Recap: Kansas City vs. Oakland

Kansas City, MO (Sports Network) - Vin Mazzaro pitched six scoreless innings, Eric Hosmer homered and the Kansas City Royals blanked the Oakland Athletics, 2-0, in the rubber match of the three-game set at Kauffman Stadium.

Mazzaro (2-0) scattered four hits and walked three while striking out three in Kansas City's sixth win in eight games.

Kelvin Herrera and Greg Holland each tossed a scoreless inning of relief before Jonathan Broxton shut the door in the ninth to earn his 13th save of the year.

"He went out there and kept throwing up zeroes," Broxton said about Mazzaro. "That's all you can ask from our starters is keep us close and in the game and then turn it over to our bullpen."

Tommy Milone (6-5) allowed two runs on eight hits and a walk over seven innings for the Athletics, who have dropped 10 of their last 11.

Oakland left the bases loaded and Kansas City stranded a man on second in the first inning before the Royals scored the only run they would need in the second on Hosmer's leadoff home run to straightaway center field.

The Athletics had a chance to tie the game in the fifth after placing runners on second and third with one out, but Royals left fielder Alex Gordon made a running basket catch in foul territory on a Josh Reddick fly ball and quickly fired home, catching Adam Rosales at the plate as Brayan Pena held on to the ball after a collision for the inning-ending double play.

Kansas City then made it a 2-0 game in the bottom of the frame when Jarrod Dyson singled, stole second and rounded third on Johnny Giavotella's base hit.

Oakland again left a runner in scoring position in the eighth inning before Jonathan Broxton worked around a leadoff single by Brandon Inge in the ninth to complete the shutout.

"A shutout's a shutout," Athletics manager Bob Melvin said. "I thought we were going to score some runs, especially early on and we did not capitalize on the opportunities. Then it seemed like he (Mazzaro) got better as the game went along."