Royals 7, Athletics 4
Eric Hosmer and Jeff Francoeur homered, and Alex Gordon drove in a pair of runs to help the Kansas City Royals defeat the host Oakland Athletics 7-4 on Tuesday.
The Royals pulled ahead with a four-run second inning against Gio Gonzalez (12-12). Hosmer and Francoeur led off with back-to-back homers and after a bases-loaded throwing error by Oakland's Scott Sizemore made it 3-0, Gordon drove in another run with a groundout.
Oakland brought the potential winning run to the plate in the ninth after cutting the gap to three on a bases-loaded walk to Chad Pennington, but Joakim Soria got Hideki Matsui to ground out to second base to earn his 26th save.
Danny Duffy (4-8) worked 6 1/3 innings and tied a career best by allowing four hits. Gonzalez allowed seven runs on 10 hits in five innings.
Salvador Perez doubled home a run and scored on a bases-loaded walk to Gordon during a three-run fifth that gave the Royals a seemingly safe 7-2 cushion.
Jemile Weeks drove in two runs for the Athletics.