Royals stretch lead

? Kendrys Morales and Alex Gordon homered to back Edinson Volquez, and Kansas City beat Oakland 5-2 on Friday night.

Unlike when these two teams met in April, when there were bench-clearing scuffles in all three games, there were no signs of lingering animosity. A few players from both clubs exchanged hugs and handshakes before the game, and both managers downplayed talk of any carry-over effect.

Instead the Royals rode the power of Morales and Gordon, and got another strong outing from Volquez.

Pitching against the A’s for the first time since 2007, Volquez (8-4) gave up three hits and one run in seven innings. Volquez also reached 1,000 strikeouts for his career when he fanned Brett Lawrie in the sixth.

Sam Fuld had an RBI double for Oakland, which had its five-game win streak snapped.