Manager Matt Quatraro pushes right buttons as Kansas City Royals finish sweep of A’s

Man, there really is a stat for everything in baseball.

The Royals defeated the A’s 8-4 on Sunday, finishing a three-game sweep at Kauffman Stadium. Although he had just one at-bat, first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino had a team-high three RBIs as the Royals moved 10 games above .500 at 29-19.

Pasquantino wasn’t in the starting lineup, but with the Royals holding a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, he was called upon to pinch-hit with one out and the bases loaded. Pasquantino delivered his first career triple, a liner down the first-base line as the Royals broke the game open.

On Saturday, Royals manager Matt Quatraro told Pasquantino to button it.

That wasn’t a command to keep quiet. Quatraro thought Pasquantino didn’t need to keep the top two buttons on his jersey unbuttoned.

“I’m no fashion icon, I kind of know that for sure,” Quatraro quipped before Sunday’s game. “But when you look like that, you need somebody to say something to you.”

Pasquantino heeded his manager’s opinion mid-game on Saturday and left just one button undone. He then delivered an RBI single that snapped a zero-for-14 skid. Then came Sunday’s three-run triple, which came with Pasquantino’s jersey buttoned to the top.

“Yeah, I was fully buttoned up today,” Pasquantino said. “I looked like a businessman out there. That’s how I felt. My chain was kind of tucked in. I couldn’t even feel that I had it on today. So I guess we found something that’s working right now. We’ll stick with it.”

Pasquantino is now hitting .667 since the fashion change. (See? A stat for everything.)

“Well, I had both buttons up today,” Pasquantino corrected. “So technically speaking, hitting 1.000 with both buttons. I don’t think that’s gonna last, batting 1.000. But hey, maybe.”

Heck, Pasquantino has a 3.000 slugging percentage and has only hit triples while ditching the buttoned-down look.

When he saw the runners being waved home, Pasquantino decided to go for the triple.

“He runs like a truck,” Salvador Perez quipped. “Sorry Vinnie. Now I need to get one.”

Pasquantino took Perez’s joke as a compliment.

“I’m gonna assume like an 18-wheeler going downhill with no brakes or something,” Pasquantino said. “So thank you, Salvy.”

Missed previous games of the series?

Game 1: Royals ride pair of homers to 6-3 victory over Athletics

Game 2: Seth Lugo fans 10 as Royals beat A’s 5-3

That’s 29 and counting

The Royals are 10 games above .500 for the first time in a season since 2015, when they won the World Series.

“We will go day by day, you know?” Perez said. “Hopefully this thing continues that way. ... I’ve told you guys before that in the big leagues, you have to prepare yourself to make it to the playoffs. Everyone has to think that way. If you don’t think that way, you’re in the wrong sport.

It’s the Royals’ second-best 48-game start to a season, trailing only the 1976 Royals (30-18). The Royals swept the Athletics for the first time since June 26-28, 2015, in Oakland.

Sensational Brady Singer

Starting pitcher Brady Singer struck out nine over six innings. He allowed one run on six hits and his ERA fell to 2.70 on the season.

Singer got 11 swings and misses from the A’s batters and bounced back from allowing four runs in five innings last week against the Mariners in Seattle.

“I felt good,” Singer said. “Freddy (Fermin) had a really good game plan back there. I just executed what he called. He had great game and I had to lean on him and he did a tremendous job.”

Singer came up with big pitches at key moments.

With the Royals holding a one-run lead, Singer worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning, then struck out Oakland’s Max Schuemann with two on and two out in the sixth.

The Royals scored twice in the fifth and four times in the sixth and pulled away from the A’s.

What’s next: The Royals open a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers on Monday at Kauffman Stadium. Michael Wacha will start for the Royals. The Tigers haven’t announced a starter.