Billy Butler Homers Twice As Royals Offense Explodes Late In 11-6 Victory At Oakland

Billy Butler has been aggressive at the plate during the second half of the season as he homered twice on Monday afternoon in a 11-6 Royals victory against the Athletics in Oakland. Butler now has 18 home runs and 83 RBI to go with his .303 average. Butler wasn't the only one to get in on the action at the dish though as Butler, Melky Cabrera, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, and Salvador Perez all had multiple hits as the Royals won the first game of the road trip to improve to 59-83 on the year.

It didn't look pretty early as Felipe Paulino lasted just four inning allowing six runs on just four hits. He racked up 96 pitches in his short outing. However the bullpen held the A's hitless in the final five innings as Kansas City was able to battle back from a 6-4 deficit after the fifth inning.

Greg Holland continued his dominance in relief, as he earned the win to move to 4-1, as the Royals plated five runs in the top of the ninth inning to break a tie. A's pitcher Andrew Bailey took the loss and fell to 0-4. Joakim Soria was perfect in the ninth, striking out the side.

Combined with Minnesota's loss, the Royals now move half a game ahead of the Twins and into fourth place in the Central Division standings.