Cole Ragans pitched seven scoreless innings while Michael Massey and Maikel Garcia each homered during a five-run sixth as the Kansas City Royals powered past the visiting Oakland Athletics 6-2 on Friday to open a three-game series.
Ragans (3-3) surrendered two hits, walked two and struck out seven in his longest outing this season. He had retired seven batters in a row as Kansas City carried a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning before the Royals added on.
After Salvador Perez walked to lead off the frame, Massey lined his fourth home run of the year into the right field corner off Athletics reliever Austin Adams to make it 3-0. A one-out walk followed by a single and a fielder’s choice left two runners on for Garcia, who clubbed Brandon Bielak’s sinker over the wall in left-center for his fifth homer this season to open up a 6-0 lead.
Perez went 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI, while Massey singled twice to go along with his home run. Garcia led Kansas City with three RBIs.
Shea Langeliers spoiled the Royals’ shutout bid with a two-out, two-run homer in the top of the ninth off of Matt Sauer. Abraham Toro had two singles and JJ Bleday went 1-for-4 as the Athletics lost for the 11th time over their last 13 games, including six in a row.
Mitch Spence (3-2) allowed one run on five hits over 4 2/3 innings for Oakland in his first major league start. The 26-year-old rookie made his first 11 appearances this season in relief before replacing injured left-hander Alex Wood in the starting rotation.
An overturned call in the first inning awarded the game’s first run to Kansas City.
Bobby Witt Jr. whacked a one-out double and advanced to third on a wild pitch. After Vinnie Pasquantino struck out, Perez ripped a grounder to third that Brett Harris knocked down and fired to first.
Perez was initially called out, but the Royals successfully challenged that Perez beat Harris’ throw to the bag for an RBI infield hit that made it 1-0.
Bleday narrowly missed a game-tying home run for the Athletics in the fourth inning when he belted a one-out double off the wall in right-center. Langeliers drew a two-out walk two batters later to put runners on first and second for Zack Gelof, who flied out to center field.
Ragans retired the last 10 batters he faced.
–Field Level Media
