KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ For a pitcher who came to spring training needing to fight his way onto the roster and into the rotation, Andrew Triggs is looking increasingly comfortable.
The 28-year-old right-hander shut out the Royals for six innings Wednesday in pitching the A's to an 8-3 win over Kansas City, the team that drafted him back in 2012.
Oakland, now 5-4, scored eight runs on behalf of Triggs between the third and sixth innings in locking down the A's first series win of the season. The A's can earn a series sweep with a win Thursday, but they are guaranteed of winning at least two of the three now that they've stretched their winning streak against Kansas City to eight games over the last 12 months.
The A's didn't allow the Royals their first run of the series until the eighth inning when reliever Liam Hendriks gave up both runs, cutting into what had been an 8-0 A's lead. Frankie Montas gave up a final run in the ninth on a Raul Mondesi homer.
Triggs, acquired by the A's on waivers in March of 2016 from the Orioles, might not have made the rotation out of spring training based on his numbers, including a 1-3 record, an 8.10 ERA and a .299 opponents' batting average. But injuries pushed some of his competition to the side, and now he's flexing his muscles when it counts.
Using his normal sidearm delivery to dish out sinkers and sliders, Triggs allowed one unearned run against the Angels in his first start, then improved to 2-0 Wednesday, stranding runners in scoring position in three of the first four innings. In 112/3 innings this year, he's allowed eight hits and one unearned run.
Third baseman Trevor Plouffe, moved down in the Oakland batting order in this series after a .156 start to the season, had his single most productive game yet with the A's with a hit, a walk, two runs scored and a sacrifice fly.
Plouffe singled to open the third and scored on Rajai Davis' double. An inning later, singles by Khris Davis, Stephen Vogt and Yonder Alonso added a run and Plouffe's sacrifice fly pushed Triggs out to a 3-0 lead.
Oakland added another run in the fifth when Marcus Semien walked stole second, took third on a wild pitch by former A's starter Jason Hammel, then scored on a Jed Lowrie sacrifice fly.
A four-run sixth included an RBI hit from Davis, a bases-loaded single from Matt Joyce and a two-run bases-loaded double from Lowrie.
