Royals-A's: Oakland Drops Series as They Can't Figure Out KC's Pitching

The Royals continued their recent success against the A's in Oakland on Tuesday night, as they won the 12th of their last 20 games at McAfee Coliseum, defeating the home team 5-2.  Once again, the Royals used a good starting-pitching performance to wrap up their second victory in as many games against the A's. The battery tandem of starting pitcher Gil Meche and catcher John Buck was the main reason for the Royals' success, but it took a while for either offense to get going. Through 5.2 innings pitched, A's lefty Greg Smith—5-10, 4.04 ERA—had given up just one hit, a third-inning leadoff triple by Royals rookie shortstop Mike Aviles. Aviles went on to score on a Mark Grudzielanek sacrifice fly. That run was matched by the A's in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single by Mark Ellis. Before getting to six innings of one-hit ball, Smith had to get past Aviles. Not so much. Aviles turned on a Smith fastball and belted it over the left-field wall, giving the ... (link)