KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Sean Manaea has been anything but a road warrior.

Manaea collected his first career road victory as the Oakland Athletics downed the Kansas City Royals 8-0 Wednesday night.

Manaea, who was 0-6 with a 6.44 ERA in his first eight road starts, handcuffed the Royals on three hits for five innings. After walking one and giving up two singles in the first, Manaea (6-9) limited Kansas City to one hit the next four innings.

"It's kind of been a thing for me this year, not pitching well on the road," Manaea said. "Getting that first victory on the road was awesome, especially against the Royals, who are a really good ball club. It's just big for me. So I was really happy how things turned out."

Manaea left his previous start on Aug. 29 with tightness in his shoulder blade and was on a restricted pitch count. He threw 67 pitches before turning a 5-0 lead to the bullpen.

"It didn't look like he had any time off," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "We were looking at 65 pitches and if got two outs in the fifth and got to 70 or better, I'm going to have to take him out. I'm glad he got the last batter out when he did. He deserved the win. He was real efficient. All three of his pitchers were working well, a lot of swings and misses."

Relievers John Axford, Liam Hendriks, and Chris Smith completed the four-hit shutout. The Royals did not advance a runner beyond second base.

"I thought Manaea threw the ball really excellent," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "Good fastball, good changeup, good slider. I don't think we had any real potential scoring opportunities. It was just one of those nights offensively where they shut us down."

The Royals have lost five of seven and continue to lose ground in the wild-card standings with the season winding down.

The A's widened the margin with a three-run eighth. Khris Davis had a two-run single off Brandon McCarthy, giving him six RBIs for the series. Ryon Healy's two-out single off left-hander Scott Alexander scored Davis with the final run.

Yonder Alonso picked up right where he left off Tuesday, when his pinch-hit two-run double keyed a four-run eighth as the A's rallied to win. Alonso had a broken-bat double to left field with the bases loaded in the first inning to score Danny Valencia and Stephen Vogt.

"It really wasn't about me," Alonso said. "If was about the guys in front of me getting on base."

Royals right-hander Yordano Ventura required 27 pitches in the first inning and needed another 39 in the third.

After Ventura retired the first two batters in the third on 11 pitches, the A's reeled off five consecutive hits to score three more runs. Alonso -- who else? -- started it with a single.

Ryon Healy singled, moving Alonso to third. Marcus Semien drilled a double to right, scoring both. Bruce Maxwell's single scored Semien and Brett Eibner's double to left moved Maxwell to third before Ventura struck out Joey Wendle to end the inning.

Ventura was replaced by Brian Flynn after 100 pitches in 4 1/3 innings. His unwieldy line consisted of five runs on seven hits, four walks, a hit batter, two wild pitches and five strikeouts

Left-hander Sean Manaea, who the A's acquired from the Royals for Ben Zobrist on July 28, 2015, blanked Kansas City on three singles the first five innings.

NOTES: RHP Sonny Gray, who is on the disabled list with a forearm strain, threw a 20-pitch bullpen session and is scheduled to throw 30 pitches off the mound Friday. ... The Royals have requested unconditional waivers on OF Rey Fuentes, who was the starting right fielder for the season opener. ... Royals manager Ned Yost said he is not "abandoning" Joakim Soria, who blew his seventh save Tuesday. "'Jack' has shown signs of being able to come in and boom, boom, boom, shut an inning down," Yost said. "And then he's had times where it was like last night and five or six other times where he hasn't been able to do it." ... A's manager Bob Melvin indicated 1B Matt Olson would get his first big league start Thursday. RHP Daniel Mengden and Royals RHP Edinson Volquez will start the series finale.