KANSAS CITY – It’s a good thing the A’s and Royals go their separate ways now.
Their three-game series reached a volatile conclusion as Kansas City pulled out a 4-2 win at Kauffman Stadium to capture the series, with Kendrys Morales delivering a two-run double off Eric O’Flaherty in the eighth inning to snap a 2-2 tie.
The day featured five Royals getting ejected, including manager Ned Yost and reliever Kelvin Herrera, who fired a 100 mile-per-hour fastball behind Brett Lawrie. All the hostility stems from Lawrie’s hard slide Friday night that injured Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar, but it seemed all might die down after Lawrie was hit by a pitch Saturday, which seemingly evened the score.
Tensions were renewed Sunday when Scott Kazmir hit Kansas City center fielder Lorenzo Cain with a pitch in the foot. The expression on Kazmir’s face after releasing the ball, shown via replay, suggested perhaps that pitch was unintentional. Yost was ejected for arguing that play.
Then in the top of the eighth, with two outs and the A’s leading 2-1, Herrera fired a pitch behind Lawrie. Herrera immediately was ejected by home plate umpire Greg Gibson. Herrera pointed toward his head while looking in Lawrie’s direction, and that’s when Lawrie had to be restrained near the A’s dugout. Both benches emptied, and eventually Royals bench coach Don Wakamatsu and Escobar, who wasn’t in the game, were ejected from the bench.
Starting pitching report
Kazmir pitched very well for the third consecutive start. He was charged with two runs over 7 1/3 innings. His ERA sits at 1.33 after three outings.
Bullpen report
O’Flaherty entered with a runner on second and one out in the eighth. He allowed Cain’s run-scoring double that tied it, then gave up a two-run double to Morales off the center field wall to make it 4-2 Royals.
At the plate
Ben Zobrist drove in both A’s runs, one with a single in the third and another with a single in the fifth. But Zobrist left the game in the fifth inning with soreness in his left knee.
In the field
Marcus Semien drove a ball to left-center in the fourth that seemed destined to be an RBI double, but the speedy Jarrod Dyson raced over from left field and made an excellent running catch to end the inning.
Up next
The A’s get their first look at the defending division champ Angels with a four-game series starting Monday in Anaheim. Kendall Graveman (1-1, 7.27) will match up against Matt Shoemaker in the 7:05 p.m. opener. Tuesday – Drew Pomeranz (1-1, 3.00) vs. Hector Santiago (1-1, 2.92), 7:05 p.m. Wednesday – Sonny Gray (1-0, 2.11) vs. Jered Weaver (0-2, 6.61), 7:05 p.m. Thursday – Jesse Hahn (1-1, 2.12) vs. CJ Wilson (1-2, 3.54), 4:05 p.m. All four games will air on CSN California.