A's Make Up Ground In Wild Card Race With 3-0 Win Over Kansas City

Oakland needed someone to stop them from getting swept by the Royals, and they had a rookie pitching the series finale.

Luckily, that rookie is pretty good. And, he delivered a great performance for the A's.

Dan Straily pitched six and one-thirds shutout innings and picked up his first major league win as the A's beat the Royals 3-0. Oakland is now 62-55 and just a game out of the second Wild Card spot in the American League.

Yoenis Cespedes and Coco Crisp homered for the A's, and Jemile Weeks hit an RBI single. Royals' pitcher Luke Hochevar was shutting down the A's until he left a fastball right down the middle in the 6th inning. Crisp, the batter, had an opportunity to make something happen...

And he did, hitting a home run. The hit was initially ruled a double, but after reviewing it, the call was overturned and Crisp had his first home run of the month. In the seventh, Cespedes lined a high, outside pitch into the left-field seats for a solo shot.

Straily, who is known for striking batters out, only retired two batters on strikes. However, he used his fastball to get ahead of the count and his nasty breaking ball to force weak contact, which fooled Royals hitters. That's why they only got three hits off of him.

The relievers were just as good for Oakland. Jerry Blevins forced Chris Getz to hit a harmless fly ball to center field in the 7th, escaping a bases-loaded jam. Ryan Cook and Sean Doolittle also helped Oakland in the 7th and 8th, and Grant Balfour shut down Kansas City in the ninth.

Oakland needed a win, and they picked one up. Kansas City isn't a good team, and it wouldn't be good to get swept by them. Straily realized that and delivered, and now, the A's are feeling confident heading into a series with the lowly Indians.

Tomorrow night, Zach McAllister (5-4, 3.46 ERA) takes the hill for Cleveland, while Tommy Milone (9-9, 3.91 ERA) pitches for Oakland.

Posted in: Chris Getz,coco crisp,Dan Straily,Grant Balfour,Jerry Blevins,Kansas City Royals,Luke Hochevar,MLB,Oakland Athletics,Ryan Cook,Yoenis Cespedes