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  Friday, Jun. 23 10:05pm ET
Oakland has longest win streak since '92
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | 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
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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Oakland Clubhouse


A's Chavez rides cycle to $11.75M contract extension


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