The Athletics don’t do things the easy way.
That much was evident during a 9-7 road win Saturday over the Kansas City Royals, a game the A’s appeared to have in hand before reliever Sam Moll failed to get an out in giving up a three-run home run to Michael Taylor in the eighth inning.
The A’s led 8-4 after Tony Kemp’s two-run home in the top of the eighth. Kemp also had a pair of doubles and the game’s defensive gem, spearing a line drive out with a sprawling dive in the first.
The win in 95-degree heat and Midwest humidity snapped a four-game losing streak as the A’s improved to 24-49. The Royals, who came in having won five of seven, fell to 26-44.
The A’s got an insurance run in the ninth when Christian Bethancourt scored on a two-out wild pitch by Royals reliever Dylan Coleman.
Reliever Zack Jackson (2-2) picked up the win after Jared Koenig was removed after 4 2/3 innings, giving up one run in 1 1/3 innings. Brad Keller (2-9) took the loss. Lou Trivino closed things out with six-out save in the eighth and ninth.
The Athletics got some help with two fly balls lost in the sun by right fielder Edwin Olivares that went for doubles and led to Oakland runs.
Bobby Witt Jr. homered for the Royals, his 11th of the season, and Taylor hit a three-run shot in the eighth against Moll to bring Kansas City within 8-7. Moll walked the first two hitters of the inning before giving up the no-doubt shot to Taylor. Moll, who opened the eighth, also walked the next hitter after giving up the home run and was done without getting an out.
The Royals got no closer, in part because pinch-runner Kyle Isbel was thrown out a third on a ball that got away from catcher Sean Murphy.
Kemp’s two-run home run in the eighth inning against Taylor Clark put the Athletics up 8-4 in the eighth. The blow down the right-field line brought home Nick Allen, who opened the inning with a walk. Kemp also had the game’s defensive gem, spearing a line drive off the bat of M.J. Melendez in the bottom of the first inning for the third out with the Royals threatening.
After being blanked in the fifth and sixth innings by former A’s pitcher Daniel Mengden, they increased their lead to 6-4 in the seventh on Sean Murphy’s run-scoring single to right. It brought home Seth Brown, who had doubled.
The A’s lead was down to 5-4 when No. 9 hitter Cam Gallagher doubled off A.J. Puk down the left-field line to score Taylor, who had singled.
Kansas City closed within 5-3 against Koenig in the fourth when Gallagher drove in a pair of runs with a double down the same left-field line, scoring Melendez, who had singled, and Carlos Santana, who had doubled.
The Athletics took a 3-0 lead in the third on Brown’s run-scoring groundout but could be forgiven for being disappointed they didn’t break the game open.
Kemp reached on a double when his fly to right was list in the sun by Olivares, with Jonah Bride and Ramon Laureano drawing walks to load the bases.
Brown’s roller to short brought home Kemp, and when Witt at shortstop threw to first, the A’s still had runners at second and third with one out. Keller got out of it however, getting Murphy to pop to second and Bethancourt on a foul out to right on a 10-pitch at-bat.
After the Royals closed within 3-1 on Witt’s solo home run against Koenig in the top of the fourth, the Athletics struck for two more in the bottom of the inning with the help of another ball into the sun by Olivares.
This time it was Elvis Andrus who got the gift double, with Nick Allen driving a ball back up the middle to score Andrus, and then taking second on pure hustle. Bride’s single up the middle scored Allen, and the Athletics had a 5-1 lead — the most runs they’d scored in a game since getting 10 runs in Cleveland on June 11.
The A’s scored twice in the first on Brown’s run-scoring single and an RBI ground out by Murphy.
