9 -- allowing 21 offensive rebounds by IPFW and 21 second-chance points.JUNIOR COLLEGE IMPACTMacon and Barford were the top two junior college recruits in

KANSAS CITY, Mo. Joe Hudson . -- Joakim Soria blew another save and the Kansas City Royals chances to return to the postseason took another hit.Pinch hitter Yonder Alonso delivered a two-run double in the eighth inning and the Oakland Athletics rallied past Kansas City 5-4 Tuesday night.The defending World Series champion Royals dropped five games out of the wild-card race with only 18 games left.Thats a really hard situation to come in to, Alonso said. I think early on, I knew I was going to have an opportunity, a meaningful opportunity obviously, with the game on the line to come up with a big at-bat.Soria blew his seventh save chance in eight opportunities. He was summoned with two outs in the eighth and the Royals clinging to a 3-2 lead.On his second pitch, Soria gave up a double to Alonso over the head of center fielder Jarrod Dyson, scoring Brett Eibner and pinch runner Joey Wendle.Soria then yielded an RBI single to Marcus Semien.Its a difficult position when youre not used to that, said Soria, who has 203 career saves. This season has been really, really different to me. I guess in 10 years it can happen sometimes.Unfortunately for me and my team, it happened this year. They need me the most and Ive been having poor results, he said.Rookie Matthew Strahm (2-1), who gave up an infield single to Chad Pinder before Soria replaced him, took the loss.Royals manager Ned Yost said he did not to use Kelvin Herrera for a four-out save and Wade Davis was unavailable after throwing nearly 50 pitches in back-to-back saves Saturday and Sunday.I had confidence in Jack, Yost said. I thought it was a good situation for him. I didnt mind the matchup with Alonso. Jacks had two days off.Ultimately, its my plan. Im responsible for my plan. And that was my plan and it didnt work, he said.Will he continue to use Soria in those pressure situations?I dont make decisions after games like this, Yost said. I havent even thought about. Im not even going to speculate on what Im going to do, without thinking about it and sleeping on it.Jacks that guy right now that everybody is on. Jacks had some really good outings this year and hes had some poor outings. How do you determine from one day to the next if I put him out there if its going to be a good outing or a bad outing? It very easily could have been a good outing. It wasnt, he said.John Axford (6-4) pitched one inning. Ryan Madson balked home Dyson with two outs in the ninth before closing for his 30th save in 36 tries.Royals starter Danny Duffy, who has not won since Aug. 21, limited the As to three hits, but two were home runs, in 7 1/3 innings.Duffy gave up a home run to Khris Davis on his first pitch in the fifth. Davis has homered in back-to-back games and hiked his season total to 37, which is the most by an Athletics player since Frank Thomas hit 39 in 2006.Ryon Healy homered to lead off the eighth. After Duffy walked Eibner with one out, he was replaced by Strahm.Paulo Orlando hit a two-run single in the fourth to score Cheslor Cuthbert, who had doubled, and Alcides Escobar, who reached on Semiens error.Semien has committed 11 errors in the past 53 games and tops major league shortstops with 19 fielding miscues.Escobars two-out single in the sixth scored Salvador Perez and chased Jharel Cotton, who was making his second big league start since being acquired in an Aug. 1 trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers.Cotton allowed three runs, only one earned, in 5 2/3 innings, while walking one and striking out two.Im just going out there and pitching the way I know how to pitch, Cotton said. Im not trying to do anything special, just go out there and give my team a chance to win every time I get the ball.ROOKIES GALOREThe As started five rookies -- 2B Pinder, RF Eibner, 3B Healy, DH Renato Nunez and RHP Cotton -- matching a season high.FOOTBALL VISITAs manager Bob Melvin stopped by the Chiefs practice Tuesday. He is a friend of Chiefs coach Andy Reed. The managers cousin, Tom Melvin, coaches the Chiefs tight ends.TRAINERS ROOMRoyals: RHP Chien-Ming Wang (right biceps tendinitis) is eligible to come off the disabled list Wednesday. I dont think it will be tomorrow, but hes definitely making progress, Yost said. ... Perez returned to the lineup after missing the game Tuesday for the birth of his second son, Johan Salvador.UP NEXTAthletics: LHP Sean Manaea will make his first start since Aug. 29 when he left after 3 1/3 innings with strained left rhomboid muscles in the shoulder blade.Royals: RHP Yordano Ventura gave up a season-high 10 hits over seven innings in a loss Friday to the White Sox. Rangel Ravelo . In the lead up - which seemed to begin the moment Mike Geiger blew the whistle in Houston last Thursday night - the Impact rumour mill went into overdrive. The speculation went into meltdown mode, of the golden nugget variety. Tony Cingrani . Its 1987 and a Brazilian playmaker, known as Mirandinha, is being paraded around St James Park to the passionate Newcastle fans. http://www.custommlbcardinalsjersey.com/...large-771q.html . "Trying to breathe," he said with a grin. Bernier stopped 42 of 43 shots on Monday night, including all 22 in a hectic middle frame, his heroic performance propelling the Leafs toward an undue point in their final game before the Christmas break. FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Even with all the new faces on the court, it was old reliable Dusty Hannahs who helped Arkansas when it needed it the most.Hannahs scored 23 points to lead six players in double figures as the re-tooled Razorbacks (1-0) opened their season with a 92-83 win over IPFW on Friday night.The senior led Arkansas with an average of 16.5 points per game a year ago, but coach Mike Anderson added a trio of top junior college recruits in a push for immediate improvement following a disappointing 16-16 record last season.Despite the new-look roster, it was Hannahs who once again took on a leading role when the Razorbacks fell behind by six points to the Mastodons (0-1) in the first half. He finished 7 of 17 from the field and 8 of 10 on free throws.Thats the way its supposed to be, Anderson said. ... Those (older) guys have got to show these guys the way.Daryl Macon, one of Arkansas junior college newcomers, added 13 points while Anton Beard had 12. Preseason Southeastern Conference Player of the Year Moses Kingsley finished with nine points, nine rebounds and seven blocks despite being in foul trouble in the first half.Jaylen Barford, Dustin Thomas and Manuale Watkins finished with 10 points each for the Razorbacks.John Konchar led IPFW with 17 points, one of five in double figures. Kason Harrell added 14 points, while Mo Evans and Bryson Scott had 13 each and Xzavier Taylor 12 for the Mastodons.We came here to win the game, IPFW coach Jon Coffman said. Im obviously very disappointed.The Mastodons led by as many as six points in the first half, taking a 36-30 lead after a 3-pointer by Evans. The shot lifted IPFW to 6 of 10 on 3-pointers, but they were 0 for 8 from behind the arc after that to end the half.Arkansas took advantagee of the cold-shooting stretch, answering with an 18-4 run to go up 48-40 late in the half. Genesis Cabrera. Hannahs had a 3-pointer and Watkins added a basket on the break to cap the run.We got kind of stagnant at times, but we just kept playing our game and got the pace back up to our liking, Hannahs said. I thought we were at our strength, obviously, when we were running and pushing the ball against them.BIG PICTUREDespite earning the season-opening win over the preseason pick to win the Summit League, Arkansas exits the game with continued questions about its rebounding ability and defensive play. A year after finishing 247th in the country by allowing opponents to average 74.7 points per game, the Razorbacks were outrebouned 45-39 -- allowing 21 offensive rebounds by IPFW and 21 second-chance points.JUNIOR COLLEGE IMPACTMacon and Barford were the top two junior college recruits in the country last season, and they both paid immediate dividends on Friday night. In addition to his 13 points, Macon also had seven rebounds, five assist and four steals, while Barford added five rebounds and four assists.TIP-INSKingsley scored seven of his points in the second half, helping the Razorbacks outscore the Mastodons 52-22 in the paint ... The seniors seven blocks were one off his career of eight, which came against Tennessee Tech last season ... IPFW was scoreless on fast-break points and was outscored 24-0 on the break.UP NEXTThe Mastodons return to action on Sunday when they host Kenyon.Arkansas remains at home when it hosts Southern Illinois on Monday night.---More AP college basketball: http://collegebasketball.ap.org ' ' '