SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) – Dan Straily worked four promising innings, Derek Norris and Michael Taylor homered and the Oakland Athletics and Kansas City Royals played to a 9-9 tie in nine innings Friday.

A’s manager Bob Melvin said before the game starters Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin are in “jeopardy” of beginning the season on the disabled list with arm injuries.

Straily, who won 10 games as a rookie, allowed three hits and one run, an Alex Gordon homer.

Norris hit a three-run homer in the second off Danny Duffy, while Taylor connected for his third in the fourth. Billy Burns went 3 for 4 and stole his Cactus League-leading eighth base.

Duffy gave up five runs on five hits, three walks and a hit batter in two innings.

Justin Maxwell went 3 for 4 with a double and drove in two Royals’ runs. Francisco Pena homered on a full-count pitch with two out in the ninth to tie the game.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Chiefs filled one of their pressing needs by signing former Raiders defensive tackle Vance Walker to a three-year contract on Friday.

The Chiefs also announced the signing of linebacker Frank Zombo, who had agreed to terms earlier in the week. Zombo appeared in 16 games for Kansas City last season.

Walker was a seventh-round pick of the Falcons in 2009, and provided valuable depth while appearing in 58 games for them over his first four seasons. He started 15 games for the Raiders last season, making 29 tackles and three sacks.

Walker figures to replace Tyson Jackson, who signed with Atlanta in free agency.

GOODYEAR, Ariz. (AP) – Eric Hosmer homered and doubled for the Kansas City Royals in a 12-6 loss to the Cleveland Indians on Thursday.

Hosmer homered off starter Zach McAllister and later doubled and scored against minor leaguer Bryan Price.

Omar Infante and Jason Donald also hit doubles for the Royals.

The Indians took advantage of an errant pickoff throw by Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie. Michael Bourn led off with a walk, then Nick Swisher singled and drew the wild throw by Guthrie to first. Bourn scored on the error, and Jason Kipnis had an RBI single.

Veteran catcher Ramon Hernandez, trying to make the Royals as a non-roster player, put Kansas City ahead 5-3 in the sixth with an RBI single.

Elliot Johnson, also a non-roster player, hit his second home run for the Indians. Matt Carson also connected.

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Andrew Wiggins scored 30 points, Wayne Selden Jr. had 14 and No. 10 Kansas pulled away in the final seconds of overtime for a 77-70 victory over Oklahoma State in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament.

Naadir Tharpe made four foul shots in the extra session to seal the victory for the top-seeded Jayhawks (24-8), who will face fourth-seeded Iowa State in Friday night’s semifinals.

The No. 16 Cyclones, behind a big game from Melvin Ejim, beat No. 5 seed Kansas State 91-85.

Phil Forte briefly gave the Cowboys a 70-68 lead with a 3-pointer a minute into overtime, but the Jayhawks scored the final seven points, all but two of them coming at the foul line.

Le’Bryan Nash scored 19 points to lead the Cowboys (21-12). Forte added 16 points and Marcus Smart finished with 14, though he missed all three of his shots in the extra session.

The Wildcats are out of the Big 12 Championship Tournament after a 91-85 loss to Iowa State in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Kansas State had four plays score in double digits, led by Marcus Foster with 21. Nearly half of the Wildcats 85 points came off of the bench as Shane Southwell added 19 points off the bench and Nigel Johnson had a career high 17 points off the bench.

There were eight lead changes in the game and Kansas State had an opportunity to tie the game up with just over a minute to play down 85-87.

A missed lay up by Iowa State’s Melvin Ejim led to a fast break by Southwell. Racing towards the basket Southwell lost control of the ball turning it back over to Iowa State.

Southwell said after the game the he had tunnel vision on the fast break.

“I’m thinking, down two, get to the basket get a layup or get fouled. I only saw Niang and a couple of people traveling back by Iowa State. So in my mind I’m thinking get to the basket, he don’t really want to foul, he has four fouls. At the last minute I heard Nigel yell my name and then I looked and I tried to pass it to him when I brought it around and I lost the ball.”

Southwell said that if he would have been a little more patient he could have gotten the ball to Johnson and the way Johnson was shooting he had confidence he could have made the shot.

The Wildcats will now wait to find out their fate in the NCAA tournament when the tournament selection committee releases the bracket on Sunday.

PHOENIX, Ariz. (AP) – Yordano Ventura struck out six in 4 1-3 innings and Salvador Perez hit a two-run home run, leading the Kansas City Royals to a 3-1 win over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday.

Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas continued his torrid spring, going 3 for 3 with a solo homer, double and single to raise his batting average to .500 in 11 games. Moustakas has four home runs and 13 RBIs.

The Royals scored three runs in the sixth inning off A’s reliever Sean Doolittle. Billy Butler doubled with one out and scored on Perez’s two-out long ball.

Perez is 10 for 21 in spring training and returned after missing most of Monday’s and all of Tuesday’s game with a bruised left palm.

Scott Kazmir silenced the Royals for four innings in his second start of the spring. He has not allowed a run and only three hits over seven innings. He has five strikeouts.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Injured Kansas center Joel Embiid remains unlikely to return before the second weekend of the NCAA tournament, even though he participated in a light shoot-around Wednesday.

Jayhawks coach Bill Self said the 7-footer’s status hasn’t changed since Monday, when Embiid received a second opinion on his back from a specialist in Los Angeles. The doctor confirmed the initial diagnosis of a stress fracture and prescribed rest and rehabilitation.

Self also refuted reports that he was “100 percent” confident Embiid would play this postseason. Self would only say that Embiid was a longshot to play the first weekend of the NCAA tournament.

Tenth-ranked Kansas has a bye to the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament, where it will face Oklahoma State or Texas Tech on Thursday.

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Chiefs signed linebacker Joe Mays and offensive lineman Joe Linkenbach on Wednesday, while also confirming the signing of defensive back and special teams standout Husain Abdullah.

Linkenbach joined the Colts as an undrafted free agent in 2010, and started all 16 games the following season. He only started eight games in 2012 and five last season.

His ability to play tackle and guard on both sides of the line made him appealing to the Chiefs, who lost left tackle Branden Albert and guards Jon Asamoah and Geoff Schwartz on Tuesday.

Mays could take the place of Akeem Jordan, who also became a free agent. He was drafted by current Chiefs coach Andy Reid when he was in Philadelphia in 2008.

Abdullah had agreed to a contract on Tuesday.

The Kansas State Wildcats will face off against the Iowa State Cyclone’s Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship Tournament at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

Both teams earned first round byes. Iowa State earned the 4th seed by finishing 11-7 in conference play. K-State earned the 5th seed by finishing 10-8 in conference play.

K-State and Iowa State split in the regular season with both teams winning at home. Despite scoring a season high 22 points off of turnovers against the Cyclones the Wildcats fell at Iowa State 81-75 on January 25th.

On March 1st Iowa State made the trip to Bramlage and was shut down offensively by K-State, shooting just 34.8 percent, including 25.9 percent from three point range. The Wildcats picked up the win 80-73.

Thursday’s game is scheduled for an 11:30 a.m. tip off at the Sprint Center. The broadcast can be heard on 1420 AM, The Talk of JC, starting at 10:30 a.m..

 

 

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The NCAA tournament selection committee will have some tough choices this weekend.

It must determine where to seed Kansas in lieu of Joel Embiid’s back injury. It must evaluate where to put unbeaten Wichita State and how it views Syracuse, which has lost four of its last six. It must still find the top 36 at-large teams in a bracket that committee chairman Ron Wellman believes will be the most wide open he can remember.

And all of it must be finished by Sunday night.

Wellman told reporters Wednesday that committee members will be in touch with schools about injuries and may even come up with multiple brackets as a backup plan to help them deal with Sunday afternoon games.

Committee meetings begin Wednesday afternoon.