A’s shake off slumps with a 17-3 victory

After starting the afternoon near the bottom of the league in batting, scoring and home runs, the Oakland Athletics broke loose Thursday. Dan Johnson and Jack Cust each homered twice and the A’s routed the Kansas City Royals, 17-3.

Danny Putnam hit his first major league home run and Eric Chavez also connected for Oakland. The A’s set season highs for homers, runs and hits (18) and raised their team batting average six points to .244.

“It was fun to be a part of,” Cust said.

“They say hitting is contagious. It started rolling early and didn’t stop. We never let up, so that’s the key.”

Cust’s home runs splashed into the right-field fountains and were an estimated 417 and 414 feet.

Johnson went four for four with two walks, driving in four runs and scoring four. Chavez had four RBIs and Shannon Stewart had four hits. Johnson was a triple shy of the cycle.

The Athletics improved to 29-7 at Kansas City since the start of the 2000 season.

The Royals, who have the worst record in the American League (11-24) and have lost 100 or more games in the last three seasons, have lost five of six and 12 of 16.