Jason Vargas carried a shutout into the eighth, the Royals finally generated some early offense and Kansas City held on to beat Oakland 3-1 on Thursday night and snap an eight-game skid against the A’s.
Vargas (2-0) scattered four hits and a walk over 7 2/3 innings, striking out eight, in his second straight crisp performance. The left-hander only allowed one runner to reach second base in his longest outing since Aug. 13, 2014, when Vargas shut out the Athletics at Kauffman Stadium.
Kelvin Herrera served up a homer to Rajai Davis and a double to Jed Lowrie in the ninth, but bounced back to retire the next three batters and earn his first save.
Lorenzo Cain and Salvador Perez drove in runs off A’s starter Jesse Hahn (0-1) in the first, and Brandon Moss added a lazy sacrifice fly in the third.
