Lawrence Butler slugged a three-run homer and Luis Severino tossed seven strong innings to lead the Athletics to a 5-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night in West Sacramento, Calif.
Jacob Wilson had two hits and scored twice and Jeff McNeil and Carlos Cortes also had two hits as the Athletics evened the three-game series at a game apiece.
Severino (2-2) allowed one run and four hits while winning his second straight start. He struck out eight and walked two.
Severino improved to 3-10 in 18 starts at Sutter Health Park since joining the A’s prior to last season.
Joel Kuhnel gave up one run while recording five outs after taking over for Severino and Mark Leiter Jr. got the final out by fanning Jac Caglianone for his third save.
Bobby Witt Jr. had two hits and scored twice for Kansas City. The Royals had just two official at-bats with runners in scoring position while losing for just the second time in the past seven games.
Kansas City’s Michael Wacha (2-2) gave up four runs and eight hits over five innings. He struck out five and walked four.
The score was tied entering the bottom of the fourth inning when Wilson and McNeil led off the inning with singles. After Zack Gelof laid down a sacrifice bunt, Butler ripped a 2-2 slider over the fence in right-center to give the A’s a 4-1 lead.
The Athletics tacked on a run in the sixth when Darell Hernaiz singled with one out and scored on Nick Kurtz’s double to center. Kurtz has reached base in 24 straight games and has drawn at least one walk in his last 18 contests.
The Royals threatened in the ninth as Witt led off with a single and Salvador Perez reached on a one-out infield single deep into the hole at shortstop. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch before Michael Massey’s sacrifice fly to deep center scored Witt.
Leiter was then called on and walked Isaac Collins, who stole second on the second pitch as Leiter fell behind 2-0 against Caglianone. He then recovered for the game-ending strikeout.
Kansas City struck in the first when Perez’s fielder’s choice scored Witt from third. Wilson lost Perez’s low pop fly in the sun and it bounced off his glove. Witt scored from third as Wilson tossed the ball to second to force out Carter Jensen.
The Athletics knotted the score in the bottom of the second when Wilson and McNeil led off the innings with doubles.
