Davis homers, Cahill pitches a 3-hitter in A’s 6-0 victory over Royals

Davis homers, Cahill tosses 3-hitter in A’s win

OAKLAND, Calif. — Trevor Cahill threw a three-hitter for his first complete game, Rajai Davis hit a two-run homer and the Oakland Athletics beat Kansas City 6-0 on Monday night to end the Royals’ three-game winning streak.

Matt Watson, Kevin Kouzmanoff and Coco Crisp also drove in runs for the A’s, who won their fifth game of the last six played at home.

Mitch Maier, Wilson Betemit and Chris Getz collected the only hits for the Royals, who were shut out for the first time since July 4 and the fifth time overall.

Cahill (11-4) recorded the A’s third consecutive complete game, after Dallas Braden beat the Chicago White Sox on Saturday and Gio Gonzalez lost on Sunday. The last time the A’s recorded three consecutive complete games was Sept. 8-10, 2000, when Gil Heredia, Tim Hudson and Barry Zito accomplished the feat.

Royals starter Brian Bannister (7-11) lost his sixth straight decision and is winless since June 23. He allowed five runs on seven hits, walking four and striking out four.

Bannister has given up 32 runs over his last 39 innings for a 7.38 ERA. His last victory was a 1-0 decision over Stephen Strasburg and the Washington Nationals.

Cahill faced the minimum number of hitters through seven innings, benefiting from five double plays, while Bannister struck out the first two hitters he faced before walking three around Kouzmanoff’s RBI single.

The A’s scored twice in the fourth, with Davis sneaking home while Getz was arguing a call at second base on Watson’s double, and Davis made it 5-0 with his fifth home run, a two-run shot in the fifth inning.

Crisp added an RBI single in the eighth off Greg Holland, who was making his major-league debut for the Royals in relief.

Notes: The A’s only put four balls in play during a 34-pitch first inning. … Bannister fell to 1-6 against the A’s. … Betemit extended his hitting streak to seven games with his eighth-inning double. … Cahill lowered his home ERA to 1.88 in nine starts. … The A’s are now 37-17 when they steal a base.