Chen tries to pitch KC to sweep of A's
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Bruce Chen tries to lead the Kansas City Royals to a three- game sweep of the Oakland Athletics this afternoon at the Coliseum.
After rallying for a win on Monday, Danny Duffy pitched into the seventh inning to get his first victory in more than a month on Tuesday, and the Royals received homers from Eric Hosmer and Jeff Francoeur in a 7-4 victory.
Duffy (4-8), who gave up four hits and three runs over 6 1/3 innings, earned his first win since July 31 at Cleveland. The rookie southpaw lost his previous four decisions over a six-start span.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Francoeur and Salvador Perez each had three hits with an RBI and two runs scored for Kansas City, which hasn't swept the A's in a three-game set in Oakland since turning the trick from July 28-30, 2008.
Jemile Weeks had three hits and two RBI for the A's, who had won four in a row entering this series. Cliff Pennington also drove in two runs.
Gio Gonzalez (12-12) was touched for 10 hits and seven runs -- six earned -- over five innings to have his three-start winning streak snapped.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I threw some good quality pitches...but they scored some runs off me," Gonzalez said.
Chen, meanwhile, had a five-start winning streak stopped on Friday against Cleveland, which battered him for five runs and eight hits in six innings, dropping the left-hander to 10-6, while raising his earned run average to 4.11.
"I'm not going to say I didn't have my best stuff. That's not a fair comment to them," Chen said. "I felt like I had my 'A' game, I felt like I was throwing my pitches. They just had a very good approach."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Chen has faced the A's 10 times (six starts) and is 2-2 with a 4.18 ERA.
Oakland will counter with righty Guillermo Moscoso, who is 7-8 with a 3.63 ERA. Moscoso snapped a two-start slide on Friday against Seattle, as he allowed two runs (one earned) and five hits in seven innings. He also retired the final 13 batters he faced.
This will be his first-ever start against the Royals.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Oakland has split its eight matchups with the Royals this season.