Athletics at Royals
The Kansas City Royals seemed like no match for the Oakland Athletics while getting pounded 16-0 on Friday, but fortunes change quickly during a series. The Royals bounced back with a win and have a chance to take the series when they host the Athletics in the rubber match on Sunday.
Kansas City jumped out early with a pair of runs in each of the first two innings on Saturday after suffering Friday's shutout but let Oakland crawl all the way back to tie it at four runs apiece before Jorge Soler blasted a tie-breaking homer in the eighth inning of a 5-4 win. "I came running out of the box because almost every time I make a one-handed swing," Soler told reporters through an interpreter, "I have this habit of just running hard. I came out running, I stepped on first and lifted my head and saw that everyone in the outfield had stopped. I was like, 'Oh, OK, it's gone.'" The Athletics were denied a third straight victory overall but are winners of seven of their last nine on the road. Oakland will try to make it eight of 10 behind right-hander Daniel Gossett on Sunday while the Royals counter with righty Jakob Junis.
TV: 2:15 p.m. ET, NBCS California (Oakland), FS Kansas City
PITCHING MATCHUP: Athletics RH Daniel Gossett (0-3, 6.05 ERA) vs. Royals RH Jakob Junis (5-4, 3.61)
Gossett is looking for his first win of the season and was reached for three runs on eight hits, including three solo home runs, in five innings against Tampa Bay on Tuesday. The South Carolina native turned in his best outing on May 23 against Seattle, when he yielded one run in seven innings but came out on the wrong end of a 1-0 final. Gossett is seeing Kansas City for the first time and did not factor in the decision in his lone road start of 2018 while serving up five runs in 3 1/3 innings at the Los Angeles Angels.
Junis surrendered three or fewer runs in five of his last six outings but is just 2-2 in that span and is coming off a loss to the Minnesota Twins. The 25-year-old allowed three runs on six hits and four walks in six innings as the Royals went on to suffer an 8-5 setback. Junis made two appearances - one start - against Oakland during his 2017 rookie campaign and went 1-0 while yielding a total of two runs and five hits in seven innings.
WALK-OFFS
1. Athletics OF Matt Joyce left Saturday's game with back tightness and is day-to-day.
2. Kansas City CF Jon Jay is 11-for-25 over the last six games to raise his batting average to .305.
3. Oakland 1B Matt Olson is 5-for-11 with three homers, six RBIs and five runs scored in his last three games.