A’s Keep Rolling Over the Royals

One rainout, a few timely hits, and the Oakland Athletics’ streak in Kansas City goes on.

The A’s have won 12 consecutive games at Kauffman Stadium after Sunday’s 13-6 victory over the Royals. That came after rain wiped out Saturday night’s game with Kansas City leading, 6-1, in the third inning.

“You can’t play every game here, and there’s going to come a time when we end up losing a game here,” said Jay Payton, who had three hits for Oakland. “It’s just nice to get out of here with a couple of wins, go to Anaheim and try to take some momentum into there.”

Nick Swisher hit his 10th home run, falling one short of Mark McGwire’s team record for home runs in April. Eric Chavez hit his ninth homer, Dan Johnson hit his second homer, and Chavez and Mark Kotsay each drove in three runs.

“Our bats have been pretty dormant the month of April,” Chavez said. “This is the first time we’ve really swung the bat that well, so it’s a good sign for us.”

Detroit 6, Minnesota 0 -- Kenny Rogers and Todd Jones combined on a two-hitter and Vance Wilson hit a three-run double at Detroit.

The Tigers completed a three-game sweep, outscoring Minnesota 33-1 over the weekend. It also gave Detroit 16 wins in April, the most since 1993, which was the last year it finished over .500.

New York 4, Toronto 1 -- Jason Giambi hit a two-run homer and Mike Mussina shut down the Blue Jays at New York.

Yankee Manager Joe Torre wasn’t around for the end -- he and Toronto skipper John Gibbons were ejected for arguing balls and strikes with plate umpire Adam Dowdy.

Tampa Bay 5, Boston 4 -- Scott Kazmir struck out 10 in seven innings to help the Devil Rays beat Curt Schilling and the Red Sox at Tampa, Fla.

Schilling (4-1) was looking to become the third Boston pitcher -- joining Pedro Martinez (2000) and Babe Ruth (1917) -- to win five games in April.

Texas 8, Cleveland 4 -- Michael Young and Phil Nevin each drove in two runs during Texas’ six-run seventh inning at Cleveland. Texas’ Kevin Mench, whose home run streak was stopped at seven games Saturday, failed to drive in a run for the first time in 10 games. The Ranger record is 11 in a row by Larry Parrish in 1987.

Seattle 4, Baltimore 3 -- Carl Everett hit a go-ahead, two-run double at Baltimore and Jamie Moyer earned his first victory of the season. Moyer (1-2) improved to 17-3 against his former team. The 43-year old left-hander gave up three runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings. He struggled early, giving up three runs and four hits in the first three innings, but gave up just two hits after that.