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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- In the space of six pitches, the Oakland
Athletics showed why they're the hottest team in baseball.
|  | | Matt Stairs (12) of the A's takes away a hit from the Royals' Carlos Beltran in the sixth inning Friday. |
Randy Velarde, Jason Giambi and Ben Grieve hit consecutive
homers in the second inning and the A's won their ninth straight
game, defeating the Kansas City Royals 10-6 Friday night.
Oakland, which is 16-3 in June, has its longest winning streak
since a 10-game run in September 1992. The A's have scored 80 runs
in their last seven games.
Velarde hit his sixth homer of the season with one out in the
second off Royals starter Chad Durbin (1-3). Giambi hit his 21st
two pitches later, and Grieve hit his 14th -- his seventh in the
last 10 games -- three pitches after that.
"I don't think we can play better baseball than we are right
now," Giambi said. "This only happens for three weeks, four weeks
out of the whole season where the whole thing clicks like this."
The A's scored four in the first on a two-run single by Grieve
and RBI singles by Jeremy Giambi and Eric Chavez, who agreed before
the game to an $11.75 million, four-year contract extension through
2004.
Jason Giambi also had an RBI double in the seventh. Terrence
Long added an RBI single in the fifth and an RBI double in the
seventh.
"We're just swinging the bat extremely well right now. We're
not missing many pitches," A's manager Art Howe said. "It's just
comforting to know we have the capability of putting those runs
up."
Kevin Appier (8-3), who spent the first decade of his major
league career with the Royals before being traded to the A's last
July, allowed five runs and eight hits in 6 1-3 innings. He has won
his last five decisions.
Jermaine Dye and Greg Zaun had RBI doubles for the Royals, who
have lost three straight and nine of their last 11 games. Zaun and
Rey Sanchez added RBI singles, and Joe Randa had two sacrifice
flies.
Durbin got pounded for the second time this season at the
Oakland Coliseum, allowing seven runs on seven hits in two innings.
On May 16, Durbin allowed five runs and four hits while getting
just one out in a start at Oakland.
"It was all me and no one else's fault. I couldn't get anybody
out. No matter what I threw, they were going to hit it," Durbin
said. "Anybody would have hit me tonight -- Single-A, Double-A,
Triple-A."
Durbin was recalled from Omaha of the Pacific Coast League on
Thursday night. He had been sent down to Omaha following that start
against the A's on May 16.
"This is exactly the same guy we saw before, with the same
problems," Royals manager Tony Muser said. "All the fastballs
went down the heart of the plate."
Game notes
It was the seventh time in Oakland history the A's have hit
back-to-back-to-back homers, and the second time this season. The
A's also had three consecutive homers on June 16 at Kansas City
when Chavez, Miguel Tejada and Ramon Hernandez pulled off the feat.
... The A's have hit back-to-back homers nine times this season,
and seven of those have come against the Royals. ... Dye had two
doubles in the game, giving him 23 this season. ... Jason Giambi,
who came into the game tied for second in the AL with 70 RBIs, has
20 RBIs in his last 14 games. He went 3-for-3 Friday with two
walks, and now leads the AL with 67 walks. ... Long extended his
hitting streak to 12 games. ... The Royals have been outscored
93-49 by the A's in 10 games this season. ... Kansas City has
allowed a major league worst 124 homers this season. ... Kansas
City is just 11-20 against AL West teams this season. The Royals
have winning records against the other two divisions, as well as in
interleague play.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Kansas City Clubhouse
Oakland Clubhouse
A's Chavez rides cycle to $11.75M contract extension
RECAPS
Detroit 7
Cleveland 6
Toronto 5
Boston 4
Chi. White Sox 4
NY Yankees 3
Tampa Bay 7
Texas 4
Anaheim 8
Minnesota 3
Oakland 10
Kansas City 6
Seattle 8
Baltimore 3
Florida 6
Chicago Cubs 1
Philadelphia 13
Montreal 6
NY Mets 12
Pittsburgh 2
San Diego 10
Cincinnati 7
Atlanta 3
Milwaukee 2
San Francisco 10
Houston 3
St. Louis 9
Los Angeles 6
Arizona 2
Colorado 0
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