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Guillen, Callaspo carry Royals to doubleheader sweep

Sep 5, 2008 - 5:45 AM KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Jose Guillen drove in three runs and Alberto Callaspo added a pair of RBI as the Kansas City Royals completed a doubleheader sweep with a 9-6 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Thursday.

Joey Gathright laced an RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning to rally the Royals to a 5-4 victory in the first game.

In the night cap, Billy Butler had an RBI double and rookie Mike Aviles added an RBI triple for Kansas City, which rapped out 15 hits.

"We had a very good day today," Butler said. "We swung the bats and gave our pitching staff some support. That's the way we want to play. Ultimately, we have to find ways to win games."

Kyle Davies (6-6) benefited from the outburst, allowing one run and three hits in five innings. Davies collected his first win in more than a month, snapping a four-game losing streak dating to August 2. The 24-year-old righthander walked three and struck out two.

Davies said he would have had a more economical pitch.

"I made a lot of good pitches," Davies said. "Obviously, I don't want to throw 100 pitches in five innings, but I only gave up one run. I got to 3-2 on five guys and ended up walking three. That's too many. This was obviously not a seven-innings-with-three-hits start, but I'll take it because it's a win."

Ryan Sweeney had three RBI doubles for Oakland, which rallied late but was dealt its fourth straight loss.

"It shows that even though it's the end of the season we are not going to give up," Sweeney said of the comeback.

The A's fell behind, 9-1, but scored three runs in the seventh to cut the lead to 9-4. Jack Cust had a run-scoring double in the ninth, and rookie Daric Barton drove in a run before Ramon Ramirez struck out Jack Hannahan and Eric Patterson to record his first career save.

"I do like the way we came back," Oakland manager Bob Geren said. "We were down, 9-1, but we came back to put the tying run on deck. I'm proud of the guys, but it's hard to come back when you get that far down."

Kansas City manager Trey Hillman was annoyed with his bullpen.

"We shouldn't be in that position," Hillman said. "It's a situation where you hope you don't have to do something like that. We should pitch better, especially with the lead we had."

Kansas City took a 4-0 lead in the first. Guillen had a RBI single and Butler ripped a run-scoring double. Another run scored on an error, and Callaspo capped the frame with a sacrifice fly.

Esteban German and Aviles each had RBI triples in a three-run fourth and Guillen's run-scoring groundout in the sixth made it 9-1.

The Royals, who have won three straight for the first time in a month, collected their first series sweep since taking three straight from the A's in Oakland from July 28-30.

"Offensively, speaking from a positive standpoint, it was a good approach," Hillman said. "We've had a pretty good approach this series. I was pleased."

Dan Meyer (0-4) allowed eight runs - seven earned - and nine hits in 3 1/3 innings.

"Anytime you give up a crooked number it's going to hurt," Meyer said. "It hurts a lot more if you are the one putting it up. I'm embarrassed about it when I'm walking off the field."