OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Jon Lester won his Oakland debut while pitching into the seventh inning and Jonny Gomes got two hits during an eight-run burst in his return to the Athletics as they beat the Kansas City Royals 8-3 Saturday.

Two days after being traded from the sagging World Series champion Boston Red Sox, Lester and Gomes teamed up to boost the club with the best record in baseball.

The 6-foot-4 Lester (11-7) instantly became an imposing presence on the mound in the pitcher-friendly Coliseum. Fans in the crowd of 30,097 cheered the lefty as he went through his warmup routine in left field, then Lester tipped his cap to a roaring ovation when he left after throwing 6 2/3 innings.

Back with the AL West-leading A’s, Gomes delivered in an eight-run fifth inning. He singled and scored off Jason Vargas (8-5), then hit a hit a two-run single off Aaron Crow.

Lester gave up three runs and nine hits, walking one and striking out three.

Pitching on seven days’ rest after being scratched Wednesday ahead of the trade deadline, Lester improved to 8-3 with a 2.20 ERA in 12 career starts against the Royals. He hasn’t lost in nine starts overall since June 7 at Detroit.

The A’s went ahead with their planned promotion, passing out 10,000 Yoenis Cespedes T-shirts reading “La Potencia” — it pays tribute to his power. The two-time Home Run Derby champ was traded to Boston in the big deal.

Vargas came off the disabled list to make his first start since undergoing an appendectomy July 9. After the first 12 A’s batters were retired in order, the next 12 produced eight hits and eight runs.

Oakland lost second baseman Nick Punto when he strained his right hamstring. He rounded third on Jed Lowrie’s RBI single in the fifth, but slid toward the coach’s box and grabbed the back of his leg before hobbling back to the bag.

An inning earlier, the umpires went to replay to determine whether A’s catcher Derek Norris improperly blocked the plate when he tagged a sliding Alex Gordon. The out call was confirmed, with newly acquired center fielder Sam Fuld’s throw resulting in a sensational double play.

— Associated Press —

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Raul Ibanez homered to break his own franchise record for oldest Royals player to clear the fences, and Kansas City beat the Oakland Athletics 1-0 on Friday night.

The 42-year-old Ibanez connected in the fifth inning for his fifth homer, giving Jeremy Guthrie the lone run he needed for Kansas City’s first victory at the Oakland Coliseum since April 10, 2012. The Royals went 1-5 against the A’s last season, including 0-3 on the road.

Guthrie (7-9) struck out six in six innings to win his second straight outing following a three-start skid as the Royals beat the team with baseball’s best record for their third straight win and eighth in 10. It could get tougher Saturday, when Jon Lester makes his A’s debut two days after being traded by the Boston Red Sox.

The A’s struggled to get anything going and lost for the third time in four games a day after trading slugging left fielder Yoenis Cespedes to the Red Sox for Lester and Jonny Gomes.

Sam Fuld started in center field and batted leadoff one day after returning to Oakland where he began the season following a trade from Minnesota. His leadoff double in the fourth was the first hit off fellow ex-Stanford player Guthrie.

Guthrie struck out the side in the sixth, retiring Brandon Moss and Jed Lowrie on consecutive called third strikes.

Sonny Gray (12-4) hung tough in a pitcher’s duel with Guthrie. The right-hander struck out seven in seven innings and didn’t walk a batter for the first time all year.

He had his five-start winning streak snapped with his first losing decision in eight outings dating to a June 13 home loss against the Yankees.

He had five or more strikeouts in each of his five July outings, going 5-0 with a 1.03 ERA for the month.

Nori Aoki doubled leading off the game and advanced on a wild pitch, but Gray retired the next three batters in order to avoid damage.

Greg Holland followed scoreless innings by Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis for his 30th save in 32 chances.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Alcides Escobar hit a two-run triple and Yordano Ventura pitched seven effective innings as the Kansas City Royals defeated the Minnesota Twins 6-3 Thursday.

Escobar’s triple highlighted a four-run seventh. The inning also included Jarrod Dyson’s run-scoring single. Dyson stole second and third and scored on catcher Eric Fryer’s throwing error.

Ventura (8-8) limited the Twins to two runs, one earned, on five hits, while striking out seven.

Danny Santana led off the game with a home run. Mike Moustakas committed two throwing errors in the third to gift the Twins with an unearned run.

Caleb Thielbar (2-1) retired only one of three batters he faced for Minnesota.

Twins right-hander Kevin Correia, who had yielded 11 runs on 17 hits and five walks in eight innings in losing his previous two starts, left after six innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on five hits. His 13 losses top the American League.

Kurt Suzuki hit a pinch RBI-double in the eighth off Wade Davis, the first extra-base the Royals right-hander allowed in 46 innings. Greg Holland worked a flawless ninth for his 29th save in 31 opportunities.

The Twins stranded 11 runners, leaving the bases loaded in the fourth and eighth and stranding two runners in two other innings.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Danny Duffy trudged off the mound with the bases loaded and his team trailing by a run, and took a seat in the dugout to watch Jason Frasor try to bail him out.

He roared when the Royals reliever struck out Chris Colabello to end the threat.

“He came through with flying colors,” Duffy said with a smile.

Buoyed by the clutch pitching, Kansas City churned out three doubles in the bottom half of the inning Wednesday night, scoring all their runs in an eventual 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins.

“Frasor was huge with the bases loaded,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

Just about everybody who stepped on the mound for Kansas City came up big.

Duffy allowed only a homer by Josh Willingham over 5 2/3 innings, despite walking a season-high six. Scott Downs and Kelvin Herrera gave back a run in the seventh, but Herrera struck out Brian Dozier and Willingham with runners on second and third to preserve the Royals’ one-run lead.

Wade Davis worked a perfect eighth, and All-Star closer Greg Holland survived two wild pitches that sent Eduardo Nunez to third base by striking out Sam Fuld for his 28th save.

“Anytime you lose a battle like that it’s frustrating, especially with game on line,” Fuld said. “Holland made a great pitch. We battled him.”

The Twins’ Phil Hughes (10-8) showed no lingering effects from a comebacker off his right ankle that cut short his last outing. He allowed only three singles before the sixth, when the Royals were able to finally string together a series of hits that gave them the lead.

Omar Infante led off the sixth with a single and Salvador Perez added a tying double moments later. Alex Gordon followed with an RBI double to center, and Mike Moustakas pulled another run-scoring double just inside the first-base line to give Kansas City a 3-1 lead.

The Royals’ bullpen and defense made each run seem huge.

Perez made the first of several memorable plays in the third inning, when he picked Nunez off first base with a snap throw. Duffy picked Fuld off first in the fourth, and Dozier was thrown out at the plate on a base-running mistake later in the inning.

“I’m trying to make an aggressive play,” Dozier said.

Perez’s best play may have come in the seventh, when he leaped from the behind the plate to grab a sacrifice bunt and throw the runner out at first. Herrera followed with his strikeouts to leave the go-ahead run standing on second.

“That was a big play right there,” Yost said. “That was a great play by Sal.”

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Even after a lengthy replay, Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire still thinks the call was wrong.

No worry. When he was ejected for arguing the play in the third inning Tuesday night, it gave him a nice vantage point — a flat-screen TV and a comfy chair in the clubhouse — to see Kyle Gibson shut down the Kansas City Royals for seven innings in a tense 2-1 victory.

The play in question was Chris Parmelee’s sinking liner to left field that Alex Gordon appeared to trap while sliding. The umpires ruled it a catch, though, likely saving a run. Gardenhire quickly challenged it, only to be incensed when a review of 3 minutes, 31 seconds let it stand.

A nose-to-nose confrontation with plate umpire Ted Barrett resulted in him getting tossed.

“Honestly, I know you’re not supposed to go out there. I just wanted to find out how that happened,” Gardenhire said. “That’s the part a lot of managers are trying to figure out, what did they see? I know they don’t want it to go any longer, but it’s gone on long enough.

“I was just looking for an explanation. He threw me out really quick. He was really hot.”

Gibson was hot in an entirely different way.

He allowed a single by Alcides Escobar in the third inning and another by Nori Aoki in the sixth over seven dazzling innings. Gibson (9-8) was at his best his last inning, too, setting down the Royals in order in the seventh on four seemingly effortless pitches.

“I had a great view for it,” Gardenhire said with a smile.

Casey Fien worked the eighth before Glen Perkins ran into trouble in the ninth, giving up a leadoff double to Omar Infante and an RBI single to Eric Hosmer. Perkins bounced back to get three straight pop outs and record his 26th save of the season.

“The loss is frustrating in general. It doesn’t matter how it is,” the Royals’ Billy Butler said. “It’s not fun to lose, especially in a 2-1 game like that. We should have put up more runs.”

Josh Willingham hit a sacrifice fly in the third inning and Brian Dozier provided a run-scoring single in the fifth off James Shields (9-6), who battled command all night. He threw 124 pitches — two shy of his career high — while walking four in only six innings.

Gibson, who was shelled by Tampa Bay his last time out, has made a habit of rebounding back from ugly outings. He followed a miserable performance against the Angels with a strong one against Texas, and a lousy start against the Yankees with six shutout innings against Seattle.

“I don’t know what it was tonight,” he said. “I just had a lot of confidence.”

— Associated Press —