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Wednesday, May 17 3:35pm ET
Beltran boosts Royals past A's ... again | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Carlos Beltran won his personal duel with Omar Olivares, leading the Kansas City Royals to their second straight comeback victory over the Oakland Athletics. Beltran, who doubled in the fifth for the first hit off Olivares, capped a four-run sixth inning with an RBI single to give the Royals a 4-3 victory Wednesday. Beltran is 7-for-12 against Olivares. "It's a phenomenon of the game. Certain hitters do well against certain pitchers, and certain hitters do well in certain ballparks," Royals manager Tony Muser said. "That's the mystique of the game." Olivares (3-4) allowed just one baserunner in the first four innings, a walk to Carlos Febles in the fourth. Beltran got the first hit when his grounder went between first baseman Jason Giambi and the bag with two outs in the fifth. In the sixth, Mike Sweeney had an RBI single, a run scored on an error and Dave McCarty tied it 3-3 with a sacrifice fly. Beltran followed with a bloop single to center to make it 4-3 and knock out Olivares. Beltran is 5-for-10 since ending a drought of 24 at-bats without a hit on Monday night against the A's. The AL rookie of the year last season, Beltran has raised his average from .203 to .224 in the past three days. Beltran said he had no idea of his success against Olivares, but said he enjoys playing in Oakland. "Every time I play against the A's, I feel good," Beltran said. "This ballpark is good for hitters -- it has big alleys and the background is good." Miguel Batista (2-1), making his fourth start since joining the Royals in an April 25 trade with Montreal, allowed three runs on three hits and seven walks in six innings. Only one of the runs was earned. Ricky Bottalico pitched 2 2/3 hitless innings of relief and Jerry Spradlin struck out Giambi for the final out for the reliever's third save in four days. Bottalico began the season as the Royals' closer, but now the job has fallen to Spradlin after Bottalico had four blown saves in seven opportunities. "I had my chance and I blew it as far as being the closer," Bottalico said. "I'm just here to do anything I can for this team. You either want to pitch or you don't." The A's scored two in the third without a hit. One run scored on a wild pitch and the other scored on a double-play grounder. The inning opened with McCarty dropping a routine fly ball in right field. Ramon Hernandez had an RBI single in the fourth for the A's, who have lost just seven times in their last 19 games -- with six of those losses coming by one run. In each of those six losses, the A's held a lead of at least three runs. On Tuesday, Oakland held a 5-1 lead in the first inning and ended up losing 8-7 to the Royals. "It's great knowing you're in all those games, but it's also painful when you're not getting it done," said A's manager Art Howe, whose team has 10 one-run losses this season. "We have to find a way to get that turned around." Game notesMcCarty moved to first base in the eighth and dropped another routine popup. ... Kansas City OF Jermaine Dye missed his third straight start because of lower back tightness, but entered the game in the eighth inning. ... Oakland 3B Olmedo Saenz made two errors in his first appearance since spraining his right ankle Friday. ... Giambi, who began the day leading the majors with 47 RBI and tied for the lead with 16 homers, walked four times. ... The Royals optioned RHP Chad Durbin to Omaha of the Pacific Coast League and purchased the contract of LHP Paul Spoljaric from Omaha. ... The Royals' streak of 12 successful steal attempts ended when Johnny Damon was picked off second in the seventh. It also was the first time Damon, who leads the AL with 15 steals, has been caught stealing this season. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Kansas City Clubhouse Oakland Clubhouse RECAPS Texas 11 Tampa Bay 6
Kansas City 4
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