ROYALS NAB FIRST ROAD SERIES WIN OF 2007

Story Courtesy of mlb.com OAKLAND -- During the first three games of the series between the As and Royals, each bullpen had showed their shaky sin the later innings. The As were missing closer Huston Street and setup man Justin Duchscherer. The Royals relievers had been inconsistent all season and entered the game with the worst ERA in the American League. The Royals finally erased their demons on Thursday as the pen held the As to zero runs in the last three innings in a 7-4 win at McAfee Coliseum. Oaklands bullpen was charged with two runs over 3 2/3 innings. The win gave the Royals their first series win since April 20-22 against the Twins and their first away from Kauffman Stadium. The win was also one of few times all year when the team clicked on both sides of the ball with eight guys getting hits and five players driving in runs. Mark Teahen and Mike Sweeney did most of the damage by combining for four hits, 2 RBIs and three runs scored. Royals starter Scott Elarton was solid through the first five innings, with his only mistake being a solo homer to Bobby Crosby with one out in the second. Things got a little hairy in the sixth as he walked two batters on 10 pitches to load the bases for Crosby. After a couple of conferences on the mound between catcher Paul Phillip and manager Buddy Bell, Bell decided to go with righty Zack Greinke. "I dont know what happened out there," Elarton said of the sixth. "I just lost my rhythm out there. I wasnt able to put it where I wanted to and I went out away from the game plan. "[Bell] probably made the right choice, because I wasnt close with the last two hitters." Bell didnt look like a genius at first as Greinke gave up a RBI single up the middle to Crosby. But the Royals kept the lead, 5-4, after Travis Buck hit a sacrifice fly, and Crosby got caught in a rundown after a Mark Ellis RBI single. "Zack came out with the bases loaded," Bell said. "He just needed to throw strikes, and thats what he basically did." After Greinke escaped the sixth, Jimmy Gobble, David Riske and Joakim Soria held the As hitless and allowed just two base runners. Soria earned his eighth save in the ninth with a 1-2-3 inning and two strikeouts. "The bullpen was huge today," Elarton said. "Weve been getting better. Its a matter of getting everybody clicking. "Any series win is big for us; we just gotta start stringing them together. Because weve got the talent to do better." Teahen and Sweeney scored two runs in the second off As starter Dallas Braden to go up, 2-0. The Royals extended the lead to 5-1 on four hits in the sixth. Sweeney and Phillips had RBI doubles and Emil Brown added an RBI triple. Thursday also marked the first time the Royals earned a win against a lefty starter. They were 0-10 entering the game. Teahen seemed to give a little extra against the team that traded him in 2004, as he went 5-for-14 in the series and improved is hitting .417 (10-for-24) against Oakland this year. Teahen, who played with As center fielder Nick Swisher in the Minors, added an insurance run with a hit to center in the seventh and stretched it into a double against Swisher. "I just saw an opening and went for it, I wasnt picking on him," Teahen said. "Its fun playing against a few of the guys that I got drafted with." Elarton fell into trouble during the first two innings, but limited the damage to one run on four hits from the As. The tall righty gave up a double to Shannon Stewart to start the first and stranded him at third by retiring three straight batters. In the next frame, after giving up the homer to Crosby, Elarton surrendered back-to-back singles and walked backup catch Adam Melhuse to load the bases for Stewart. But Elarton got a ground ball from Stewart, and he got out of the mess with a 4-6-3 double play. "That was as good as fastball as I have seen in a couple of years," Bell said of Elarton. "I thought it had a little more life to it. Every time he goes out I think were going to win. I dont expect anything from different out of Scotty every time he goes out. Ryan Quinn is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.