Dan Straily was surrounded by trouble in the second inning when pitching coach Curt Young made a visit to the mound.

Straily went on to earn his first major league victory as Coco Crisp and Yoenis Cespedes homered to lead the Oakland Athletics to a 3-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday night.

Straily (1-0), a 24th-round draft pick in 2009, held the Royals to three singles over 6 1/3 innings in his third major league start. Straily, who walked two and struck out two, pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the second inning.

The Royals loaded the bases on a single by Salvador Perez and walks to Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer. After the walk to Hosmer, Young went out to talk to Straily.

“He just came out and said, `Hey, what’s going on guys,” Straily said. “We just needed to talk about it real quick. It was all right, make pitches and get out of this and he turned around and jogged away. I made a couple of pitches and got out of it.

“From there I found a rhythm and was able to kind of cruise through the next couple of innings.”

Chris Getz grounded out to first baseman Chris Carter to end the inning and strand the runners.

“As Curt does many times, he’s a very calming influence, especially with these younger guys,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “To pitch well like that in a close game, you’re up here kind of walking on egg shells and really wanting that first win. He deserved it tonight.

“This was the stuff we heard and talked about. He had all his pitches working. He was unpredictable. He had real good downplay on his fastball, which we haven’t seen. He was throwing to the bottom part of the zone better today. It was a good outing for him.”

Crisp, who played for the Royals in 2009, was 2 for 27 this season against Kansas City before the home run.

“It felt we were starting to grind a little harder than we should,” Melvin said. “You start digging and it doesn’t feel like anything is going to happen. At the time, that was certainly the key hit of the game and it ended up being the key hit. You get into a mode sometimes when you’re not swinging the bat, it’s like `Oh, here we go again,’ and you try to fight those demons.”

Crisp drilled a 2-0 pitch from Luke Hochevar deep to right. The ball hit high off a green wall beyond the fence and caromed back onto the field. It was first ruled a double, but Melvin disputed that. After the umpires viewed replays, it was changed to a home run.

Hochevar (7-11) gave up three runs and four hits in seven-plus innings. Hochevar is 0-8 with a 6.52 ERA in nine career starts against Oakland. Hochevar said he doesn’t let his record against the A’s enter his mind.

“It doesn’t matter the lineup or what my history is,” Hochevar said. “You’ve got enough to think about out there. I can’t be going out and thinking about the history.”

The A’s had only a bunt single in the fourth inning by Josh Reddick before Crisp’s home run.

Cespedes, who is hitting .368 since the All-Star break, hit his 15th home run on an 0-2 pitch from Hochevar in the seventh.

The Royals loaded the bases again in the seventh with singles by Billy Butler, Moustakas and Hosmer. Jerry Blevins, the third Oakland pitcher of the inning, retired Getz on a fly ball to shallow center on the first pitch.

Grant Balfour worked a spotless ninth to log his ninth save in 11 opportunities.

The A’s added a run in the eighth when Jemile Weeks’ two-out single scored Derek Norris, who led off the inning with a single and stole second.

— Associated Press —

Will Smith, a 23-year-old left-hander, made his ninth major league start Wednesday night and pitched like a veteran.

Smith went seven strong innings, Chris Getz doubled home the go-ahead run and the Kansas City Royals defeated the Oakland Athletics 3-2.

Smith (4-4) limited the A’s to two runs and five hits, while striking out five and walking one. In winning his past two starts, Smith has allowed four runs and 11 hits in 14 innings.

“Will did a good job of battling without his best stuff,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “I thought his fastball was flat at times. He battled through the sixth and seventh and kept us in the game. Early in the game, he was struggling to get the ball down with all of his pitches.

“The thing that was so impressive about tonight’s game, a young pitcher on the mound without his best stuff and he’s competing his tail off and keeping his club in the game and that’s a tremendous sign for a young pitcher to be able to do that. I was very impressed with that. He ended up getting us through seven innings. There were times I wasn’t sure we could get him through the fifth.

“When you’re a young pitcher and you don’t have your best stuff, you know it and you tend to fight yourself in those situations. You try to be too perfect and just end up getting your brains beat in. But this kid went out tonight and competed his tail off.”

Smith acknowledged his stuff was lacking.

“You’re not going to have your best stuff every single night,” Smith said. “So it’s a battle sometime and tonight was a battle. I had zero fastball command. It was really spotty. Sometime it would be there and sometimes it wouldn’t. I was just struggling with that. I had to battle through it. We had some amazing defense. Our defense is unreal.”

With two outs in the seventh, Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain and Getz hit consecutive doubles, the first Kansas City extra-base hits of the game. Cain, who was in a 2-for-24 skid, doubled home Hosmer to tie the score.

Left-handed reliever Sean Doolittle was brought in to face Getz. After fouling off five pitches with two strikes, Getz stroked an opposite-field double on the 11th pitch to bring home Cain.

“I don’t know if that’s the best at-bat of the year, but it’s darn sure in the top five. An 11-pitch at-bat against a tough left-hander to drive in the winning run was a great job,” Yost said.

A’s starter Brandon McCarthy (6-4) lost for the first time since April 21, snapping his career-best six-game winning streak. McCarthy, who is 6-1 with a 2.45 ERA in his past nine starts, gave up three runs, two earned, and seven hits in 6 2/3 innings, while walking none and striking out four.

“It stunk,” McCarthy said. “It was a bad loss for us across the board. These are games we expect to win and games we have been winning all year. I’m not happy with myself. There are a lot of things I could have done better. Giving up runs, I don’t like to do that. I don’t like doing it late in the game. I don’t like doing it with two outs.”

The Royals scored an unearned run in the first. Alcides Escobar, who reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second and advanced to third on catcher Derek Norris’ throwing error. Escobar scored on Billy Butler’s grounder to Josh Donaldson, who threw home high and late.

The Athletics tied it in the second. Chris Carter led off with a double and he stopped at third on Donaldson’s single and scored on Brandon Moss’ single.

Donaldson, who was recalled Tuesday from Triple-A Sacramento, homered just inside the left-field foul pole in the fourth inning to give the A’s a 2-1 lead.

Greg Holland worked around a leadoff single in the ninth to collect his fourth save in five opportunities.

— Associated Press —

Jeremy Guthrie learned in June what not to do against the Oakland Athletics.

Guthrie allowed only three singles in seven innings, and the Kansas City Royals rolled to a 5-0 win over the Athletics on Tuesday night.

Guthrie, who struck out a season-high eight, ran his scoreless streak to 15 innings, the longest streak of his career. He has yielded eight hits and struck out 14 in his past two starts, victories over the A’s and the Chicago White Sox.

Guthrie (5-12) is 2/3 in five starts with the Royals, who acquired him in a July 20 trade with Colorado for left-hander Jonathan Sanchez.

In a June 12 start against the A’s at Colorado, Guthrie allowed seven runs and eight hits, including three home runs and two walks in five innings.

“When I pitched against them earlier in the year every pitch I threw was the exact wrong pitch at the wrong time,” Guthrie said. “So I had a nice blueprint on what not to do. I don’t think I threw too many duplicate pitches of what they punished me.

“I gave up an awful lot of hits and an awful lot of long home runs in a short amount of time. They gave me a blueprint on how to do a better job.”

A’s manager Bob Melvin noticed the change in Guthrie’s plan.

“He’s a guy we handled pretty well in Colorado.” Melvin said. “He’s coming off his best game this year, and he might have been riding some confidence from that. But I’d like to think we could get some better at-bats against him. We didn’t have a lot of good at-bats tonight.

“He worked ahead and had a good downward plane on his fastball, good movement.”

Guthrie, who is eligible for free agency after this season, could be pitching his way into the Royals’ plans for next year.

“I just felt along with Dayton (Moore, general manager), three or four starts and that would get him back on track,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He’s definitely on track. It’s not really fluky stuff. You can see where this could be extended out start after start. I’m really liking what I’m seeing right now.”

Guthrie was 4-11 with a 6.31 ERA as a Rockies starter. He credits Royals pitching coach Dave Eiland for helping him with adjustments.

“Had I not come over here and been able to work with those types of people, I might still be banging my head and still be making the same mistakes.” Guthrie said. “It wasn’t about getting settled in as much as it was getting better and making some adjustments.”

Tim Collins and Greg Holland completed the shutout for Kansas City. Collins struck out all three batters he faced in the eighth inning, boosting his total to 77 — a Royals’ strikeout record for a left-handed reliever.

The A’s failed to get a runner past second base and were shut out for a major league-leading 14th time.

Alex Gordon and Eric Hosmer delivered run-scoring singles in the Royals’ five-run fifth inning that also featured sacrifice flies by Chris Getz and Billy Butler.

Kansas City also scored an unearned run after Oakland second baseman Jemile Weeks failed to handle Alcides Escobar’s bouncer. That allowed Lorenzo Cain, who had walked, to score.

A’s rookie right-hander Jarrod Parker (7-7) was pulled after 4 2/3 innings. He gave up five runs, five hits and two walks. Parker is 2-4 with a 6.15 ERA, and batters are hitting .309 against him in his past seven starts.

He was 5-3 with a 2.46 ERA and an opponents’ batting average of .209 against him in his first 13 starts.

In the third inning, Josh Donaldson and Coco Crisp singled, but Donaldson was put out in a rundown between second and third. Right fielder Jeff Francoeur earned his 13th assist on the play, tying him for the major league lead among outfielders.

— Associated Press —

Manny Machado might want to brush up on his knowledge of Baltimore Orioles history, because the rookie continues to put his name alongside several of the team’s finest players in the franchise record book.

Machado hit his third homer in four major league games, Nick Markakis also connected, and Baltimore got four hitless innings from its bullpen in a 5-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday.

Mark Reynolds drove in the tiebreaking run in the sixth inning for the Orioles, who earned a split of the four-game series.

Machado hit a two-run homer in the second off former Baltimore pitcher Bruce Chen (8-10). The 20-year-old tripled in his debut Thursday night, homered twice in his second game and doubled in a run Saturday night.

On Friday night, Machado became the youngest Oriole to have a multihomer game, breaking the mark set previously by Boog Powell. With his drive on Sunday, Machado joined Frank Robinson, Ray Knight and Lee May as the only players to get an extra-base hit in each of their first four games with the Orioles.

“That’s crazy. That’s the first time I heard it,” Machado said. “To be mentioned with Frank Robinson, one of the greatest third basemen, that’s just great. It’s a great feeling. I’m just fortunate.”

Brooks Robinson, not Frank, was Baltimore’s Hall of Fame third baseman. But Machado deserves credit for his humility, especially on the field.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter said Machado has “put some good swings on some good pitches and they’ve carried over the fence.

“I’d put myself in his shoes, I’m sure he’s having a blast. But he doesn’t want to do anything to upset the apple cart toward the other team. He’s been very respectful of the competition, and that’s something that we’ve tried to do all year.”

Mike Moustakas homered for the Royals, who went 4-3 on a road swing against the White Sox and Orioles. Kansas City has 15 home runs over its last eight games.

But the Royals had no answer for Machado, who went 6 for 16 with six extra-base hits and seven RBIs in the four games.

“I like him. I was impressed,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “The scouting reports that we got said he had a couple of holes in his swing. We couldn’t find them. He hurt us. He won two games for them against us with homers. He hit the ball to center field. He hits the ball to left field.”

Chen said, “He’s going to be a good player for a long time. We better get used to making good pitches to him.”

Baltimore went up 4-3 in the sixth. After Chen issued two straight walks, Reynolds greeted Louis Coleman with an RBI single to left. The Orioles added an unearned run in the eighth.

Luis Ayala (4-3) worked the sixth, and Troy Patton and Pedro Strop each got three outs before Jim Johnson finished for his 34th save in 37 opportunities.

“We’ve had a couple games where we had to use a lot of people,” Showalter said. “But we felt at the time we could keep it close and we could match up out of the bullpen the last four innings.”

Orioles starter Tommy Hunter gave up three runs and eight hits in five innings. The right-hander has yielded at least one home run in 10 straight starts, and the two walks were Hunter’s most in a game since April 24.

After stranding runners at the corners in the first inning, the Orioles took a 2-0 lead in the second. Reynolds led off with a walk before Machado hit a drive to center that umpires initially ruled bounced off the top of the wall. After a quick replay review, Machado broke into his home-run trot from second base.

Moustakas ended an 0-for-10 drought with a liner off the foul pole in right field leading off the fourth, and Brayan Pena added a sacrifice fly to tie it at 2.

The Royals got a run in the fifth when Alex Gordon and Alcides Escobar singled ahead of a double-play grounder by Moustakas. In the bottom half, Markakis knotted the score at 3 and ended Chen’s run of 11 straight outs with a drive to right on a 3-2 pitch.

— Associated Press —

When Manny Machado arrived at Camden Yards amid much fanfare, Orioles manager Buck Showalter insisted the 20-year-old player was promoted for no other reason than to help the team win.

And that is precisely what Machado did in his second game in the major leagues.

Machado thrust himself into the Orioles’ record book by hitting two home runs and driving in four runs, a power display that carried Baltimore past the Kansas City Royals 7-1 on Friday night.

After going 2 for 4 in his debut on Thursday, Machado hit a solo shot in the fifth inning and a three-run drive in the sixth. Both homers came off Luke Hochevar (7-10) and landed in the left-field seats.

The second clinched the victory, but Machado never will forget his first home run trot in the big leagues.

“It was the best feeling ever,” he said. “The crowd here loves me, and for them to support me like that, after my first home run, it just felt great.”

After the second one, Machado was pushed out of the dugout by teammate Adam Jones to acknowledge the request of a curtain call by the crowd of 17,277.

“It was great,” Machado said. “I’ve dreamed about that my whole life, about going out there and getting that curtain call, and second game in the big leagues I get it.”

At 20 years, 35 days old, Machado is the youngest Oriole ever to have a multihomer game. Boog Powell was 20 years and 258 days old when he homered twice against Minnesota in May 1962.

Machado also became the 12th youngest major leaguer since 1918 to hit at least two home runs in a game.

Machado, the third overall pick in the 2010 draft, went 2 for 4 in his second straight start at third base. He never had played above the Double-A level before Thursday night.

And that explains why manager Buck Showalter was cautious in his praise of the youngster.

“It’s two games. He’s off to a good start,” Showalter said. “He’s hit some mistakes and hit them well, which guys have to do up here. He’ll have the kitchen sink thrown at him and we’ll see how it goes. But so far, so good.”

Omar Quintanilla also homered for the Orioles, who have won six of seven.

Miguel Gonzalez (4-2) allowed one run and six hits in eight innings, striking out five and walking one. The right-hander was 0-2 with a 10.80 ERA in two home starts.

Salvador Perez homered for the Royals, who lost for the second time in six games. Hochevar had allowed only 13 homers in 22 starts before giving up three in this one.

“That’s what it falls on: three mistakes that they didn’t miss,” said Hochevar, who went 5 1/3 innings. “Hitters don’t usually miss mistakes at this level.”

Not even Machado in his second game.

“These last two games he’s played really well. He’s hit mistakes, he’s hit good pitches,” Hochevar said. “He’s having some really, really good at-bats. Plays good defense and obviously swinging it well right now.”

Baltimore led 2-1 before Machado notched his first home run and RBI with one swing at a 3-2 pitch. In the sixth, after Nate McLouth doubled in a run, Machado connected on a 1-2 pitch for a 7-1 lead.

Machado’s heroics overshadowed a fine performance by another Baltimore rookie, Gonzalez, who went eight innings for the first time.

“Just throwing strikes, getting ahead of guys,” Gonzalez said. “My sinker worked well and my changeup was good.”

In his previous two starts at home, Gonzalez twice gave up a home run to the first batter he faced and yielded a combined six first-inning runs. He reversed that trend by striking out leadoff hitter Alex Gordon to begin a 1-2-3 first.

Perez hit a drive over the right-field wall in the second inning to put the Royals up 1-0. It was the 10th homer allowed by Gonzalez in 48 2/3 innings, although nine of those 10 home runs have been solo shots.

In the bottom half, Wilson Betemit led off with a double, and Quintanilla homered with two outs.

— Associated Press —

Billy Butler already had cleared the most difficult obstacles of hitting for the cycle, including a home run and his first triple since 2009.

All he needed was a measly little single in his final two at-bats to become the seventh player in the history of the Kansas City Royals to complete the cycle.

Butler fell short, but that was one of very few negatives for the Royals in an 8-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday night.

Butler finished with three RBIs and scored three runs, and Alex Gordon homered and had three hits to help Kansas City end the Orioles’ five-game winning streak and take the luster off Manny Machado’s impressive major league debut.

Butler homered in a four-run first inning, doubled in the third and tripled in the fifth. Vying to become the first Kansas City player to hit for the cycle since George Brett in 1990, Butler struck out against Matt Lindstrom in the seventh and submariner Darren O’Day in the ninth.

“I really didn’t have much to hit,” Butler said. “They pitched me tough with some really good sliders. O’Day is not somebody a right-hander is going to have much success against at all. I know I haven’t in my history. I’m just trying to take him the other way and it just didn’t work out. He’s going to get most righties out all of the time.”

Butler is 11 for 24 (.458) with three homers and five RBIs in six games against Baltimore this season.

“Butler’s one of the top five right-handed hitters in baseball,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “This guy is solid. You look at his track record. I try not to feel like he’s picking on us. We made some good pitches on him the last couple at-bats, but we made some mistakes on him and good hitters are going to pounce on those.”

Machado, the third overall pick in the 2010 draft, went 2 for 4 and played flawlessly at third base in his first game above the Double-A level. The 20-year-old grounded out in the second inning, tripled in the fifth, beat out a slow roller to second base in the seventh and popped out to end the game.

“I thought Manny did well, presented himself well tonight,” Showalter said. “I’m proud of him. There was a nice calmness about him and a good start. He handled the situation well, all things considered.”

Machado was pleased with his performance but disappointed with the final score.

“It would have been way much better if we would have come out with a win, but they did a good job,” the rookie said.

Asked if this taste of success might carry over, Machado replied, “I’ve still got a long year and a lot more at-bats to go. But for the first night I think it went great.”

Matt Wieters homered for the Orioles, who failed for a sixth time this season to extend a five-game winning streak to six.

Baltimore rookie Wei-Yin Chen (10-7) allowed a career-high seven runs and nine hits in 4 2/3 innings. Coming off two straight starts in which he did not allow an earned run, the Taiwanese left-hander yielded a home run to Gordon on the second pitch of the game and never got back on track.

Will Smith (3-4) gave up two runs and six hits in seven innings for the Royals, who have won four of five.

“That was a great game,” manager Ned Yost said. “We tacked on runs on three or four different occasions. (Alcides) Escobar was spectacular at shortstop. Great defense. We hit homers. We hit doubles. We played very, very well.”

Kansas City took a 4-0 lead before Chen could get an out. After Gordon hit his third leadoff homer of the season, Escobar and Lorenzo Cain followed with singles before Butler homered on a 1-1 pitch.

In the second inning, Machado received a warm ovation from the crowd of 21,226 before his first at-bat. With two on and two outs, he hit a chopper to Escobar and was thrown out by a step.

The Royals used doubles by Butler, Mike Moustakas and Jeff Francoeur to make it 6-0 in the third. Moustakas was 2 for 27 lifetime against Baltimore before his run-scoring hit.

Chen’s night ended in the fifth, when Butler tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Salvador Perez.

In the bottom half, Machado tripled and scored on a fly ball by Nick Markakis to make it 7-1. Escobar hit an RBI single in the sixth, and Wieters connected in the Orioles’ half.

— Associated Press —

An impressive effort by Jeremy Guthrie didn’t just snap a nearly 10-weeklong drought for the Royals right-hander on Wednesday night.

It may have been one of Kansas City’s best pitching performances of the season.

Guthrie earned his first victory since late May as he scattered five hits over eight innings in a 2-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

“That arguably could be the best-pitched game we had all year,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He was in total control … locating his pitches down, changing speeds, great command of the strike zone (and) never really got into any spots where they really threatened.”

Guthrie (1-3) got his first win with the Royals and improved to 4-12 overall since arriving in a late July trade with Colorado. He struck out five and walked none.

His last victory was an 11-5 decision over Houston on May 31. He struggled through nine losses in his next 13 appearances.

“You want to win, but you can’t make it happen no matter how much you worry about it,” Guthrie said. “All you can do is just try to make better pitches and limit your runs. You give up zero runs you’ve got a better chance to win than if you give up six.

“I think that was more the focus than getting a win was can I go out there and give a good outing that gives us a chance to win.”

Solo home runs by Mike Moustakas and Salvador Perez provided all the runs for Kansas City.

Greg Holland gave up a run-scoring single in the bottom of the ninth but picked up his third consecutive save.

Jose Quintana (4-2) worked seven innings and gave up five hits. He walked two and struck out five.

Kansas City took two of three in the series. Chicago had won its past four series and five straight at home.

Kansas City took a 1-0 lead in the second on Moustakas’ 17th home run of the season. With two outs, the third baseman lined Quintana’s first pitch deep in to the seats in right.

Perez made it 2-0 with a two-out homer to right on a 2-0 pitch from Quintana. The home run was his sixth of the season.

Chicago had a runner in scoring position in the third when Alejandro De Aza singled with two outs and reached second on an errant pickoff throw from Perez to first baseman Eric Hosmer. But Gordon Beckham ended the inning with a fly to right.

The Royals tried to pad the lead in the sixth with runners on first and second with two outs, but Perez’ flied out to center to end the threat.

Guthrie had retired nine straight into the sixth inning when Beckham lined a two-out double down the left field line. Guthrie closed the inning by striking out Adam Dunn looking.

The left-handed Quintana had four straight no-decisions entering Wednesday. He last won on July 5, a 2-1 victory over Texas where he surrendered one earned run while striking out eight and walking just one.

White Sox reliever Jesse Crain worked the eighth while Brett Myers pitched a scoreless ninth. In the ninth, Holland gave up a one-out single to Dunn, who scored on A.J. Pierzynski’s two-out grounder up the middle.

“(Guthrie) was spotting the ball really well,” Pierzynski said. “He didn’t make a whole lot of mistakes. He kept the ball down really well, elevated when he wanted to and he had a good breaking ball.”

Yost said he was hoping for continued improvement from Guthrie, winless in his first three starts with a 7.71 ERA since arriving in the trade with the Rockies.

“(General manager) Dayton (Moore) said when we got him it might be four starts before he gets it going,” Yost said. “He’s gotten progressively better each start, was really good against Texas his last start and was absolutely spot on, spectacular tonight.”

Chicago first baseman Paul Konerko and outfielder Alex Rios were scratches on Wednesday. Rios had a sore back while Konerko suffered concussion symptoms in the aftermath of a first base play on Tuesday. Both will have two days off.

Ventura said he toyed with a lineup without Konerko, Rios, De Aza and third baseman Kevin Youkilis.

“We actually had a lineup without those guys in it,” he said. “It was creative, it was a fun morning.”

De Aza missed three games with back stiffness while Youkilis was out of Tuesday’s game with a sore right knee. Both were in Wednesday’s starting lineup.

— Associated Press —

The Kansas City Royals wanted Bruce Chen to show more aggression. He finally did.

Chen outpitched Jake Peavy for his first win in six weeks, Billy Butler hit his career-high 22nd homer and the Royals beat the Chicago White Sox 5-2 on Tuesday night.

The White Sox had won 10 of 13, but saw their lead over Detroit in the AL Central shrink to a half game when the Tigers beat the New York Yankees 6-5 earlier in the night.

Gordon Beckham hit his first career leadoff homer for Chicago, and the White Sox scored again in the sixth after Kansas City tied it in the top half. But RBI singles by Tony Abreu and Alex Gordon off Peavy (9-8) in the seventh gave Kansas City a 3-2 lead.

Butler added to it in the eighth with a two-run drive off Nate Jones after Mike Moustakas walked, and the Royals hung on from there, giving Chen (8-9) his first win since June 26.

The left-hander gave up two runs and seven hits in 6 2/3 innings and finally came out on top after going 0-3 in his previous seven starts. It was a big improvement over his previous outing, when he got knocked out in the third against Cleveland after being staked to a six-run lead.

He and manager Ned Yost had a long talk about being aggressive following that game, which the Royals eventually won. The message? Go after the hitters, establish the fastball.

“His last three or four starts, he comes out and he hasn’t established his fastball,” Yost said. “All he’s doing is throwing 82, 83, trying to get his control down, but he’s got nothing to speed the bats up so they sit soft.”

It was different against the White Sox.

Even when Beckham connected an 87 mph pitch in the first, Yost didn’t blink because the home run came on a fastball. Chen was following the plan.

“Obviously, I’m trying to establish my fastball,” he said. “I’m trying to keep the ball down, but also pitching in and cutting the ball in on the righties was a big plus for me.”

The way Peavy was pitching, the Royals needed that. And the bullpen did its job with Kelvin Herrera pitching 1 1/3 innings and Greg Holland retiring the side in the ninth for his second save in four chances.

Peavy also gave up seven hits in 6 2/3 innings, but was a tough-luck loser after beating Minnesota in his previous two starts. He found his control after walking the game’s first two batters, issuing just one the rest of the way, but he couldn’t protect the lead after the White Sox went up 2-1.

“I don’t like to lose,” he said. “I just hate to lose. I wish I could have done more to help us win, I really do. It stinks when you feel like you have a chance to win and you don’t. You get so close and you could have done things differently to win.”

The Royals had runners on first and third with one out in the seventh after Jeff Francoeur reached on a bunt down the third-base line and Eric Hosmer singled. Abreu then tied it with a single to left, and although Hosmer got thrown out at third by Dayan Viciedo, the Royals weren’t finished.

Jarrod Dyson just beat out a single to second after Beckham made a diving stop on his grounder, and Gordon then chased Peavy with a single to center that made it 3-2, putting Kansas City up for good.

Now, the Royals are 4-3 in August after dropping 19 of 26 in July.

“I think the last couple days we’ve had renewed energy, renewed vision, and I’m pleased with where we’re at right now,” Yost said.

— Associated Press —

Chris Sale had time to catch his breath. Now, maybe, he’s locked in.

Sale pitched eight solid innings, Paul Konerko and Gordon Beckham homered late, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 4-2 on Monday night.

“I went through a little dead arm period, but it’s par for the course,” Sale said. “It’s all behind us now. We’ve got a couple months left and we’re going to have to make a push and it’s not going to be easy.”

The margin for error is slim, with a 1 ½-game lead over Detroit for the AL Central lead. The Tigers are playing well, but so are the White Sox. And they pulled this one out thanks to a strong start by their pitcher and some big hits toward the end.

Konerko tied it leading off the seventh and Beckham gave the White Sox a 3-2 lead with a solo shot in the eighth off Luis Mendoza. Kevin Youkilis added an RBI double in the inning, and the White Sox won for the 10th time in 13 games.

A.J. Pierzynski added two hits, and although he didn’t go deep after tying a club record with homers in five straight games, he did drive in the first run with a double in the second.

Sale (13-3), meanwhile, looked sharp on nine days’ rest, allowing two runs and eight hits while striking out seven without a walk. He gave up solo homers to Jeff Francoeur and Billy Butler, but otherwise kept the Royals off-balance, with his fastball consistently in the mid-90s.

Sale was passed over during the last time through the rotation. The White Sox wanted to give him more rest in his first year as a starter.

“It gives you a little bit more time to recover and catch your breath, I guess you could say, but you’ve still got a couple of months left,” Sale said. “You’ve just got to keep going with it.”

The Royals were impressed.

“If he stays healthy he has a chance to win a bunch of ballgames in his career,” Francoeur said.

Addison Reed worked the ninth for his 20th save in 23 chances, retiring Eric Hosmer on a double-play grounder with runners on first and second to end the game.

Mendoza (5-8) gave up seven hits and four runs in 7 1/3 innings.

Butler made it 2-1 in the seventh with his 21st homer. Konerko tied it in the bottom half with a line drive to left that just cleared the wall and landed in the bullpen.

The Royals had runners on first and third in the eighth, but Sale got out of it. Shortstop Alexei Ramirez made a diving stop on Alex Gordon’s soft liner. Sale tagged out Tony Abreu trying to score on Alcides Escobar’s safety squeeze and struck out Lorenzo Cain on three pitches, pumping his left fist on the way to the dugout.

“We know what’s on the line and where we want to go,” said Beckham, who hadn’t homered since June 20. “If we’re going to get there, everybody’s got to step up and pitch in.”

— Associated Press —

Given where the Kansas City Royals are, manager Ned Yost will savor any victory.

Errors by Alberto Gonzalez and Mike Olt in a three-pitch span allowed the tiebreaking run to score in the 10th inning Sunday, giving the Royals a 7-6 victory over the Texas Rangers.

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“Ugly, come on. How can you call that game ugly?” Yost said. “It’s a beautiful win. Against a team of that caliber and as hard fought as this series was and for us to come up with nothing going into today, it’s a beautiful win.”

With the score 6-6, Michael Kirkman (0-2) walked Billy Butler leading off the 10th. Gonzalez, who entered in the ninth when Elvis Andrus left because of a sore shoulder, booted a routine grounder by Salvador Perez as pinch-runner Eric Hosmer advanced.

“The first pitch, he hits a double-play ball, but it was such a rocket the shortstop booted it,” Yost said. “We’re due one of this wins every once in a while.”

Jeff Francoeur took a ball and then grounded to third. Olt, who made his major league debut Thursday, threw the ball into right field as Hosmer came home.

“There’s no ugly win,” Francoeur said. “They’re all beautiful.”

Kansas City, with the poorest record in the AL, improved to 45-62.

Texas dropped to 13-15 since the start of July as its four-game winning streak ended.

Greg Holland (4-3) threw 46 pitches in two innings, working around three hits and two walks.

“Holland had a gutsy effort,” Yost said.

Texas had threatened in the 10th, loading the bases with one out. But shortstop Alcides Escobar made a diving catch to his right of Mitch Moreland’s line drive for the second out,and Holland struck out Olt on a 3-2 pitch.

Olt walked leading off the ninth, stole second and took third on a throwing error by Perez, the Royals catcher. But Andrus failed to get a bunt down and Olt was out at home on the failed squeeze attempt.

“It wasn’t a good pitch to bunt, but you have to go down with it and make contact,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “I know it was a pretty bad pitch, but it’s a squeeze. You have to make contact any way you can. They didn’t sniff it out; it just happened to be a bad pitch. You’ve got to make contact with it.”

Derek Holland gave up six runs and eight hits in six innings — he allowed two homers, raising his total to nine in his last four starts.

“I didn’t give my team a chance to win,” Holland said. “They scored some runs and I gave them back. It was pathetic. I’m very upset with myself. I’m supposed to step up and I threw like garbage all day.”

Royals starter Luke Hochevar gave up five runs — one earned — and four hits in six innings. He threw first-pitch strikes to 15 of his first 16 batters.

Perez hit a two-run double with two outs in the first, but a throwing error by Butler on David Murphy’s grounder led to four unearned runs in a five-run fourth.

Adrian Beltre singled in a run, ending a streak of 12 games without an RBI — his longest since going 15 games without any starting the 2006 season. Beltre’s hit scored Josh Hamilton, who led off the inning with a double, and stopped an 0-for-15 slide with runners in scoring position.

Olt hit a sacrifice fly to the right-field warning track with the bases loaded, and Andrus hit a two-run triple.

Butler singled in a run in the bottom half, Francoeur’s fifth-inning homer cut the gap to 5-4 and Brayan Pena hit a two-run homer in the sixth to put the Royals back ahead. Four of Pena’s 14 career home runs have been against the Rangers, his most against any club.

Michael Young’s RBI double tied it 6-all in the seventh. Andrus attempted to score on Young’s double, but was thrown out by Escobar on the relay from center fielder Jarrod Dyson.

— Associated Press —