Kansas City Royals bask in bay of hope with 4-2 victory

Aug 3, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher

(33) reacts on the mound during the eighth inning against the Oakland Athletics at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports

The Kansas City Royals went to Oakland to face the best team in baseball this weekend, hoping to stay relevant in their division race and the Wild Card race. With a 4-2 victory Sunday at the Oakland County Coliseum, the Royals not only took two out of three from the A’s, but moved to within 1.5 games of the final Wild Card spot. They did slip a game back against division-leading Detroit Tigers, now five games back.

James Shields (10-6, 3.43) out-dueled Scott Kazmir (12-4, 2.53) by limiting the A’s to two solo home runs. He pitched five perfect frames before giving up a solo shot to Josh Reddick in the sixth. He again surrendered a solo shot to Reddick in the eighth.

But it wasn’t enough as the Royals compiled 14 hits en route to staying relevant. The Royals, who gave up eight runs in the fifth inning yesterday, scored all four of their runs in the fifth inning today.

Omar Infante and Billy Butler each had three hits. In fact everyone but Jarrod Dyson had a hit.

Greg Holland (1.69 ERA) collected his 31st save, tossing a perfect ninth.

NOTABLES: Nori Aoki led off and filled the designated hitter role. James Shields has won at least 10 games in all the past eight years.

NEXT: Danny Duffy (5-10, 2.42) vs Wade Miley (7-7, 4.14), at Chase Field, 8:40 p.m. start. The Diamondbacks own a 49-63 record.