By Kahlil Najar

Kansas City – In what is turning out to be a legitimate rivalry the Kansas City Royals beat the Oakland Athletics 6-4 in Oakland’s first return to KC since the heart breaking loss in last years AL Wild Card game. Sonny Gray escaped a loss however he gave up a career high 11 hits to the Royals and gave up four runs.

Dan Otero suffered his first loss of the year as he gave up two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Royals their eighth win of the year. Royals rookie Paulo Orlando hit his fourth triple of the year in the bottom of the inning that secured the victory for Kansas City.

“I missed my spot by probably 18 inches trying to come hard in,” Otero said. “Just came back over, outside corner.”\

Tempers started to flare in the top of the seventh inning when on a routine ground ball to third, Brett Lawrie slid into second to try and break up a double play but ended up sliding into Royal’s second baseman Alcides Escobar and injuring his left knee. Both benches cleared but after a few minutes order was restored and Escobar was helped off the field with a mild sprain of his left knee.

“No one’s trying to hurt anybody,” Lawrie said. “In the sixth or seventh inning, in a tight ballgame, no one’s trying to hurt anybody there. It wasn’t like I overextended myself to go get him. He was right on top of the bag. That’s just baseball,” said Lawrie on his slide.

Stephen Vogt had him a nice night as he went 3 for 4 with a pair of home runs and two RBI. This was Vogt’s first ever two home run game. Ike Davis also hit a home run in the top of the fourth for his first career home run as an Athletic. Billy Butler, in his return to his former club grabbed a hit and extended his hitting streak to 11 games.

The Royals will send Yordano Ventura to the mound tomorrow against Jesse Hahn who is making his third career start for the A’s. Game time 4:10 PT.