By MATT PIKE
Nick Kurtz drew a walk for his 19th consecutive game and hit a two-run double, helping the Athletics defeat the Kansas City Royals 6-3 and earn a series win at Sutter Health Park.
The Royals got on the board first in the opening inning. Maikel Garcia led off the inning with a double, and after advancing on a flyout by Bobby Witt Jr scored with two outs, Starling Marte singling with the bases loaded to drive in Garcia. In the bottom half of the inning, the Athletics tied things up as Darell Hernaiz singled, bringing home Jacob Wilson after his single to lead off the bottom of the first.
In the second inning, Garcia scored again, this time on his own accord giving Kansas City the lead with a solo home run with two outs. Again though in the bottom half, the A's rallied, this time taking the lead against Royals starter Noah Cameron, putting up a four run inning. Langeliers hit an RBI double, tying the game scoring Lawrence Butler. Then with the game tied, Kurtz built a 4-2 lead when he lined a 1-0 slider from Cameron to right-center, scoring Wilson and Langeliers. Kurtz later scored on a single by Hernaiz to put the A's up 5-2.
The Athletics scored their final run in the bottom of the seventh inning, again off the bat of Hernaiz, hitting an RBI single to drive in Langeliers. With one out in the eighth inning, Elias Diaz hit his first home run of the season for the Royals to put Kansas City down by the final score 6-3.
Kurtz was walked by John Schreiber in the seventh. He tied Ted Williams for the third-longest streak behind Detroit’s Roy Cullenbine in 1947 and San Francisco's Barry Bonds in 2002-03. Records date to 1910 in the National League and 1913 in the American.
Cameron took the loss, falling to 2-2 on the season, giving up five runs, four earned, and nine hits while striking out five and walking two in 5.1 innings. At the plate, Garcia was 3-for-5 with the home run, two doubles, and an RBI. Marte was 3-for-4 with an RBI.
Next, Kansas City stays on the west coast traveling to Seattle tomorrow. Cole Ragans (1-4, 5.00 ERA, 33K's) starts for the Royals against Bryan Wood (1-2, 3.86 ERA, 27K's) for the Mariners. First pitch is at 8:45pm, pregame will begin at 8 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.