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Elarton gets fist win in almost a year, Royals defeat Athletics

May 18, 2007 - 2:55 AM OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- Scott Elarton and the Kansas City Royals both accomplished season-firsts.

Elarton earned his first win in almost a year as the Royals defeated the Oakland Athletics, 7-4, in Thursday afternoon's finale of a four-game series.

Mark Teahan and Mike Sweeney each had two hits and drove in a run for Kansas City, which won its first road series this season, taking three of four vs. Oakland.

"It's a big win, the Oakland A's hands down have the best pitching staff in baseball," Sweeney said. "To take three of four is a huge feat, especially the way we've been playing to this point of the season. We'll just keep trying to come together and keep playing hard."

In six previous road series, the Royals had stumbled away from Kauffman Stadium, going 7-13.

"Every time we go out there and put a W on the board, its huge for our organization and huge for our team," Royals catcher Paul Phillips said. "We should have more wins than we do, based on the talent on this squad. Things are coming together and its nice to see and nice to have those results. We won 3-of-4 here and lost the close one, so it was a good series."

Elarton (1-0) allowed four runs, six hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings while striking out one to gain his first victory since July 16, 2006.

"I didn't have a whole lot working but I was able to throw a lot of fastballs," Elarton said. "So I didn't really need the off-speed stuff. I fell out of rhythm in the second and obviously the sixth. There's definitely still room for improvement, but now that I'm healthy I feel I can make those strides."

It was also just the second start of the season for the 6-7 righthander, who returned from shoulder surgery to get a no decision in a 5-4, 10-inning loss to the Chicago White Sox last Saturday.

"That's as good a fastball as I've seen him have in a couple of years, it had a lot of life to it," Royals manager Buddy Bell said. "I've been with him before and every time he goes out, I feel like we're going to win. He gives you a chance to win."

Zack Greinke and Jimmy Gobble each worked an inning in relief before David Riske retired two batters in the eighth. Closer Joakim Soria worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning to earn his eighth save in 10 opportunities.

"I felt pretty good, I was able to get the first two guys to strike out," Soria said. "The team seems to get better everyday and hopefully it'll stay that way."

The Royals opened the scoring in the second, when Teahan and Sweeney hit back-to-back singles off rookie Dallas Braden and Ryan Shealy singled to load the bases with one out. Braden uncorked a wild pitch to allow Teahan to score from third, giving Kansas City a 1-0 lead. Paul Phillips hit an RBI groundout to plate Sweeney from third, increasing the Royals lead to 2-0.

The Athletics got on the board in the bottom half of the second when Bobby Crosby hit a one-out homer - his fifth of the season - over the left field wall to cut Oakland's deficit to 2-1.

In the sixth inning, the Royals increased their lead when Mark Grudzielanek led off the frame with a single and scored on a double by Sweeney to give Kansas City a 3-1 lead. Emil Brown immediately followed with an RBI triple to increase the Royals' lead to three.

"It wasn't a fluke, the whole team contributed and we came out on top," Teahan said. "We've been in a lot of tight games and hopefully its part of the momentum changing around here. "We're starting to have confidence in those close games and starting to win some of them."

The three-base hit knocked out Braden, who gave way to fellow rookie Connor Robertson. After Shealy struck out, Phillips hit an RBI double down the right field line to give Kansas City a 5-1 lead.

Braden (1-3), who was making his fourth career start, surrendered five runs, six hits and a walk in 5 1/3 innings. Since giving up one run in six innings on April 24 to win his first major league game, the lefthander has been tagged for 14 runs in 13 2/3 innings as his ERA ballooned to 6.41.

"Its very frustrating," said Braden who was optioned back to Class AAA Sacramento after the game. "I'm not a loser by any means of the word. I don't like the word, I don't use the word, and to go out there and have an 'L' thrown up and have your name attached to it is painful."

RBI singles by Crosby and Mark Ellis wrapped around a sacrifice fly by rookie Travis Buck, cut Oakland's deficit to 5-4, David DeJesus hit a one-out double and scored one batter later on a double to right-center field by Teahan to give the Royals a 6-4 lead.

"This series, we were a little bit short in the bullpen and it showed," Oakland manager Bob Geren said. "We're just hoping until Justin Duchscherer and Huston Street get back that we can find ways to get these games won."