Photo credit: @Gloves_And_Bats

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND — Oakland A’s starter Paul Blackburn was activated off the 60-day DL and made his first start of the year. Blackburn, who missed a lot of time last year due to an injury and suffered a right forearm strain in spring training, was very impressive in his return to action Thursday night against the Kansas City Royals. Blackburn went six innings and allowed just three hits.

The only run the Royals scored came in the third inning when shortstop Alcides Escobar homered. The A’s rallied for three runs in the sixth, and the bullpen shut down the Royals offense as the A’s won the game 4-1.

The A’s tied the game in the bottom of the fourth when Matt Olson blasted his 13th homer of the year over the 388-foot marker in deep right center field. The blast traveled 414 feet. Olson has nine homers in his last 23 games.

In the bottom of the sixth, the A’s put together four hits and a walk that produced three runs and ended Jason Hammel’s night. With one out, A’s DH Khris Davis singled. Hammel walked Matt Olson to put men on at first and second. Matt Chapman hit a towering fly ball to center. Royals’ center fielder Paulo Orlando appeared to have trouble determining where the ball was going to come down. He seemed to be twisting and turning to find the ball, but when he did locate the ball, it was too late as the ball hit the wall for a double. Davis scored, and Olson stopped at third base. Marcus Semien singled to drive in Olson, and that was followed by Stephen Piscotty’s third single of the game to drive in Chapman with the A’s third run of the inning and the fourth of the game. The A’s led 4-1 after six.

A’s manager Bob Melvin used Lou Trivino in the seventh, Yusmeiro Petit in the eighth, and Blake Treinen in the ninth. The relievers did their job to secure the win.

Game Notes: With the win, the A’s improve to 32-31. Blackburn won his first game since August 22, 2017, against the Baltimore Orioles. Blackburn is 1-0, and has a 1.50 ERA. Jason Hammel’s record dropped to 2-6.

The A’s line was four runs, nine hits, and no errors. The Royals’ line was one run, four hits, and no errors. It was the Royals’ fifth loss in a row.

To make room for Blackburn on the roster, the A’s optioned catcher Bruce Maxwell to Nashville.

Time of game was two hours and 18 minutes and a sparse crowd of 7,967 fans were on hand to see Blackburn’s return to Oakland.

Up Next: Game 2 of the four-game series will be played Friday night at the Coliseum. Frankie Montas (2-0, ERA 0.64) will pitch for the A’s, and Jakob Junis (5-5, ERA 3.62) will go for Kansas City. Game time is at 7:05 pm PDT.