KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Dan Straily was surrounded by trouble in the second inning when pitching coach Curt Young made a visit to the mound.

Straily went on to earn his first major league victory as Coco Crisp and Yoenis Cespedes homered to lead the Oakland Athletics to a 3-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday.

Straily (1-0), a 24th-round draft pick in 2009, held the Royals to three singles over 6 1/3 innings in his third major league start. Straily, who walked two and struck out two, pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the second inning.

The Royals loaded the bases on a single by Salvador Perez and walks to Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer. After the walk to Hosmer, Young went out to talk to Straily.

“He just came out and said, ‘Hey, what’s going on guys,’ ” Straily said. “We just needed to talk about it real quick. It was all right, make pitches and get out of this and he turned around and jogged away. I made a couple of pitches and got out of it.

“From there I found a rhythm and was able to kind of cruise through the next couple of innings.”

Chris Getz grounded out to first baseman Chris Carter to end the inning and strand the runners.

“As Curt does many times, he’s a very calming influence, especially with these younger guys,” said A’s manager Bob Melvin. “To pitch well like that in a close game, you’re up here kind of walking on egg shells and really wanting that first win. He deserved it (Thursday).

“This was the stuff we heard and talked about. He had all his pitches working. He was unpredictable. He had real good downplay on his fastball, which we haven’t seen. He was throwing to the bottom part of the zone better today. It was a good outing for him.”

Crisp, who played for the Royals in 2009, was 2-for-27 this season against Kansas City before the home run.

“It felt we were starting to grind a little harder than we should,” Melvin said. “You start digging and it doesn’t feel like anything is going to happen. At the time, that was certainly the key hit of the game and it ended up being the key hit. You get into a mode sometimes when you’re not swinging the bat, it’s like ‘Oh, here we go again,’ and you try to fight those demons.”

Crisp drilled a 2-0 pitch from Luke Hochevar deep to right. The ball hit high off a green wall beyond the fence and caromed back onto the field. It was first ruled a double, but Melvin disputed that. After the umpires viewed replays, it was changed to a home run.

Hochevar (7-11) gave up three runs and four hits in seven-plus innings. Hochevar is 0-8 with a 6.52 ERA in nine career starts against Oakland. Hochevar said he doesn’t let his record against the A’s enter his mind.

“It doesn’t matter the lineup or what my history is,” Hochevar said. “You’ve got enough to think about out there. I can’t be going out and thinking about the history.”

The A’s had only a bunt single in the fourth inning by Josh Reddick before Crisp’s home run.

Cespedes, who is hitting .368 since the All-Star break, hit his 15th home run on an 0-2 pitch from Hochevar in the seventh.

Derek Norris, Salvador Perez

Oakland’s Derek Norris (36) scores behind Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez on Thursday in a 3-0 A’s win over the Royals. AP photo

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