The Kansas City Royals take the opening game of their weekend series by the Bay with a 9-2 thrashing of the A’s Friday night in Oakland.

The Royals jumped out to an early 4-0 lead before the A’s came to bat – 2 of those runs coming on Emil Brown’s 5 th roundtripper of the season. Oakland got a run back in the bottom of the 1 st on Nick Swisher’s 15 th home run of the season, but K.C. starter Brian Bannister would allow only one more run the rest of the way as he effectively shut down the A’s, holding them to 4 hits.

Bannister (9-7) was brilliant on the mound, going the distance for the victory. It was one of those night in which he didn’t need a lot of run support, but he got it just the same. Mark Grudzielanek and Billy Butler joined Brown in driving in a pair of runs. Grudzielanek, Butler, and Joey Gathright each had 2 hits. Dan Meyer (0-1), making his 2007 debut for the Athletics, lasted 4 innings, allowing 6 runs, 3 of the earned, on 5 hits to take the loss.

The Royals (54-67) go for their third straight win Saturday night in Oakland. Odalis Perez (7-11) goes to the mound for the Royals against Chad Gaudin (9-8) for the A’s (60-63).