KANSAS CITY -- Thanks to early offense and some tightrope pitching from the bullpen, the Athletics have managed to rid themselves of another unwanted streak.

By hanging on by their fingernails for a 5-4 victory over the Royals on Saturday, Oakland clinched a series win for the first time this season. The A’s have taken the first two games of the weekend set at Kauffman Stadium after arriving in Kansas City 0-10 in series competition on the season.

“We know where we are, the hole we dug ourselves,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said. “It definitely does feel good to get our first series win, especially the way we did it. Our bullpen really did a great job tonight.”

Neither team could score after the fourth and the Royals certainly had more opportunities. Kansas City loaded the bases in the seventh, put two on in the eighth and two more on in the ninth.

The Oakland bullpen bent but didn’t break.

The Royals wound up stranding 15 runners for the night and were just 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position. But whenever an Oakland reliever had to make a big pitch in a high-leverage situation, he got the desired result.

Oakland starter Ken Waldichuk had a rough fourth inning as Kansas City rallied from a 5-1 deficit to close within a run. Waldichuk went back out for the fifth and promptly walked the leadoff hitter. But then he gained his second wind by striking out the next three and leaving after throwing 114 pitches. Waldichuk's pitch count was high partially due to the six walks that he allowed.

“I really wanted to get through five and help out the bullpen,” Waldichuk said. “I was battling a lot with command. But after I walked [Royals second baseman Michael Massey] leading off the fifth and [Kotsay] left me in, I was like ‘Ok, it’s go time. I need to finish this.’”

Kotsay said he let Waldichuk work the fifth with a high pitch count because he was leery of going to a heavily worked bullpen too early. Rico Garcia delivered a clean sixth inning and Richard Lovelady, Sam Moll and Zach Jackson navigated through traffic over the last three frames.

“We made pitches when we had to and it feels great to come out on top,” Kotsay said.

The A’s jumped on Kansas City starter Brady Singer with Esteury Ruiz delivering a two-run single in the second. JJ Bleday continued his hot hitting with a double and a homer, and Ryan Noda ignited a two-run rally with an RBI triple in the fourth.

Noda has reached base nine times through the opening two games of the series, including four extra-base hits.

“Just getting some good pitches and not missing them,” Noda said.

The A’s have a chance for a series sweep on Sunday. But no matter what, they can breathe a sigh of relief that they have taken a series after dropping 10 straight.

“It just shows we can win,” Noda said. “Hopefully, we can use this for momentum and keep it rolling.”