Oakland wins 19th straight

Miguel Tejada and the Oakland Athletics simply refuse to lose -- even when the degree of difficulty gets higher and higher.\nTejada got his second straight game-ending hit as the A's matched the longest winning streak in AL history with their 19th straight victory Monday, beating the Kansas City Royals 7-6.\n"I wouldn't know how to explain it or put it in perspective," starting pitcher Barry Zito said. "We're the Oakland A's. We're young. We have fun. Some other teams might be talking about how incredible this is, and it is -- but we do a lot of incredible things."\nDavid Justice homered and drove in four runs as Oakland overcame a 5-0 deficit and a terrible start by Zito to equal the 19 straight wins recorded by the 1906 White Sox and matched by the 1947 Yankees.\nWith their second straight victory in their final at-bat, the A's recorded the fifth-longest streak in major league history and the third longest since 1900.\nWith the bases loaded and the score tied at 6 in the ninth, Tejada drove a sharp one-out single through five drawn-in infielders. The hit sparked a replay of the raucous Coliseum celebration on Sunday, when Tejada's dramatic three-run homer beat Minnesota.\nFor the third straight day, the A's streak seemed to be in serious jeopardy. In the fifth inning, Oakland trailed 5-0 and hadn't managed a hit against Kansas City starter Runelvys Hernandez, while Zito had been battered by the Royals' light-hitting lineup.\nBut Oakland rallied with Justice's two-run homer in the fifth and four more runs in the sixth, capped by Justice's two-run single that put Oakland up 6-5.\nKansas City tied it in the eighth and loaded the bases in the ninth, but Tejada turned Neifi Perez's grounder into an inning-ending double play.\nWith the pulsating Coliseum sensing another victory, Terrence Long led off the ninth with a triple to left against Jason Grimsley (3-5). The Royals intentionally walked Greg Myers and Ray Durham to load the bases.\nWith five infielders stacked behind Grimsley, Kansas City got Long at home plate on Scott Hatteberg's grounder -- but Tejada, whose dramatic three-run homer won Sunday's game, singled up the middle on Grimsley's first pitch.\nA's closer Billy Koch (8-2), appearing for the fourth straight day, got his second straight victory despite pitching into big trouble in the ninth.\n"I don't think anybody is going to be satisfied with tying something," Koch said. "I think we'd rather break something."\nZito wasted a chance to become the AL's first 20-game winner with one of the worst starts of his outstanding career. He yielded 10 hits and five runs, leaving the mound in the sixth with his head hung low.\nPerez had four hits for the Royals, who had 14 hits and plenty of chances to put away the A's.\nZito's troubles began with a bizarre play. Perez led off the third with a line drive into the left-field corner. Justice sprinted after the ball and leaped at the wall to catch it -- but the ball hit the bottom of Justice's glove and ricocheted over the fence, turning a probable double into a homer.\nZito gave up a long homer to A.J. Hinch on his very next pitch.\nCarlos Beltran had a two-run single in a three-run fourth, keyed by an error by Tejada, as Kansas City took a 5-0 lead.\nHernandez retired 12 of Oakland's first 13 hitters and cruised into the fifth, when he appeared to throw a pitch at Jermaine Dye's head. Dye glared at Hernandez, and on the next pitch, he beat out an infield single for the first hit. Justice followed with his 11th homer of the season.