PHOENIX – Eric Sogard had a tiebreaking double in the fifth inning and the Oakland Athletics bullpen slowed the hot-hitting Kansas City Royals in a 6-3 victory on Tuesday.
Alex Gordon had two more hits, including a home run off Tommy Milone to lead off the game.
The Royals, who scored 30 runs in their previous two games, increased their lead to 3-0 in the fourth on run-scoring hits by Max Ramirez and Johnny Giavotella. Oakland tied it against Royals starter James Shields in the bottom half on an RBI double by Yoenis Cespedes and a two-run single by Brandon Moss.
Six A's relievers combined for 5 1-3 innings of three-hit ball.
Kansas City lost for just the second time in 16 spring training games.
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