Zito Extends A’s Win Streak to 15

Barry Zito would have had an excuse if he seemed distracted.

Instead, the Oakland Athletics’ player representative took a perfect game into the sixth inning as the Athletics won their 15th in a row, 7-1, over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.

“Going out there in every start, there’s always going to be stuff in your personal life and your life on the field that you have to block out,” Zito said. “I felt like I did that tonight.

The streak is the longest in the major leagues since Seattle won 15 in a row last season.

Oakland completed its first 10-0 road trip, and the streak is the A’s longest since they won 17 in a row from May 5-25, 1931.

“That’s our situation as Oakland, but we have to put that aside right now,” Zito said. “If we had lost 15 in a row, we’d feel the same way [about the strike].”

Zito (19-5) gave up one run and four hits in seven innings. His three strikeouts gave him 154, leaving him third in the American League.

The crowd got impatient early, starting chants of “Let them strike!” and “Strike right now!” in the first inning, as the A’s jumped on starter Shawn Sedlacek.

When reliever Jason Grimsley--the Royals’ player representative--entered the game in the top of the eighth, the crowd booed him loudly.

Sedlacek (3-4) gave up six runs on seven hits in the first inning, then got things under control, allowing only two hits over the next five innings.

“I had a terrible first inning and took us out of the game right off the bat,” Sedlacek said. “It’s not the way to go about it when you have that good of a team and that good of a pitcher on the mound.”

Seven different players drove in runs for the A’s. Every starter got a hit, with Eric Chavez and Miguel Tejada getting two.

Zito retired his first 16 batters. Neifi Perez singled to center to break up the perfect game

“You always know what’s going on,” Zito said. “I wasn’t pitching to maintain some kind of no-hitter. I left the ball up the middle and Perez hit it up the middle. It was a good hit.”

The Royals loaded the bases after that. But Mike Sweeney grounded out to short to end the threat.

The Royals finally scored in the seventh, when Kit Pellow grounded into a double play, scoring Raul Ibanez.