By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Kansas City Royals snapped a three game losing streak, powered by two Freddy Fermin home runs, beating the Oakland Athletics on Thursday afternoon 3-2 at the Oakland Coliseum.
Fermin's first home run of the day came in the second inning, a 398 home run to left field. Just two innings later, he would hit his second to almost the same spot in left field, traveling just seven feet shy at 391 feet.
Starting pitcher Seth Lugo had the Athletics number for most of the game, pitching six shutout innings, before surrendering a two out tying home run to Zack Gelof in the bottom of the seventh. Gelof had a home run in all three games of the series against Kansas City.
After James McArthur came on in relief and recorded the final out of the seventh inning, shortstop Bobby Witt Jr would snatch the lead back for the Royals in the top of the eighth with his only hit of the game, hitting a leadoff home run that traveled 422 feet to left field, giving the Royals the 3-2 lead.
The Athletics did threaten in the bottom of the ninth against reliever Chris Stratton, who had runners on the corners with two outs, but Stratton would get Max Schuemann to fly out to center fielder Kyle Isbel for the final out, earning his fourth save of the season.
The Royals will now travel to Arlington, Texas for a matchup with the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers. Brady Singer is scheduled to start the series opener against Nathan Eovaldi for the Rangers. First pitch is at 7:05pm with a 6:30 pregame on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).