The Kansas City Royals relied on the basics on Tuesday night with strong pitching and timely hitting to beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-0 in the opener of a three-game series between the two teams.
Starter Jeremy Guthrie (2-3) threw seven strong, shutout innings for Kansas City, giving up just three hits while posting eight strikeouts for his second solid start in a row. Tim Collins and Greg Holland came out of the bullpen for the Royals to maintain the shutout without giving up a hit.
Kansas City chased Oakland starter Jarrod Parker (7-7) in the fifth inning when they sent all nine batters to the plate to score all five runs in the game. Eric Hosmer and Alex Gordon each had run-scoring singles in the inning in the rally which also took advantage of an Oakland error and two sacrifice flies.
The series continues on Wednesday night at 7:10 p.m. CT.
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