KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Tony Kemp hit a two-run homer, Seth Brown and Sean Murphy combined for four RBIs, and the Oakland Athletics beat the Kansas City Royals 9-7 on Saturday.
Kemp hit his second home run of the season in the eighth inning to wrap up a 3-for-5 afternoon.
Brown hit a single in the first and a fielder’s choice in the third. Murphy had an RBI single in the seventh. Nick Allen and Jonah Bride collected RBIs during a two-run fourth inning.
The A’s tied a season high with 14 hits. Oakland had the leadoff man reach base in six innings. Four of the six were leadoff doubles, and all came around to score.
Jared Koenig allowed three runs off five hits in 4 2/3 innings and struck out a career-high four with three walks.
The Oakland bullpen of Zach Puk, Zach Jackson (2-2), Sam Moll and Lou Trivino surrendered four runs. Trivino earned his third save with a scoreless ninth and completed two scoreless innings.
Brad Keller (2-9) gave up five runs, four earned, on eight hits in 3 2/3 innings with four strikeouts and two walks.
Michael A. Taylor hit his fifth home run of the year for the Royals with a three-run blast in the eighth to make it 8-7.
Bobby Witt Jr. hit a wall-scraping solo homer to left in the third inning to open the scoring for Kansas City. It was his eleventh of the season, which matched Salvador Perez for the team lead.
Cam Gallagher went 2 for 3 with three RBIs on a pair of doubles. Gallagher scored two in the fourth and scored Taylor in the sixth. The RBIs were his first since returning from a 45-game stint on the injured list on June 20.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Athletics: Prior to the game, manager Mark Kotsay said Chad Pinder was held out of the lineup due to a neck issue.
UP NEXT
Oakland will start James Kaprielian (0-5, 5.98 ERA) in the series finale on Sunday. Brady Singer (3-2, 4.34 ERA) will take the mound for Kansas City.
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