Kansas City's Odalis Perez delivers against Oakland. The Royals defeated the Athletics, 4-3, on Wednesday night in Oakland, Calif.

Oakland, Calif. ? The Royals needed Ryan Shealy’s bat and defense, and he reminded them exactly why.

Shealy came off the disabled list to hit a go-ahead RBI single in the ninth inning, lifting Kansas City to a 4-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday night.

After Esteban German drew a one-out walk, John Buck’s run-scoring double tied the game. Pinch-runner Paul Phillips then scored on Shealy’s second hit of the night.

Not much separated the starts of Kansas City’s Odalis Perez and Oakland’s Joe Blanton.

Blanton struck out seven in eight innings and retired 18 straight Kansas City batters after Shealy’s leadoff single in the second. Perez pitched six shutout innings and allowed one hit, struck out four and walked two.

Kiko Calero (0-3) entered in the ninth for the A’s – who are dearly missing injured closer Huston Street – and blew his second save in as many tries when he allowed the hits to Buck and Shealy before giving way to Alan Embree.

The A’s had gone ahead in the eighth on Jack Cust’s seventh home run in just 10 games, a solo shot to center off Jimmy Gobble (3-1) with one out. It was Cust’s sixth homer in the last seven games after he had his streak of four consecutive games with a homer snapped Monday night. He was acquired May 3 in a trade with San Diego to replace injured designated hitter Mike Piazza. David Riske finished for his third save in four chances.

Oakland’s Jason Kendall hit a tying two-run single in the seventh off Joel Peralta, though only one of the runs was earned after Gold Glove second baseman Mark Grudzielanek misplayed Hiram Bocachica’s shallow fly in right for an error.

Kendall was a most unlikely candidate to break up Perez’s no-hit bid, too. He doubled over right fielder Mark Teahen’s head leading off the sixth.

The A’s No. 9 hitter came into the game batting .177, in an 0-for-10 stretch and 2-for-16 on the homestand. He hadn’t had an extra-base hit since doubling in the second game of the season April 3 at Seattle.

Perez, a left-hander who turns 30 on June 11, made quite an impression in his first career start against the defending AL West champion A’s. He struck out four and walked two in a 96-pitch performance. He had faced Oakland in a relief appearance last June 18 with the Dodgers.

Still, Perez saw his winless stretch reach four starts since he beat the Twins at Minnesota on April 25. He walked two in the first, then cruised the rest of the way.

The Royals quickly jumped on Blanton, who had a 24-pitch first inning and already trailed 2-0. Oakland’s Dan Johnson had his AL-leading 15-game hitting streak snapped.