By MATT PIKE
Bobby Witt Jr. led the scoring off with a home run and the Kansas City Royals never looked back beating the Athletics 6-2 at Kauffman Stadium for their first four-game sweep of the season and fifth straight win.
The Royals took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on Witt's 16th home run of the season. In the third inning, Kansas City extended the lead adding two more runs, Isaac Collins driving in Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez with a bases loaded single. In the fourth inning, Nick Loftin's RBI triple scored Michael Massey. Loftin would end up getting thrown out at home, but Witt Jr would add another run in the fourth on an RBI single from Perez, putting the Royals up 5-0 after four innings.
The Athletics scored their two runs in the top of the fifth inning, loading the bases on three straight one out walks before Brian Serven's single drove in Lawrence Butler and Donovan Walton's ground out scored Max Muncy. In the bottom half of the fifth, The Royals answered with their final run, a double by Massey bringing home Collins. Connor Thomas pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless relief for his first major league win, improving to 1-1 on the season, giving up one hit and striking out two.
Royals starter Randy Dobnak maneuvered through four scoreless innings, giving up six hits and four walks while striking out four. Kansas City did suffer an unfortunate loss, Maikel Garcia doubling in the first inning, but then pulling up clutching his left hamstring after rounding third on Perez's grounder that eluded A's shortstop Darell Hernaiz for an error. Garcia left the game with a left hamstring injury. He had just returned Monday after he had been on the injured list since June 23rd with a left hand muscle strain.
At the plate, Witt Jr was 2-for-4 with a home run and an RBI, walking once and scoring three runs. Massey was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI, also scoring a run. Collins was 1-for-3 with two RBIs, walking once and scoring a run.
Kansas City wil welcome Detroit to Kauffman Stadium tomorrow. Noah Cameron (7-8, 4.16 ERA, 126Ks) is set to start for the Royals against Troy Melton (7-1, 1.71 ERA, 73Ks) for the Tigers. First pitch is at 7:10pm, pregame will be at 6:30pm on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.