Athletics rally to beat the Royals 3-2, win series

Some losses hurt more than others. The proof was positioned in the corner of the Royals’ clubhouse.

There sat a dejected Salvador Perez, who wasn’t part of the A’s eighth-inning run that gave them the lead and an eventual 3-2 victory over the Royals on Sunday. He was stewing about the first one, a passed ball on a swing-and-miss strike three that allowed the A’s first run to score.

“If I catch that ball, it’s going to be over, no runs,” Perez said of the fourth inning. “Maybe we’re still tied (later). Maybe it’s different.”

The Royals felt the frustration of losing a lead, a trick they tend to pull on opponents, often in dramatic fashion.

This one was painful because some of the team’s best attributes let them down: the momentary defensive lapse by Perez, the three-time reigning American League Gold Glove catcher, and a bullpen that couldn’t hold the lead.

Throw in an inability to come up with clutch hit after the second inning, and it spelled a loss in the finale of a road trip that ended with a 4-3 record.

“A tough way to lose,” starting pitcher Kris Medlen said.

In his second start, Medlen pitched superbly, surrendering two hits in 6 1/3 innings. There were four walks but his pitch count stood at 86 when Royals manager Ned Yost made the switch to seventh-inning specialist Kelvin Herrera, after Medlen has surrendered a double to Chris Coghlan.

“He had pitched great,” Yost said of Medlen. “He had managed his pitch count really well. But we had Kel down there, and it’s hard not to bring him into the game.”

This was the first time in seven appearances that Herrera entered a game with runners on base, and he faced Jed Lowrie, pinch hitting for Billy Butler. Lowrie greeted Herrera with a run-scoring single to tie the game.

The A’s kept going in the eighth when speedy Billy Burns slapped a leadoff triple past first baseman Eric Hosmer down the right-field line against reliever Joakim Soria.

When Soria coaxed a ground-out to third from Coco Crisp against a drawn-in infield, the Royals had a decision: Pitch to Josh Reddick, who didn’t have a hit in the game but had a homer and double in the previous two, or walk him to set up a potential double play with Danny Valencia on deck.

After a mound meeting, the Royals decided to pitch to Reddick.

“They’re both tough hitters, and Valencia is tough to double up,” said Yost.

Valencia had hit into a double play earlier in the game, but the Royals went after Reddick. Soria threw a first-pitch strike but ran the count to 3-1 before he threw a change-up that Reddick lofted to center. Lorenzo Cain’s throw was on target but didn’t arrive soon enough to catch Burns.

“It was a good pitch,” Soria said. “It could have been a fly to shortstop, but he has the strength to get it out there.”

Perez singled with two outs in the ninth — the Royals first hit since the fifth — and pinch runner Terrance Gore easily stole second. But Reymond Fuentes lined out to first, ending the game.

The Royals first got on the board in the second. Hosmer took Chris Bassitt’s fast ball the other way, past the third-base bag and into the corner for a double. Top Royals RBI man Kendrys Morales didn’t drive in Hosmer, but he pushed him to third with a grounder to first.

Alex Gordon reached down and got enough of Bassitt’s curve and dropped it into short center field for his third RBI of the season.

The Royals didn’t work as hard for their second run. Mike Moustakas powered a solo shot to right in the third, his team-leading fourth homer of the season.

Medlen ran into trouble in the fourth, issuing a leadoff walk to Crisp. Here, the Royals caught a break when a pickoff attempt got past Hosmer but hit the leg of umpire Mark Carlson, preventing Crisp from advancing.

But Crisp made up for it. With one out, he went from second to third on a deep fly-out to Gordon. Because he was on third, Crisp was able to score when Medlen’s pitch skipped past Perez.

Coghlan was the batter, and during the plate appearance Perez came out to discuss pitch selection. They decided on back-foot sliders.

Medlen missed with the first one that ran the count to 3-2. Coghlan swung through the next pitch that Perez didn’t catch.

“It stayed down on him,” Medlen said. “He’s 99 out of 100 on those. It happened to that one. Nobody was more (ticked) off about than Salvy. He takes so much pride in handling the pitching staff and what he does back there.

“But he’s human. Those things happen.”

And Medlen said if he hadn’t walked Crisp to open the inning, there’s probably not a runner at third to score on the passed ball.

“It’s on me must as much as anybody else,” Medlen said.

This story was originally published April 17, 2016 at 7:37 PM with the headline "Athletics rally to beat the Royals 3-2, win series."