Alex Gordon continued his recent hot streak, going 2 of 3 and leading the Kansas City Royals to a 4-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics this afternoon in Surprise. In the seventh inning with the game knotted at two, Gordon hit a two-run home run A's reliever Fernando Cabrera to give Kansas City just enough to come out on top. Gordon now has three home runs thus far and has worked to raise his average to .367.
The Royals received a quality start from Nathan Adcock, a Rule V draft pick in the off season who is looking to make the Royals' bullpen. The 6'5" right-hander pitched three innings of shutout baseball, giving up three hits and walking none. Adcock has yet to give up a run in eight innings of work.
Kansas City got ahead 1-0 in the 1st when Chris Getz scored on a throwing error and then made it 2-0 in the fourth when Melky Cabrera hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Kila Ka`aihue. Ka`aihue was a perfect 3 of 3 at the plate scoring a run, and stealing a base in the fourth to set up the opportunity for Cabrera to drive him in.
Louis Coleman, Tim Collins, and Aaron Crow were solid in the mid innings giving up no hits between the fourth and sixth innings, however in the seventh to A's were able to score two runs off Blaine Hardy, on RBI by Landon Powell and Cliff Pennington.
After Gordon's blast, the A's scored one again in the eight when Andy LaRoche singled and drove in Conor Jackson, while facing Royals pitcher Buddy Baumann. Kanekoa Texeira then came in to close out the game and pick up the save.
Hardy picked up the win for the Royals, while Cabera was charged with the loss. Kansas City improves to 11-6-1, while Oakland fell to 7-12. David DeJesus, a longtime Royal, was 0-4 with a strikeout against his former teammates. Full boxscore can be viewed here.
Kansas City will be on the road tomorrow for a night game against the Cincinnati Reds, beginning at 9:05 CST. Mike Montgomery will start, while Robert Fish is also expect to get his first appearance in a Royals uniform.