OAKLAND, Calif. -- James Shields pitched quite a gem for Kansas City. It certainly helped that Oakland abandoned its usual patient approach at the plate. Shields pitched eight sharp innings for his first win in nearly a month, and the Royals beat the Athletics 4-2 on Sunday. "This team was a free-hacking team today, which is not really their game," Shields said. "They have a bunch of hitters over there that were being aggressive and I was able to execute my pitches early in the count." Shields retired his first 15 batters before Josh Reddick hit a leadoff homer in the sixth. Alberto Callaspo then had a one-out single before Sam Fuld lined into a double play. The 32-year-old Shields (10-6) allowed two runs and four hits. He walked none for the fifth time this season. "You watch the way that hes pitching, its like, OK boys, lets just give him a couple runs and hell take it from there," Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. "A good indicator for him was he was managing his pitch count." Shields threw 102 pitches while helping the Royals to their ninth win in 12 games. "As far as Im concerned we can match up with anyone, any team, any starting rotation," Shields said. "As long as we go toe to toe with those guys were going to be in every game." Reddick homered twice, getting to Shields again in the eighth. The As have the best record in baseball at 67-43, but have sputtered offensively since trading cleanup hitter Yoenis Cespedes to Boston on Thursday in a deal for ace Jon Lester. They lead the stacked AL West by one game over the Los Angeles Angels, who beat Tampa Bay 7-5 on Sunday. Oakland was without injured leadoff hitter Coco Crisp, though it hardly mattered the way Shields was pitching. Shields allowed only three balls out of the infield through the first five innings. One of them was a deep fly to centre by Josh Donaldson in the first, the closest Oakland came to getting a man on base before Reddicks home run. "We just havent been our best offensively here," As manager Bob Melvin said. "Shields was using all his pitches, going to the change, to the cutter, and he had good command." Shields got his first win since he beat his former team, Tampa Bay, on July 7. Greg Holland pitched the ninth for his AL-leading 31st save. Nori Aokis RBI single in the fifth gave Kansas City a 1-0 lead. Omar Infante followed with a two-run double and later scored on a single by Salvador Perez. All the runs came against Scott Kazmir (12-4). Reddick has four home runs since coming off the disabled list July 22. Its the sixth multihomer game of his career and second this season. KAZMIRS STREAK AT HOME ENDS Kazmir lost at the Oakland Coliseum for just the second time this season. Its also the first time since June 24 that the left-hander allowed more than two earned runs. CLOSING IN ON 800 It was Yosts 798th win as a manager, moving him one ahead of Melvin for 76th on the career list. TRAINERS ROOM Athletics: Infielder Nick Punto was placed on the 15-day disabled list after he strained a hamstring rounding third base on Saturday. ... Crisp (neck) took swings in the batting cage but there is still no timetable for his return. Crisp has not played since July 26. ON DECK Royals: Left-hander Danny Duffy (5-10) pitches the series opener in Arizona on Tuesday. Duffys 2.42 ERA is the fourth-lowest in the AL among pitchers with at least 100 innings. Athletics: Right-hander Jeff Samardzija (2-1), who has allowed at least one home run in each of his previous four outings, starts against Tampa Bay on Monday. Kevan Smith Jersey . Tensions rose in the first period when Penguins defenceman Brooks Orpik hit Bruins forward Loui Eriksson with what appeared to be a clean hit. Michael Hermosillo Jersey . New York secured second place in the Metropolitan Division when the Philadelphia Flyers lost at Tampa Bay later Thursday. The Rangers will face either the Flyers or Columbus in the opening round of the post-season. The Rangers struggled throughout against the lowly Sabres and goalie Matt Hackett, who played in just his seventh NHL game of the season. https://www.cheapangels.com/2033j-matt-t...-angels.html.28 mph. Logano will start on the front row next to Penske Ford teammate Brad Keselowski, who came in second Friday at 193.099. The Penske drivers swept the top two spots for the second straight race, reversing their qualifying finish in Phoenix a week ago. Max Stassi Angels Jersey .Simon will work with head coach Gord Dineen and associate coach Derek King behind the bench of the Toronto Maple Leafs American Hockey League affiliate for the 2014-15 season. Taylor Ward Jersey . Bale has had a successful debut season in Spain, and Ancelotti appears ready to reward him with a starting role on Saturday. Ancelotti says "Gareth had some problems at the beginning (of the season) but when he found good physical condition he scored a lot of goals, he had a good impact on the team.TUKWILA, Wash. -- U.S. national team defender DeAndre Yedlin signed a four-year deal with Tottenham on Wednesday but will remain in the United States with the Seattle Sounders through the remainder of the MLS season and potentially into 2015. Both clubs announced the deal after Yedlin spent last weekend in London visiting with Spurs officials and the sides were able to finalize the deal. Tottenham said Yedlin would join the club ahead of the 2015-16 season, but Seattle general manager Adrian Hanauer said the window for the move is still unknown. Hanauer said Yedlin could make the move during the January transfer window depending on where Tottenham stands. Or the move could come next summer and Yedlin could remain with the Sounders a little longer. "We didnt put the full-court press on DeAndre staying," Hanauer said. "We weighed all the different factors, the benefits to our club, what DeAndre wanted, what the market was telling us out there in terms of the size of the transfer fee and ultimately made the decision based on that group of factors. We thought it was ultimately a good decision for our club, although a difficult one." Yedlin made his international debut this year andd impressed when he came in for injured right back Fabian Johnson in the second-round loss to Belgium.dddddddddddd He was immediately linked with clubs throughout Europe and Hanauer said there were a number of serious offers. But Tottenham eventually became his destination. The 21-year-old was the first MLS homegrown player to appear in the World Cup and has been an MLS all-star selection each of his first two years in the league. The first inkling of Tottenhams interest came in July when the Spurs were in Seattle for an exhibition with the Sounders as part of their preseason North American tour. Yedlin could join Seattle teammate Clint Dempsey and goalkeepers Kasey Keller and Brad Friedel as Americans who have played for Tottenham. However, he may not be eligible for a British work permit. The rules of the British Home Office state a player must have appeared in 75 per cent of his nations competitive international matches over the previous two years, and American forward Juan Agudelo was turned down when Stoke applied for a permit last year. "DeAndre clearly wanted this transaction to occur as well and we want to do right by our players as well as our club," Hanauer said. ' ' '