Daniel Gossett pitched five innings of results-better-than-process baseball before being removed for right elbow tightness, and the A’s offense broke away late to squeeze out a hard-fought victory in a remarkably efficient Sunday afternoon ballgame.
During the first seven innings of this game, the A’s and Royals traded light blows early but neither team was able to do much of anything on offense. In the third inning, the A’s tallied the game’s first run thanks to a spark from the bottom of the lineup, as Mark Canha doubled on a line drive to the left field corner and Jonathan Lucroy hit a sharp ground ball up the middle for an RBI single.