A's jump on Royals early, cruise to win

Landon Powell hit his first career grand slam to help the Oakland Athletics beat the Kansas City Royals 10-4 Wednesday.

Ryan Sweeney had two hits and drove in two runs, while Trevor Cahill won back-to-back starts for the first time in more than two months.

Powell homered off Royals reliever Yasuhiko Yabuta as part of Oakland's five-run second inning after Kansas City starter Brian Bannister left the game with shoulder fatigue.

Mike Jacobs homered for the Royals, who lost two of three against Oakland without manager Trey Hillman. Hillman left the team on Monday to be with his family following the death of his father-in-law.

Cahill (8-12) gave up three runs and six hits in five innings. The A's right-hander had not won consecutive starts since mid-June and is only 3-7 in his last 13 starts.

He ran into trouble only once, in the third when Jacobs homered and David DeJesus and Alberto Callaspo added RBIs. Following Jacobs' solo home run, Cahill retired seven of the next nine to end his afternoon.

Brad Kilby gave up one hit in two innings during his major league debut while Jerry Blevins and former Oakland starter Dana Eveland pitched the final two innings to complete the nine-hitter for Oakland.

Bannister, who lives 30 minutes east of the Coliseum during the offseason, gave up three runs in the first inning then left after getting Cliff Pennington to pop out to second base leading off the second. Interim manager John Gibbons and assistant trainer Frank Kyte met with Bannister on the mound briefly before Gibbons signalled to the bullpen for Yabuta, ending the day for Bannister (7-12) after only 32 pitches.

After Bannister left, the A's batted around against Yabuta to break the game open. Rajai Davis' sacrifice fly drove in Eric Patterson, then Powell followed with his first career grand slam three batters later to make it 8-0.

Kansas City came back with three runs off Cahill in the third but Oakland scored twice in the bottom of the inning, one when Davis was hit by a pitch and the other on a double-play groundout by Jack Cust.

Sweeney had a two-run single in the first then singled and scored in the second.

The Royals, losers of 10 of 14, were in danger of being held to three runs or less for the 20th time since the All-Star break until scoring a run off Eveland in the ninth.

NOTES: Before the game Oakland reinstated INF Bobby Crosby from the 15-day disabled list. ... The A's claimed RHP John Meloan off waivers from the Pittsburgh Pirates and optioned him to Triple-A Sacramento. ... Royals DH Jose Guillen went 0-for-2 in his first start since coming off the DL but left the game after five innings due to soreness in his right hamstring.