OAKLAND, Calif.—Luis Medina held down the Kansas City Royals to get his first victory in more than 11 months, and the Oakland Athletics won their second straight game following a nine-game skid with a 5–1 victory Wednesday night.
Medina (1–2) had lost five straight decisions since beating Boston on July 18 last season but was sharp against the struggling Royals. He allowed one run, on an RBI double by Bobby Witt Jr., and six hits in 5 2/3 innings for the win in front of an announced crowd of 4,557.
“All the time when I go out there, I’m just trying to do a good job and help my teammates,” Medina said. “Every game we try to make an adjustment and try to be better every day. Every time I go out there, I’m trying to put my team in a good situation.”
Brett Rooker hit two RBI singles, Miguel Andujar had three hits and an RBI, and Zack Gelof hit a solo home run to provide the offense for Oakland. Medina and the bullpen did the rest, giving the A’s their first back-to-back wins since a six-game winning streak that ended May 4.
A’s relievers threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings, ending a streak of 13 games that the bullpen allowed at least one run.
The Royals have lost eight of their past 10 games, including back-to-back games against an A’s team that has the second-worst record in the American League.
Kansas City starter Cole Ragans pitched well, allowing only four hits in six innings, but ran into trouble when he walked Max Schuemann and JJ Bleday to open the third inning. Andujar and Rooker followed with singles to give Oakland a 2–0 lead.
“His stuff was good,” Royals Manager Matt Quatraro said. “Those walks came back to haunt him there in the third inning. They capitalized on those, and that’s all he gave up. He gave us six solid innings, two runs, and gave us a chance to win.”
Andujar has 10 multi-hit games since coming off the injured list May 24, providing a big boost after starting the year inactive while recovering from knee surgery.
“He’s just a hitter,” A’s Manager Mark Kotsay said. “You don’t see these types of hitters that often in the current game that just have bat-to-ball skills, along with the ability to hit it with some force and exit [velocity]. We talked about the impact he could have once we got him back. Ten multi-hit games [are] an impact to the offense and a real positive to the middle of the order.”
After Witt’s double got Kansas City on the board in the fifth, the A’s got some insurance in the seventh with RBI singles from Rooker and Tyler Nevin against John Schreiber that made it 4–1.
