KANSAS CITY -- Here are three takeaways from the Royals’ 6-4 win over the A’s on Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium.

Dozier’s HR, go-ahead hit

The Royals pushed across two runs in the seventh to break a 4-4 tie, and the key hit came from Hunter Dozier, who already had hit a two-run homer earlier, his 23rd.

• Box score

The Royals loaded the bases off Blake Treinen on an infield hit by Nicky Lopez, a single by Whit Merrifield and a walk to Jorge Soler. Dozier singled in a run, and a double-play grounder plated another.

Dozier went after the first pitch from Treinen and singled sharply to left. Dozier said that was the plan, to attack early.

“He has a really good sinker,” Dozier said. “He’s a tough pitcher. I was just trying to get something good to hit and get the guy in from third any way I could. Yeah, he’s a tough guy to face.

“But yeah, you fall behind on that guy and it’s hard. So attack early.”

Royals manager Ned Yost said he was impressed with everyone’s approach in that inning, including Soler, who walked on a 3-2 pitch just off the plate.

“Good, elite power hitters don’t swing at those pitches,” Yost said. “They know not to.”

Phillips’ big catch

Royals fans have seen the great arm and great speed defensively from outfielder Brett Phillips, and they saw it again on Wednesday.

The A’s had two runners on and two out in the second inning, already with a 2-0 lead, when Matt Chapman laced a liner into the right-center gap.

But Phillips got a tremendous jump, rushed in, dived, and caught it for the third out. The ball seemed to pop out of his glove momentarily before he secured it.

“It just held up long enough for me to make that split decision to dive there,” Phillips said. “Luckily I came up with a hit. It was just one of those things where I just let my athleticism take over.”

Indeed. Statcast rated it a five-star catch with a 10 percent catch probability. It was the Royals’ third five-star catch this season (Terrance Gore and Billy Hamilton made the others).

What was really impressive was Phillips’ jump -- it was 7.2 feet better than the average MLB jump this season.

“That’s thanks to our positioning department,” Phillips said. “They do a really good job. It allowed me [the chance] to catch that ball. It stems from just being ready. If I’m not in the right spot, I can’t catch it.”

A’s manager Bob Melvin knew the catch was a possible game-changer.

“We get some guys on base and we tend to do some damage in that part of the order,” Melvin said. “Give [Phillips] some credit, it was a great play. When it was hit, I didn’t think he was going to get to it.”

Bullpen comes through

Royals starter Jakob Junis grinded through six innings for the Royals, giving up seven hits and four runs. And then Yost turned to his bullpen, which was short-handed after the 19-4 shelling on Monday and more usage Tuesday in a tight 2-1 loss.

In stepped left-hander Tim Hill, who usually doesn’t go multiple innings. But after a snappy 1-2-3 seventh, Yost sent HIll back out for the eighth. Hill responded with another 1-2-3 frame.

"He came in and did a great job,” Yost said. “He got [Marcus] Semien in the seventh. He went boom, boom, boom. Then I'm like, 'We're sending him right back out. He's the freshest guy we got.' Again, he got us through the inning 1-2-3 in fine fashion. He threw the ball extremely well.

"It was set-up for Timmy right there. I mean, it was set-up perfectly for him. Again, we were kind of running into the dilemma where [Scott] Barlow has been in three out of four. [Kevin] McCarthy has been in three out of four, and I was going to definitely use him to win the game if I needed to. The way their lineup was set [two lefties in the eighth], it was just perfect for Timmy.”

Ian Kennedy then pitched the ninth for his 23rd save.