Royals Rally for Victory

Kansas City Manager Buddy Bell figures so many things went against his team during its 19-game losing streak that it was about time the Royals had some good fortune.

“We had some help, but we’ll take it,” Bell said after the Royals won their second game in a row, with Emil Brown hitting a go-ahead single in the 12th inning Sunday for a 5-4 win over the Oakland Athletics.

After overcoming a 1-0 deficit in Saturday night’s 2-1 win, the Royals came back from three runs down in the eighth inning Sunday and won consecutive games for the first time since July 26-27 against the Chicago White Sox.

It was the fourth time Oakland had blown a three-run lead, and the first since May 24.

“It’s unbelievable, isn’t it?” Bell said. “We won two in a row from a team that has been playing pretty good.”

Oakland went 4-8 on a homestand that saw the Angels move past the A’s into the AL West lead. The Athletics, who had been 5-0 at home in extra innings, lead the wild-card race by half a game over Cleveland and the New York Yankees.

Denny Hocking reached against Kiko Calero (2-1) with an infield single opening the 12th, took second on Mike Sweeney’s single and third on Joe McEwing’s sacrifice. Brown then singled to right.

Jimmy Gobble (1-0) pitched three hitless innings for his first victory since Sept. 24.

A’s starter Joe Blanton allowed five hits in seven innings, extending his scoreless streak against the Royals to 13 innings.