Guthrie shuts down A's in Royals' 5-0 win

Jeremy Guthrie learned in June what not to do against the Oakland Athletics.

Guthrie allowed only three singles in seven innings, and the Kansas City Royals rolled to a 5-0 win over the Athletics on Tuesday night.

Guthrie, who struck out a season-high eight, ran his scoreless streak to 15 innings, the longest streak of his career. He has yielded eight hits and struck out 14 in his past two starts, victories over the A's and the Chicago White Sox.

Guthrie (5-12) is 2-3 in five starts with the Royals, who acquired him in a July 20 trade with Colorado for left-hander Jonathan Sanchez.

In a June 12 start against the A's at Colorado, Guthrie allowed seven runs and eight hits, including three home runs and two walks in five innings.

"When I pitched against them earlier in the year every pitch I threw was the exact wrong pitch at the wrong time," Guthrie said. "So I had a nice blueprint on what not to do. I don't think I threw too many duplicate pitches of what they punished me.

"I gave up an awful lot of hits and an awful lot of long home runs in a short amount of time. They gave me a blueprint on how to do a better job."

A's manager Bob Melvin noticed the change in Guthrie's plan.

"He's a guy we handled pretty well in Colorado." Melvin said. "He's coming off his best game this year, and he might have been riding some confidence from that."