Bobby Witt Jr. singled, doubled, homered, drove in three runs and scored four times for the Kansas City Royals in a 9-5 win against the visiting Athletics in the opener of their four-game series on Monday night.
Jac Caglianone had three hits, two RBIs and scored a run for the Royals, who have won three of four.
Maikel Garcia returned to the Kansas City lineup for the first time since June 22 and contributed two hits, an RBI and run scored. The veteran infielder had been sidelined with a muscle strain in his left hand.
Royals right-hander Michael Wacha (6-8) allowed four runs and six hits in five innings in his first win in 10 starts. He struck out three and didn’t walk a batter for the third time in his past four appearances.
A’s right-hander Mason Barnett (1-4) was tagged for six runs and seven hits in 2 2/3 innings. He struck out two and walked four.
Jeff McNeil, Tommy White and Brian Serven homered for the A’s, who had won two of three.
McNeil homered to right on the first pitch of the game for a 1-0 lead.
Garcia came up with runners on second and third with one out in the first and slapped an opposite-field single to right to tie it 1-1. Barnett got the second out, but Salvador Perez dropped a two-run single into center field for a 3-1 lead.
Witt homered for the second straight game to stretch the lead to 5-1 in the second.
Kyle Isbel’s two-out RBI single in the third made it 6-1 and ended Barnett’s day.
Wacha had retired 10 in a row when White led off the fifth with a homer to left-center to cut it to 6-2. Serven lined a two-run homer into the left field bullpen later in the inning to make it 6-4.
Witt singled with two outs in the sixth and, after stealing second, scored on a single by Caglianone to make it 7-4. Witt doubled home another run in the eighth and scored on Caglianone’s third hit of the game to make it 9-4.
The A’s loaded the bases in the ninth with no outs against Lucas Erceg. Steven Cruz came in and got a double-play groundout that scored a run to make it 9-5 and the game’s final out for his fifth save.
