Athletics get Gallagher’d, Royals win 6-2

Cam Gallagher hit a grand slam and Jakob Junis tossed six quality innings to lead Kansas City to a 6-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics Monday night.

The scoring started early, as Whit Merrifield reached on an infield single in the first, stole second, and scored on an Eric Hosmer single. Crime Horse was then doubled up when Melky Cabrera grounded into his first double play of the evening.

The game had the makings of a long, laborious night as the Athletics answered back in the bottom of the first. Semien tripled and scored on a Healy ground ball, making it 1-1 in the early going.

Kansas City retook the lead in the second on a series of events. Moustakas and Bonifacio led off the inning with outs, followed by singles from Alcides Escobar and Alex Gordon, the latter of which moved Escobar to third. Gordon then stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch by Jharel Cotton, scoring Escobar in the process.

Jakob Junis settled in and pitched four sterling innings, yielding one hit from the second through the fifth.

The Royals loaded the bases in the Sonic Slam Inning, and following a Gordon pop out, Cam Gallagher strode to the plate. The erstwhile third-string catcher was in a position to put the game out of reach, and out of reach he put it, parking Cotton’s offering into the left field corner for a grand slam, making it 6-1. A Clam Haggler took his Sledge-O-Matic to that watermelon with much aplomb, circling the bases for his first major league home run.

Junis started to fall apart in the sixth, yielding two hits and hitting two batters to push across another run. He worked out of the inning with a foul out to Moustakas and a swinging strikeout to conclude his evening. His final line was six innings, giving up four hits and zero walks while striking out two.

For the rest of the Royals, Escobar had two hits and scored two runs. Despite grounding into two double plays, Melky Cabrera reached base with two walks.

Tomorrow, Jason Hammel (5-9, 4.68 ERA) tilts for the Royals as the Athletics will send Chris Smith (0-2, 5.29) to the mound.

The Royals have won three in a row. That’s called a winning streak. It has happened before.