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, in which he struck out two. Mason Miller pitched the ninth for his 14th save.
Athletics starter Jeffrey Springs gave up two runs on seven hits in six innings, didn’t walk a batter and struck out two.
Kansas City starter Noah Cameron did not allow a run on four hits in five innings, walking one and striking out seven.
Royals reliever Lucas Erceg retired Jacob Wilson on a groundout with runners on first and second to end the top of the seventh.
Wynns’ two-run homer in the sixth tied the game 2-2. With one out, he drove reliever John Schreiber’s first-pitch sinker an estimated 429 feet over the left-centerfield fence. It was Wynns’ fifth home run.
The Royals took a 2-0 lead in the third on an RBI double by Witt Jr. and Pasquantino’s run-scoring single.
Cameron’s first 1-2-3 inning came in the fourth.
He got out of a two-on, two-out jam in the second by striking out Denzel Clarke.
After Rooker’s two-out double in the third, Cameron once again got a strikeout to escape the situation. This time Wynns was the victim.
–Field Level Media
