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Athletics overcomes slow start to edge Royals

Apr 20, 2008 - 2:53 AM By Michael Duca PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

OAKLAND, California (Ticker) - Daric Barton had three hits and scored twice and Ryan Sweeney had a pair of RBI to lift the Oakland Athletics to a 6-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday.

Kansas City starter Zack Greinke was staked to an early lead when Jose Guillen, hitting just .162 at the time, turned on an 0-1 fastball for a three-run first inning homer.

Kansas City extended the lead in the second when leadoff hitter Miguel Olivo, given a second life after Barton dropped his foul pop for an error, hooked a changeup inside the left field foul pole for a 4-0 lead.

"In the first two innings, I didn't have my best control," Smith said, "It was location for me. I gave up a hit on a missed spot, the homer by Guillen was another missed spot, and the second homer was a hung changeup. "

Barton's error extended Oakland 's string of games with a miscue to 12 straight, the fourth longest such streak in franchise history.

From that point to the ninth, Oakland pitchers faced just three batters over the minimum.

"We didn't have quality at-bats after that (second inning)," Royals manager Trey Hillman said. "We've got to continue to grind and find ways to put runs on the board, and we didn't do that."

A's starter Greg Smith and Joey Devine carried the game through the seventh. Alan Embree and Huston Street pitched the eighth, highlighted by Street's inning-ending strikeout of Billy Butler with Teahen on first.

Barton began turning his day around in the fifth with a leadoff double which led to the A's first of three runs in the inning.

"I think it's a big thing to have a short memory in this game." said Barton, acquired from St. Louis in in 2004 in the Mark Mulder trade. "You're always going to get another chance at the same play, or another at-bat. I struck out twice and made an error, but I came back and had a big hit in the seventh."

Barton singled to lead off the sixth and scored the tying run when catcher Kurt Suzuki, who had already left seven runners on base, stroked a one-out single off loser Joel Peralta.

"I really don't call it struggling, I call it baseball," Suzuki said. " You can't really dwell on that. You have to go from at-bat to at-bat, try to have good ones, and not try to do too much."

Barton's RBI triple in the seventh inning gave Oakland a 6-4 lead. It proved to be an important run as Kansas City rallied in the ninth.

Seven of Oakland 's first 19 games have been one-run decisions, so the offensive breakout of the past two games has been welcome.

The last time Oakland had 15 hits in consecutive games was August 24-25, 2005 at Detroit .

"We have a lot of confidence in our team," Barton said. "It doesn't matter who's pitching against us, there's nobody we can't beat."

Jose Guillen doubled to lead off the ninth for Kansas City and scored on a single by John Buck. Oakland closer Huston Street yielded two hits and a run in the frame but recorded the final four outs of the game to pick up his fifth save.

Alex Gordon battled Street for a 13-pitch at-bat in the ninth before finally striking out on a changeup before Buck's single.

Joey Devine (2-0) pitched two innings of scoreless relief to record the win for the A's.