OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Zack Gelof hit his first home run in nearly three weeks and the Oakland Athletics beat the Kansas City Royals 7-5 on Tuesday night to end a nine-game losing streak.
JJ Bleday had a career-high three doubles and drove in two runs, and Miguel Andujar added two hits to help Oakland to its first win since June 7.
“Getting a win in this league is tough, as we’ve seen the past few weeks,” Gelof said. “To get a win at home in front of the home crowd is awesome. I’ve been working with the coaches and teammates, and it looked like I was having quality at-bats today.”
The last-place A’s (27-48) have the fourth-worst record in the majors.
A moment of silence was held before the game to honor Willie Mays, the Hall of Fame center fielder who died earlier in the day. Mays got the final hit of his illustrious career at the Oakland Coliseum in the 1973 World Series.
“I just wish I was half the player that he was,” said A’s manager Mark Kotsay, who played center field for much of his career. “The catches that he made and just the smile that he had, the impact he had on the game of baseball. His loss is felt today and will be felt for a long time.”
Nick Loftin hit his first career home run and had three RBIs for the Royals, who have lost three of four.
Gelof, who entered in a 5-for-30 funk, singled and scored in the first inning and then hit a three-run homer off starter Alec Marsh (5-4) in the fourth.
“I’ve been struggling a little bit but it makes it all worth it to come through when it matters,” Gelof said. “Felt great and hopefully some more to come.”
Hogan Harris (1-0) pitched five uneven innings to get the win, his first since the end of 2023 when he also beat the Royals. Harris, who left with the lead but got no decision in each of his three previous starts, allowed three runs (one earned) and four hits.
Kansas City, which left the bases loaded in the fourth, scored twice off Lucas Erceg in the eighth and got the potential tying run to the plate before Scott Alexander got Adam Frazier to fly out. Mason Miller retired three batters in the ninth for his 13th save, fourth-most by a rookie in franchise history.
Coming off an 0-7 road trip, the A’s got going early in their return home.
Leadoff hitter Max Schuemann walked in the first and scored on Bleday’s double off the wall. After Bleday advanced to third on a flyout, Brent Rooker hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
“We definitely were in need of a good baseball game and a win,” Kotsay said. “We swung the bats better on the road and continued to swing the bats good tonight. All in all, a good feeling to come from where we were and to bounce back tonight.”
Kansas City tied it with a pair of unearned runs in the second. Freddy Fermin reached on Schuemann’s fielding error at shortstop and came around when Loftin snapped an 0-for-14 slide with a homer on the next pitch.
Marsh, coming off a superb outing against the New York Yankees, was tagged for a career-high seven runs and seven hits in three innings.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Royals: RHP Carlos Hernández was recalled from Triple-A Omaha. OF Drew Waters was optioned down.
Athletics: INF J.D. Davis, who missed time this season with a right adductor strain, was designated for assignment. OF Seth Brown was sent outright to Triple-A Las Vegas. OF Lawrence Butler and 3B Tyler Nevin were called up from Las Vegas.
UP NEXT
Royals LHP Cole Ragans (4-4, 3.14 ERA), who pitched seven scoreless innings against Oakland on May 17, starts the middle game of the series Wednesday. RHP Luis Medina (0-2, 5.87), who has lost five consecutive decisions dating to last July, goes for the A’s.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Kansas City Royals' Nick Loftin, right, is congratulated by Bobby Witt Jr. after hitting a two-run home run against the Oakland Athletics during the second inning of a baseball game in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, June 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Kansas City Royals pitcher Alec Marsh works against the Oakland Athletics during the first inning of a baseball game in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, June 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Oakland Athletics pitcher Hogan Harris works against the Kansas City Royals during the first inning of a baseball game in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, June 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Oakland Athletics' Zack Gelof hits a three-run home run against the Kansas City Royals during the fourth inning of a baseball game in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, June 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AP) — A parliamentary election will be held in Mongolia on Friday for the first time since the body was expanded to 126 seats, adding some uncertainty to a system that has been monopolized by two political parties and plagued by corruption.
The election in a relatively new democracy — the country was a single-party communist state until 1990 — comes at a time when many Mongolians have soured on the government, which they see as benefiting business interests and the wealthy.
“We have democracy only in appearance,” said Gantamur Dash, who earns money taking photos of tourists at the central square in Ulaanbaatar, the capital. “Only a few are living luxurious lives and the rest of the population is poor.”
Mongolia is a sparsely populated country of 3.4 million people in East Asia squeezed between China and Russia. The government has sought to maintain ties with its much larger neighbors while also building new ones with the United States and its democratic allies — a delicate task since the two sides are increasingly at odds.
The political system is serving the interests of a few instead of the general population, said Sumati Luvsandendev, the director of the Sant Maral polling organization, adding that the United States faces the same problem.
Still, he said, most people want to stick with democracy. “Communism doesn’t work for Mongolia,” he said. “It is a collective system and we are ... individualists.”
The ruling Mongolian People’s Party is favored to win the vote, though the overwhelming majority it holds in the current parliament could be reduced.
The parliament approved a constitutional change last year that added 50 seats and created two ways of electing members: 78 are chosen from 13 multimember constituencies and 48 are allocated to political parties depending on the percentage of the vote they get in the election.
The new system may give more political parties a chance to win seats in parliament, though they will have to reach a minimum percentage to do so.
Baljinnyam Nemekhjargal, a bank manager, favored having a strong ruling party in the previous election in 2020, but he said he no longer thinks so.
“I think the reforms were right,” he said. “We don’t need a supermajority. The opposition should be strong too.”
Sukhbaatar Enkhjargal, the head of a tech group that does election monitoring, isn't convinced the changes will help and worries that they will create new problems. They will give more power to the party leaders, as lawmakers chosen by the party vote will be loyal to their party, not to the voters from a particular constituency.
“At the beginning of the democratic period, we’ve been quite successful,” he said. “We’ve been, like, ‘Oasis of Democracy’ from central Asia, etcetera. But now we really going back.”
Discontent with the government has been fueled by corruption. Large protests broke out in 2022 demanding that officials be held accountable for the alleged theft of 385,000 tons of coal from stockpiles on the border with China, a major buyer of Mongolian coal.
“Mongolian democracy has proven to be resilient over the years but ... continued support ... in the form of democratic solidarity and increased economic engagement will remain vital to Mongolia’s ‘Oasis of Democracy,’” the International Republican Institute, an American group that promotes democracy worldwide, said this week in an online post on Friday’s election.
The two largest parties, the ruling Mongolian People’s Party and the Democratic Party, have included younger candidates in their mix in a bid to woo potential young voters and reshape their party images to counter public cynicism toward the government.
Younger voters make up a large part of the voting-age population, but historically they have not turned out in large numbers. If they do, that could benefit the HUN Party, which has emerged as a potential third force in Mongolian politics.
Associated Press video producer Olivia Zhang contributed to this report.
A man covers up from the rain in an umbrella on Sukhbaatar Square in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on Thursday, June 27, 2024. A parliamentary election will be held in Mongolia on Friday, June 28, 2024 for the first time since the body was expanded to 126 seats, adding some uncertainty to a system that has been monopolized by two political parties and plagued by corruption. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
FILE - Residents look at candidates posters two days before polls open in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on Wednesday, June 26, 2024. A parliamentary election will be held in Mongolia on Friday, June 28, 2024 for the first time since the body was expanded to 126 seats, adding some uncertainty to a system that has been monopolized by two political parties and plagued by corruption. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
Young Mongolians chat under umbrellas as it rains on Sukhbaatar Square in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on Thursday, June 27, 2024. A parliamentary election will be held in Mongolia on Friday, June 28, 2024 for the first time since the body was expanded to 126 seats, adding some uncertainty to a system that has been monopolized by two political parties and plagued by corruption. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
FILE - Residents look at candidates posters two days before polls open in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on Wednesday, June 26, 2024. A parliamentary election will be held in Mongolia on Friday, June 28, 2024 for the first time since the body was expanded to 126 seats, adding some uncertainty to a system that has been monopolized by two political parties and plagued by corruption. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
A man rests on a bench on Sukhbaatar Square in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on Thursday, June 27, 2024. A parliamentary election will be held in Mongolia on Friday, June 28, 2024 for the first time since the body was expanded to 126 seats, adding some uncertainty to a system that has been monopolized by two political parties and plagued by corruption. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
FILE - A man carries a child near candidates' posters two days before polls open in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. A parliamentary election will be held in Mongolia on Friday, June 28, 2024 for the first time since the body was expanded to 126 seats, adding some uncertainty to a system that has been monopolized by two political parties and plagued by corruption. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
A woman walks carrying an umbrella as it rains on Sukhbaatar Square in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Thursday, June 27, 2024. A parliamentary election will be held in Mongolia on Friday, June 28, 2024 for the first time since the body was expanded to 126 seats, adding some uncertainty to a system that has been monopolized by two political parties and plagued by corruption. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
