Athletics 5, Royals 2
Kevin Kouzmanoff and Kurt Suzuki each homered as the Oakland Athletics earned a 5-2 victory over the host Kansas City Royals on Sunday afternoon.
Oakland starter Tyson Ross (2-2) scattered six hits and three walks in six innings and was backed up by three innings of hitless relief from Michael Wuertz, Grant Balfour and Brian Fuentes, who collected his ninth save.
The Athletics took advantage of an early error to score a pair of runs in the first inning and extended the lead to 3-0 in the sixth on a solo home run by Kouzmanoff.
Kansas City finally got to Ross in the bottom of the sixth, scoring runs on an RBI double by Eric Hosmer and a single by Mitch Maier, but Oakland stretched the margin back to two on an eighth-inning RBI single from Coco Crisp and Suzuki’s solo homer in the ninth.
Jeff Francis (0-4) scattered eight hits over 6 1/3 innings, allowing three runs (two earned).