Athletics at Kansas City Royals

Sweeps have been few and far between this season for the Royals, who had broken out the brooms just three times entering Thursday. They swept the Angels from April 24-26, the Mariners from May 1-3 and the Giants from July 20-22. Add the Athletics to the list now, and add a bonus game in there with this series at Kauffman Stadium being a four-game set. With Thursday afternoon’s 6-2 win, the Royals clinched their first *four-game* sweep of the A’s in 32 years. They previously did it on Aug. 1-4, 1994. These teams have played 45 four-game series against each other in their histories, and the Royals have swept four of them. The Royals, who are 17-15 since the All-Star break, have now won five games in a row dating back to Sunday against the Angels, matching their longest win streak this season (also done from May 1-5). They have a chance to extend it to six on Friday night against the Tigers with Noah Cameron the mound. “Good baseball is good baseball regardless of the time of year,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “There’s no guarantee that you’re going to play it tomorrow because you played it today or vice versa. ... That’s why we live this one pitch, one day at a time.” Thursday’s finale didn’t come with the late-game chaos that Tuesday’s walk-off win or Wednesday’s seven-run eighth inning had. It looked a little more like Monday, with the offense finding its groove early and adding on in the middle innings. Kansas City starter Randy Dobnak might have needed 96 pitches and allowed 10 baserunners in four innings, but they were four scoreless innings. He worked around six hits and four walks, struggling with command that led to long and frustrating at-bats.