Royals at A's (series I) Recap

The Royals wrapped up their road trip in dismal fashion as they suffered a sweep at the hands of the swingin' A's. The Royals finish the road trip at 9-10 and are under .500 for the first time this season, the A's are now at 12-8.

Game 1: Brian Bannister pitched well early and clinged to a 2-1 lead going into the 6th, and then the wheels fell off as 4 runs scored, all earned and all belonging to Bannister. Mahey and Peralta pitched 2 innings of scoreless ball before Yabuta and Nomo got hammered for 8 runs in an inning. The offense only managed 2 runs on 4 hits as the Royals suffered their worst loss of the season 13-2.

Player of the game: I never thought it would be so hard to announce a player of the game, but here goes...Billy Butler he had an RBI and went 1-4 on the night.

Game 2: Zack Greinke looked to break the Royals 2 game loosing streak and things were looking good early as the Royals spotted Greinke a 4-0 lead. Guillen hit his first homer of the year, a 3-run shot and Olivo added his second homer in the 2nd. Oaklands offense got it going in the 5th scoring 3 runs, in part due to an error by Pena, and from there it just got worse as the A's scored in the next 2 innings to earn a 6-5 win.

Player of the game: Jose Guillen, he finally hit his first home run going 2-4 with a double and 3 RBI

Game 3: Luke Hochevar making his first start of the year followed in Bannister and Greinke's foot steps by pitching well early before getting hit in the middle innings. The Royals were up 1-0 in the 4th before Oakland's offense got it in gear scoring 4 runs...more than enough to handle the Royals and their helpless offense. Final score: 7-1

Player of the game: Ack, this is harder then game 1...I'll go with Leo Nunez. Nunez pitched a scoreless 8th striking out 2 and keeping his ERA at 0.00 for the year.

Look at the numbers:

• Bannister allowed 5 runs Friday after allowing only 3 his previous 3 starts combined.
• Greinke allowed 2 earned runs Saturday, that matches his total from his previous 3 starts.
• Guillen had 7 hits on the road trip, 5 were for extra bases.
• Guillen and Gordon are tied with 9 RBI, tops on the team.
• The Royals were out hit 42-15.
• The Royals were out scored 26-8.
• The Royals now have 8 blown leads on the season compared to 3 come backs.
• The Royals have allowed 38 runs in innings 4-6 and 39 through the other 6 innings.
• The Royals are now 28th in the league in runs scored, 24th in OBP, and 27th in SLG
• The Royals pitching is now 14th in the league