Oakland Athletics ease past Kansas City Royals 3-0 – MLB Recap
The Oakland Athletics eased past the Kansas City Royals 3-0 in the last game of their three-match regular series encounter on Thursday, August 16 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
Kansas' pitchers played poorly and gave too many loop-holes which eventually landed them a loss.
Starter Luke Hochevar pitched seven innings and allowed three runs, four hits along with two homers. He struck-out five while his ERA remained consistent at 5.24.
Tim Collins also received a hit and could not maintain his 2.90 ERA.
Athletics on the other hand, played beautifully and earned a great victory in the end. Their entire roster played together and rattled the Royals with great force.
Athletics' starter Dan Straily pitched 6.1 innings and allowed only three hits and no run. He remained calm on the mound and did not give any extra loop-holes in his spell. He struck-out two while his ERA remained consistent at 3.18.
"He just came out and said, 'Hey, what's going on guys, We just needed to talk about it real quick. It was all right, make pitches and get out of this and he turned around and jogged away. From there I found a rhythm and was able to kind of cruise through the next couple of innings," Straily said later in the game as he explained his team’s performance which proved too good against the Royals’ dire batting line-up.
Later A's manager Bob Melvin said, “As Curt does many times, he's a very calming influence, especially with these younger guys, To pitch well like that in a close game, you're up here kind of walking on eggshells and really wanting that first win. He deserved it tonight,”
Relief pitcher Sean Doolittle pitched 0.1 innings and allowed only two hits on his consistent 3.67 ERA.
Closer Jerry Blevins also stayed calm and pitched some extraordinary deliveries and literally proved one of the winning factors for the Athletics.
He struck-out one and his ERA remained consistent at 2.52.
Overall the game was played high pace in which the Athletics kept the Royals under pressure and eventually won in style.
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