By MATT PIKE
The Kansas City Royals rallied from behind once again, taking a 9-7 victory over the Athletics with a seven run eighth inning, securing a series victory at Kauffman Stadium.
An RBI double from Jeff McNeil scored Henry Bolte and McNeil came home to score on a single from Zack Gelof to give the A's a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Salvador Perez's RBI double drove in Vinnie Pasquantino to cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth, but in the top of the fifth the Athletics moved the lead to four, scoring three runs. Bolte singled and scored Donovan Walton and McNeil hit another RBI single to drive in Max Muncy. Bolte scored the final run of the inning as Gelof grounded into a forceout, to put the A's up 5-1 at the end of five innings.
In the sixth inning, the Royals began to chip back again. Pasquantino got his 500th Major League hit, a solo home run to right field. Then in the eighth Kansas City exploded for the lead. Pasquantino drove in Maikel Garcia after a leadoff triple. Then, with the bases loaded and one out after walks to Perez and Tyler Tolbert, Kyle Isbel singled to cut the A's lead to one scoring Pasquantino. Isaac Collins tied the game on a sacrifice fly, and then with the bases loaded again, after an intentional walk to Bobby Witt Jr, John Rave doubled, clearing the bases, and scored himsef on an RBI single from Garcia, putting Kansas City up 9-5.
In the top of the ninth, with two outs, Muncy hit a two run home run off reliever Steven Cruz, bringing home Walton, for the final runs. Craig Kimbrel got the win in relief, improving to 1-2, pitching a clean eighth inning and striking out one. Starting pitcher Seth Lugo threw gave up five runs on nine hits in six innings, striking out three. At the plate, Pasquantino was 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs. Rave was 1-for-3 with a double and three RBIs.
Kansas City and the Athletics wrap up their series tomorrow. Randy Dobnak (2-1, 1.73 ERA, 25Ks) starts for the Royals against Gage Jump (5-7, 4.50 ERA, 85Ks) for the Athletics. First pitch will be joined at 1:10pm on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.