Oakland, Calif. ? Brett Anderson just wants to keep pace with the rest of Oakland’s pitchers in the rotation. If he does that, he will know he’s back on track.

He looked pretty good in his latest start.

Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a tiebreaking, two-run double in the sixth inning to back Anderson, and the Athletics beat the Kansas City Royals, 4-3, Wednesday to win the three-game series.

Anderson (3-2) allowed three hits and two runs, struck out four and walked one in seven innings to win for the first time since May 29. It was a solid outing in his second start since coming off his second stint on the DL this year because of inflammation in his throwing elbow.

The left-hander’s victory came two days after fellow second-year major leaguer Trevor Cahill pitched a three-hitter in a 6-0 victory over the Royals.

“Hopefully I’ll just pitch on par with everybody else on our staff,” Anderson said.

Oakland fell behind 2-0 in the first inning but rallied by taking advantage of two Royals errors in the sixth, when Kurt Suzuki also drove in a run.