Royals 4, Athletics 3
Mike Aviles' sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted the Kansas City Royals to a 4-3 victory over the visiting Oakland Athletics on Saturday night.
Billy Butler led off the final frame with a base hit against A’s starter Brandon McCarthy (1-3) before giving way to pinch runner Jarrod Dyson. A base hit by Jeff Francouer moved Dyson to third and, after Eric Hosmer was intentionally walked, Aviles lofted a fly ball to left field that plated Dyson with the winning run.
Joakim Soria (2-0) earned the victory after pitching a scoreless ninth.
Kansas City starter Luke Hochevar threw seven-plus innings, yielding four hits and striking out three without a walk. He was charged with one run after allowing the leadoff batter to reach base in the eighth.
The Royals broke open a scoreless game with three runs in the sixth inning. Melky Cabrera and Alex Gordon each singled home a run and Butler followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.
Oakland’s Cliff Pennington hit a three-run homer in the eighth off Aaron Crow to tie it at 3-3.
McCarthy gave up five hits and a walk over his first eight innings before running out of gas in the ninth.