Royals reliever Jason Adam's fastball came in at 93 mph, right at the letters of A’s third baseman Matt Chapman’s jersey, in the eighth inning of Sunday's 3-2 loss to the A's.
There was no second-guessing what would happen next: Chapman dropped his bat barrel to the ball and swatted the pitch 391 feet to left-center field. The result was leadoff homer, one that broke a 2-2 deadlock and gave the A's the lead as the Royals limped to the finish line of a seven-game road trip with their sixth loss of this West Coast swing.
Royals starting pitcher Brad Keller, working under a pitch limit that allowed him to throw beyond the fifth inning for the first time since moving into the rotation two weeks ago, did not factor into the decision.