Royals’ closer Joakim Soria bailed out his bullpen mates again who nearly blew a 4-1 lead for Kyle Davies. Soria pitched a scoreless 8 th and 9 th inning to save a 4-3 win over Oakland.
After Davies gave up a solo home run in the first inning, he settled down and went six innings allowing just a total of four hits and one walk. He left the game with a 4-1 lead after the Royals broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth scoring three runs. Alberto Callaspo singled in two runs in that inning.
As it has happened so many times this season, relief nearly turned to disaster as the A’s scored single runs in the sixth and seventh to close the game to 4-3.
However, Soria came in and closed the door in the final two innings. It was Soria’s 21 st save and fifth time he’s pitched more than one inning. It seems the old school approach of having the closer pitch more than an inning has paid off for the Royals. Soria is 1-0 with four saves and in those 10 innings. He’s given up a total of two runs, six hits and 15 strikeouts.