Kansas City Royals
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Kansas City Royals OFFICIAL GAME NOTES Kansas City Royals (28-18) @ Chicago Cubs (25-21) Wrigley Field - Friday, May 29, 2015 Game #47 - Road Game #23 Fox Sports Kansas City (HD) & KCSP Radio (610 Sports) UPCOMING PITCHING PROBABLES Saturday, May 30: @ Chicago Cubs: RHP Yordano Ventura (3-4, 4.64) vs. RHP Jason Hammel (3-2, 2.98), 6:15 p.m., FOX Network (HD) & 610 Sports Sunday, May 31: @ Chicago Cubs: RHP Jeremy Guthrie (4-3, 6.70) vs. LHP Tsuyoshi Wada (0-0, 2.70), 1:20 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Monday, June 1: Royals’ Charity Golf Tournament at Shadow Glen Country Club Tuesday, June 2 vs. Cleveland Indians: RHP Carlos Carrasco (6-4, 4.24) vs. LHP Jason Vargas (3-2, 5.16), 7:10 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Wednesday, June 3 vs. Cleveland Indians: RHP Corey Kluber (3-5, 3.52) vs. RHP Chris Young (4-1, 1.55), 7:10 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Thursday, June 4 vs. Cleveland Indians: RHP Trevor Bauer (4-1+ tonight) vs. RHP Edinson Volquez (4-3+ today), 7:10 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Today’s game is being broadcast in Kansas City on KCSP Radio (610 Sports) and the Royals Radio Network with Denny Matthews, Steve Physioc and Steve Stewart, while Don Free controls the dials as the producer/engineer...today’s game is being televised on Fox Sports Kansas City with Ryan Lefebvre and Rex Hudler...the pre and postgame shows on FSKC, Royals Live, are hosted by Joel Goldberg and Jeff Montgomery. Royals vs. Cubs SWEPT IN THE BRONX--Kansas City’s first official losing streak of the 2015 season has reached four The Royals invade Wrigley Field for the first time since the games as the Royals arrive in Wrigley Field after a 3-game sweep at the hands of the Yankees, capped by 2001 season...Kansas City trails its all-time work against the Cubs a 4-2 setback on Wednesday...it marked the first time KC had been swept in a series this year and the first by an 8-10 count, with the last work occurring when the Royals 4-game losing streak for the Royals since August 28-31 of last year...the home run ball was the enemy on took two of three while hosting in 2011...Kansas City is 3-6 all- Wednesday, as starter Chris Young was touched for a solo shot from Brian McCann that tied the game in time here at the corner of Clark and Addison. Date Site Score WP LP Att. the second and then a 3-run homer by Alex Rodriguez in the third...Young surrendered one more earned 5/29 @ Chi run (4) on Wednesday than he had allowed in his previous 34.2 innings on the year entering the contest... 5/30 @ Chi Kansas City jumped out to its first lead in four days when Mike Moustakas crushed his fifth homer in the 5/31 @ Chi first inning, but that would be the end of the scoring until KC forged an unearned tally in the eighth... Alcides Escobar had a 3-hit contest, while Kendrys Morales added a pair of knocks...the 4-game slide, coupled with Minnesota’s recent hot streak has seen the Twins catch Kansas City in the A.L. Central standings with identical 28-18 ledgers, while the Tigers are lurking 1 1/2 games back with a 28-21 mark. OFFENSE M.I.A. DURING WIN DROUGHT--This 4-game losing streak has seen one of the top statistical offenses in Major League Baseball collect only five runs during the slide...the Royals had won five straight heading into last Sunday’s homestand finale at home against the Cardinals, but dropped a 6-1 contest to St. Louis that started a stretch in which KC plated just one run in three straight games and then a pair of tallies in Wednesday’s loss...all told, in the 4-game slide Kansas City has batted .197 (26-for-132) with a .243 on-base pct. and just a .258 slugging pct. SERIES STREAK HALTED--By being swept in Yankee Stadium, the Royals suffered their first series defeat since losing two of three to the White Sox in a rain- shortened series on April 23-26 down on the south side of town...Kansas City won the first game of that visit, then had the second game suspended with the score tied at 2-2...the scheduled third game of the series was postponed on April 25 and then the Royals dropped both the suspended and regularly scheduled contest on April 26... KC had gone 6-0 with two splits in the last eight series prior to arriving in Yankee Stadium...overall, the Royals are 10-3 with two splits this year. A RETURN TO INTERLEAGUE--The forgettable stop in the Big Apple was the only interruption in an 11-game stretch where the Royals are playing eight games against National League competition...KC has picked up where it left off in 2014 against the Senior Circuit, going 4-1 out of the chute this year by sweeping the Reds in a 2-game set last week and then going 2-1 last weekend at home vs. St. Louis...Kansas City was a Major League best and club record 15-5 against the N.L. last year when play was centered around the N.L. West. PITCHERS GET INTO THE SWING OF THINGS--The return to Interleague play and the first stop in a National League park merits a look back into the batting history of Kansas City pitchers, with Edinson Volquez kicking it off today...the veteran righthander, who spent his last seven seasons in the N.L., brings a lifetime .085 average into today’s play (23-for-271), with a home run and 43 sacrifice bunts...the roundtripper was a 3-run shot in Petco Park in 2013 off of Toronto’s Ramon Ortiz... Yordano Ventura will bring a 1-for-4 mark into Saturday’s start and then Jeremy Guthrie will take a .089 average (5-for-56) with 5 sac’s when he hurls on Sunday... since the advent of Interleague play in 1997, KC hurlers are hitting .127 (46-for-361) with one home run hit by Zack Greinke on June 10, 2005 at Arizona. TODAY’S STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Edinson Volquez (4-3, 2.77) vs. RHP Jake Arrieta (4-4, 2.95) 2015 2014 Career 2015 2014 Career Edinson Volquez vs. Cubs 2-0 1-0 7-0 Major League Record 4-3 (2.77 ERA) 13-7 70-62 Jake Arrieta vs. Royals 0-1 1-1 2-3 Major League Record 4-4 (2.95 ERA) 10-5 38-36 EDINSON VOLQUEZ takes the hill for his 10th start of the season, his 195th career start and 201st outing...a seven-year veteran of the National League, he makes his 11th start and 12th appearance against the Cubs...the 31-year-old righty signed a two-year deal with KC on December 29, 2014 with a mutual option for the 2017 season. WINNING IN THE RAIN--Edinson earned the win in Saturday’s rain-shortened 3-2 Volquez’s 2015 starts contest against St. Louis, closing out the sixth inning ahead of a one-hour, 10-minute wait DATE OPPONENT SCORE IP H R ER HR BB SO TP-K LEFT 4/9 vs. Chicago W, 4-1 8.0 4 1 1 0 1 5 95-58 4-1 before the contest was called...Volky allowed a pair of runs, four hits, three walks and a hit 4/15 @ Minnesota L, 1-3 7.2 5 3 3 1 1 7 106-77 1-3 batter with a strikeout to gain credit for his third career complete game, second vs. St. Louis 4/20 vs. Minnesota W, 7-1 7.0 5 1 1 0 1 5 99-66 4-1 4/26 @ Chicago L, 3-5 5.2 5 5 1 0 2 6 90-64 3-4 and first of the abbreviated variety...he had three 1-2-3 frames, facing his biggest threat in 5/2 vs. Detroit L, 1-2 6.0 5 2 2 0 3 4 102-63 0-2 the fifth, when the Redbirds scored a run and loaded the bases before Volquez induced an 5/7 vs. Cleveland ND, 7-4 3.0 2 3 3 0 6 3 78-41 4-3 5/12 @ Texas ND, 7-6 5.0 6 4 4 1 3 3 82-48 4-3 inning-ending 4-6-3 double play...the win was his second straight and fourth of the year...it 5/17 vs. New York W, 6-0 7.0 3 0 0 0 0 5 101-63 6-0 was the 14th complete game in Royals history of less than 8.0 innings and first since 2005. 5/23 vs. St. Louis W, 3-2 6.0 4 2 2 0 3 1 84-53 3-2 2015 Totals 4-3, 2.77 55.1 39 21 17 2 20 39 837-533 64% HITS SCARCE IN VOLKY STARTS--Opposing hitters have had little success against Career Totals 70-62, 4.35 1098.0 1035 575 531 111 540 974 - - Volquez as he enters today with the third-lowest opponents’ batting average (.195) in the A.L., allowing only 39 hits in his nine starts...he has the fourth-best hits per 9.0 innings rate (6.34) and the seventh-best WHIP (1.07) among qualifying hurlers in the league..