OAKLAND, Calif. -- Three straight one-run wins and a series sweep of slumping Kansas City might be just the thing to get the Oakland Athletics going again. A late tiebreaking home run from Yoenis Cespedes helps, too. Cespedes hit a leadoff homer in the eighth inning and the As beat the Royals 4-3 to move back over .500. "I would rather see us win by 10 runs ... but it makes for a little bit more excitement, certainly at the end," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. "What it does for me more than anything is it shows some tenacity that when you get down, you dont worry about it." Jerry Blevins (3-0) pitched one scoreless inning. Ryan Cook worked the ninth for his first save of the season. Cespedes hit his eighth homer, connecting against Kelvin Herrera (2-4). Cespedes also singled and scored the As first run in the second. Held in check by Kansas City starter Luis Mendoza most of the afternoon, Oakland benefited from a costly error by centre fielder David Lough that allowed the tying run to score in the seventh. Derek Norris hit a leadoff single and raced to third when the ball skipped over Loughs glove and rolled to the fence. One batter later Coco Crisps sacrifice fly tied it. "I kind of hesitated, pulled up and it took one of those sharp hops and just got by me on the top of my glove," Lough said. "If I would have went for it I would have caught it in the air, for sure." Still, Oaklands first sweep of the Royals since 2008 didnt come easily. The As squeaked out a pair of 2-1 wins on Friday and Saturday, then had to sweat out another tight finish in the series finale. Cook, pitching because closer Grant Balfour was unavailable, allowed two-out singles to Billy Butler and Eric Hosmer in the ninth. Mike Moustakas then worked a full count off Cook before grounding out to end the game. "Any time you can get three wins and sweep a team thats playing pretty decent baseball, it doesnt really matter how you do it," Norris said. "Its definitely a plus for us." Alex Gordon matched his career high of four hits for Kansas City. The Royals have lost 10 of 13 and fallen back to .500. Gordon hit an RBI single in the third, scored in the fifth and doubled in the seventh. Since moving to the third spot in the lineup on May 9, Gordon is batting .450 (18 for 40). The Royals, who scored just two runs and stranded 11 baserunners in the first two games of this series, went up 2-0 when Chris Getz singled in Hosmer in the fourth. Hosmer added an RBI double in the fifth. As starter A.J. Griffin had command problems most of the day. He walked three and struck out five but failed in his bid to become the second pitcher in Oakland history to reach 12 wins in his first 24 starts. Josh Donaldson had a sacrifice fly in the Oakland fourth and Jed Lowrie had an RBI single in the fifth. NOTES: Each of the As last 12 home runs have been solo shots, the second-longest such streak in Oakland history. ... Mendoza struck out four and didnt walk a batter for a second straight start. ... Gordon had 60 multihit games in 2012 but already has 20 in the Royals first 40 games this season. He has nine career four-hit games. ... Injured Oakland OF Josh Reddick continues to make slow progress from surgery on his right wrist. He was out Sunday after taking swings off a tee the previous day and is eligible to come off the disabled list Wednesday, though manager Bob Melvin thinks Reddick will need more time to heal. ... Kansas City RHP Jeremy Guthrie (5-1) pitches the series opener in Houston and is seeking to rebound from his first loss of the season. ... As RHP Bartolo Colon (3-2), who takes the hill against Texas on Monday, is winless in his last four starts.Nmd Xr4 Norge . But by the time the game started, the Toronto Raptors forward felt even worse. And, for three quarters, it showed as Gay shot a woeful three-for-13 from the field. Adidas Ultra Boost Norge . Meanwhile, there were huge victories for Sunderland and West Ham over fellow relegation rivals, leaving the battle to avoid the drop up for grabs with the bottom 11 teams separated by just six points. Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres scored second-half goals to seal a fourth straight victory for Chelsea, which climbed above Arsenal and Manchester City in the standings ahead of their games on Monday and Sunday respectively. http://www.nmdnorgesalg.com/ .ca! Hi Kerry, Heres an interesting one. I know its common knowledge that all players are responsible for their sticks. We witnessed that when Zack Kassian hit Edmontons Sam Gagner in the face after a missed check. Adidas Gazelle Tilbud . -- Stanfords Kevin Danser knelt on one knee and hardly moved on the sideline as Michigan State celebrated its Rose Bowl victory and his Cardinal teammates made their way to the locker room. Nmd Sko Salg . Howard Ganz, an MLB lawyer, said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos that Rodriguezs claims do not come "remotely close" to what is needed to overturn an arbitration decision in federal court.Id like to think were collectively smarter about anointing golfs biggest stars than we were at the beginning of this year. Id like to think we learned something about the game at its highest level -- and more importantly, something about ourselves -- but maybe thats just wishful thinking.It wasnt so long ago that the idea of a Big Three was prevalent among those who observe the game on professional and recreational platforms. And yet, it was long ago enough that I actually had to look up exactly who those three players were. The answer: Jason Day, Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson. Thats right -- way back in early 2016, we somehow categorized the worlds best players and didnt include a guy named Rory McIlroy. This is the same Rory McIlroy who wound up winning the FedEx Cup and was far and away Europes most imposing team member at the Ryder Cup.So yeah, sometimes we dont know nearly as much as we think we know.That is, unless you never bought the Big Three hype and considered it a Big Four. But that, too, still eliminated deserving contenders. Some insisted wed need to throw in Henrik Stenson for a Big Five, plus?Adam Scott for a Big Six or even plus?Patrick Reed for a Big Seven.If this all sounds silly, thats because it is. All of it. As much as wed like to compartmentalize this generation with an updated version of Jack, Arnie and Gary, thats not a viable option anymore.I was reminded of this idea once again while watching Hideki Matsuyama win the WGC-HSBC Champions this weekend.Youd be hard-pressed to find many people who had Matsuyama in their Big Eight or Big Nine or Big Ten or whatever it was earlier this year, but the man is good. Like, really good.In lieu of adding another really to that adjective, I submit these numbers: In his past four worldwide starts, hes been top five in all of them. Six of his past nine, too. Extend that over the past 12 months, and his top-10 results have more than doubled his missed cuts.One week after moving into the worlds top 10 for the first time after a runner-up finish at the CIMB Classic, Matsuyamas 7-shot victory vaulted him to sixth in the world -- behind only Day, McIlroy, Johnson, Stenson and Spieth.ddddddddddddaybe he needs to contend in a few more major championships to move into that next tier on golfs hierarchal stratosphere, but we shouldnt neglect the fact that his two MCs in majors this year were sandwiched by a T-7 at the Masters and a T-4 at the PGA Championship.If there exists a main criticism of Matsuyamas game, its his putting, which often ranges from passable to pitiful. For the PGA Tour season that just passed, he ranked 103rd on the greens, posting a negative score in the strokes gained putting statistic.Not one of those numbers, though, is as important as this one: 24. Thats his age, several years younger than young guns Day and McIlroy (who are barely clutching to that moniker these days) and less than 18 months older than Spieth.All of which suggests Matsuyama should be in the conversation about the best players right now, part of some Big Six, if you will.Except that would repeat this silly process all over again.Any golf aficionado knows enough to not overly credit anything that happens in the years final three months, just as we should now know enough not to limit the highest echelon of players to a specific total number.This is the part of the story where I should warn that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Lets not rush to judgment here. Lets not automatically launch Matsuyama into some imaginary upper tier, but lets not exactly leave him out of the conversation, either.Theres a delicate balance here, but maybe we collectively learned something over the past year. This business of casually ranking the games elite is fickle, at best. At worst, it makes us appear foolish when circumstances change. This much we should know by now. ' ' '