WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Mike Yastrzemski powered the Kansas City Royals to a dominant 9-2 win over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday, launching a pair of solo home runs and leading a relentless Kansas City offense.
Yastrzemski homered to right field twice in back-to-back innings — first off Michael Kelly in the seventh, then again off Osvaldo Bido in the eighth — giving him 17 on the season and nine since being acquired from the Giants at the trade deadline.
The Royals piled up 15 hits in the victory, including four from Michael Massey. Rookie catcher Carter Jensen added three hits, one of them a home run immediately following Yastrzemski’s first blast. Bobby Witt Jr. doubled in two runs in the seventh, finishing the season as Major League Baseball’s hits leader for the second consecutive year with 184, following a 211-hit campaign in 2024.
Starter Cole Ragans struck out eight over 4 1/3 innings, allowing just two hits and one walk. Left-hander Daniel Lynch IV (6-2) earned the win after escaping a bases-loaded jam in the fifth by striking out Nick Kurtz.
Kurtz later broke up the shutout with a two-run homer in the eighth off Sam Long. The Athletics’ rookie slugger continues to pace all first-year players in several offensive categories, including home runs (36), RBIs (86), runs scored (90), and walks (63).
Brady Basso (1-1) took the loss as the first of seven pitchers used by Oakland. The three home runs surrendered by the A’s on Sunday pushed their season total to 222 — a new franchise record, surpassing the 220 allowed by the 1964 Kansas City A’s.
Ragans highlighted his outing by striking out four straight batters — Max Muncy, Willie MacIver, Colby Thomas, and Kurtz — between the third and fourth innings, setting the tone for a Royals staff that held Oakland’s bats in check for most of the afternoon.
