Young relies on veteran savvy in rebound effort

OAKLAND -- Coming off his worst start with the Royals -- seven runs in 4 2/3 innings vs. Boston -- right-hander Chris Young wasn't too concerned he'd fall into a funk.

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"It's not my first rodeo," Young said. "I've had bad games before and I'll have them again. But you come back and develop a game plan and you execute."

And that's exactly what Young did Saturday in a 3-2 win over Oakland. Young (7-3) went six strong innings, giving up just four hits and one earned run, while lowering his ERA to 2.71.

Asked how his stuff was Saturday, Young said, "It was good enough. Salvy [Perez] had a good game plan going in. I thought we executed it."

Royals manager Ned Yost was far more impressed with Young's outing.

"I thought he threw great," Yost said. "He gave up two runs -- one on the error on Esky [Alcides Escobar] and then on the error he threw to third. They didn't knock in a run off him.

"He did a good job of making them chase up and then he'd come down. Go down and then chase up. Inside and outside. He was really good today."

Video: KC@OAK: Fuld steals third, scores on throwing error

The only pitch he didn't execute was a throw to third in the first inning, when Oakland's Sam Fuld tried to swipe third base before Young even threw to home. Young stepped back off the rubber and threw wildly to third baseman Mike Moustakas, who was scrambling to get to the bag. Fuld then scored.

"I'm not used to throwing to moving targets," Young said with a grin. "I didn't set my feet. I didn't have time to set my feet. It's not one of those plays you work on."