Royals 5 - 3 Athletics
Final
  for this game

Royals eye sweep of Athletics

Jun 28, 2015 - 2:04 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Kansas City Royals hope to complete the road sweep Sunday as they take on the Oakland Athletics at the Coliseum in the final contest of a three-game series.

Jeremy Guthrie gets the starting nod for the visiting Royals, while Jesse Chavez tries to bounce back from a clobbering he suffered at the hands of the Texas Rangers Tuesday.

Inconsistency has plagued Guthrie this season, as he heads into the Sunday start sporting a 5-5 overall record with a lofty 5.90 earned run average. He's only managed 36 strikeouts in 76 1/3 innings of work.

The veteran Guthrie was rocked Tuesday in his most recent start against the Mariners - a team that hasn't been hitting the ball well recently. He lasted five innings and gave up six run on nine hits with just three strikeouts.

In 13 career games against Oakland (12 starts), Guthrie is 4-5 with a 4.68 ERA.

Chavez enters his next start with an impressive 2.90 ERA, but still finds himself two games under .500 record-wise at 4-6. He does have 73 strikeouts to his name, however.

Even though he earned the win Tuesday against Texas, he still allowed five runs on eight hits in five innings pitched. His A's gave him the necessary run support in the 8-6 Oakland victory. Chavez has won back-to-back games for the first time all season.

In five career games as a relief pitcher against Kansas City, Chavez has a perfect 0.00 ERA in 10 2/3 innings on the mound with two saves.

Oakland hopped out in front early in Saturday's afternoon contest, but the Royals made sure to erase any lead the hosts had as they held on for the 3-2 victory.

Veteran pitcher Chris Young earned his seventh win of the season after he allowed just two runs (one earned) on four hits in his six-inning outing. Scott Kazmir was hit with the loss for the Athletics.

"We just keep plugging away," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "If I would say I'm not excited about being 15 over, I would be lying. It's great. But we want to continue to keep going. Keep going, and keep going."

Sam Fuld crossed the plate in the first inning thanks to a throwing error on Young. But Mike Moustakas' sacrifice fly in the third knotted the game at 1-1. Kendrys Morales later ripped a two-run single to right field to provide Kansas City with the run support necessary to pick up the win.

Morales and Eric Hosmer were the only two Royals players to record multiple hits in the win.

Kansas City pushed its season lead to 4-1 in head-to-head matchups against Oakland with the victory.






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