Kansas City Royals
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Kansas City Royals OFFICIAL GAME NOTES Kansas City Royals (69-55) @ Colorado Rockies (49-75) Coors Field - Tuesday, August 19, 2014 Game #125 - Road Game #64 Fox Sports Kansas City (HD) & KCSP Radio (610 Sports) UPCOMING PITCHING PROBABLES Wednesday, August 20 @ Colorado Rockies: LHP Danny Duffy (8-10, 2.60) vs. LHP Jorge De La Rosa (12-8, 4.32), 7:40 p.m. (CDT), FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Thursday, August 21: Off day in Arlington Friday, August 22 @ Texas Rangers: RHP Yordano Ventura (9-9, 3.48) vs. RHP Nick Tepesch (4-7, 4.15), 7:05 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Saturday, August 23 @ Texas Rangers: RHP Jeremy Guthrie (9-10, 4.48) vs. RHP Colby Lewis (8-10, 5.52), 7:05 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Sunday, August 24 @ Texas Rangers: LHP Jason Vargas (10-5, 3.17) vs. TBA, 2:05 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Monday, August 25 vs. New York Yankees (make-up): TBA vs. RHP James Shields (11-6+ tonight), 6:10 p.m., FSKC (HD), ESPN2 & 610 Sports Tonight’s game is being broadcast in Kansas City on KCSP Radio (610 Sports) and the Royals Radio Network with Royals’ Hall of Famer Denny Matthews, Steve Physioc and Steve Stewart, while Don Free controls the dials as the producer/engineer...tonight’s game is being televised in High Definition on Fox Sports Kansas City with Ryan Lefebvre and Rex Hudler, while Joel Goldberg hosts Hy-Vee Royals Live. Royals vs. Rockies VARGY LEADS KC TO SERIES WIN IN MINNY--The steady work of southpaw Jason Vargas continued These clubs met way back in games #38 and #39 on the last night as he held the Twins to a run on four hits over a 7.0-inning stint to record the 6-4 victory and give the year for Kansas City, with the Royals taking both contests in Royals their eighth consecutive series victory...Vargy, who entered last night with a streak of 14.0 consecutive Kauffman Stadium...KC now has an 11-9 edge all-time vs. the scoreless innings against Minnesota, extended it to 20 before allowing a solo homer to Oswaldo Arcia in the Rox, including a 5-7 ledger here in Coors Field, where Kansas seventh...meanwhile, the KC offense took advantage of three walks from Minnesota starter Trevor May in the City last visited in 2011. Date Site Score WP LP Att. fifth inning and parlayed the freebies into three runs, with Sal Perez picking up the big hit with a 2-run single... 5/13 KC W, 5-1 Shields Morales 15,914 Perez was forced from the game in the seventh due to a tender right knee, but relative newcomer Erik Kratz 5/14 KC W, 3-2 Vargas Chacin 27,323 made up for the All-Star’s absence with a pair of solo homers, his first career 2-homer game...the Kratz home 8/19 @ Den runs became even bigger when the Twins rallied for three run in the ninth off of reliever Aaron Crow before 8/20 @ Den Greg Holland came in to restore order and record the final two outs for his league leading 38th save of the year...all told, the catching position last night went 4-for-5 with four RBI, while Josh Willingham completed his return to Target Field with a 3-hit affair...the victory was Kansas City’s 21st in its last 26 games, turning an 8-game deficit in the A.L. Central into a 2-game advantage during that stretch...despite losing the first four games after the All-Star break, KC’s overall 21-9 post-break record and .700 winning pct. is the best in the Majors. SERIES STREAK ROLLS ON--The 3-1 stop in Minnesota gave the Royals their eighth consecutive series win, a streak that began on July 22 when the Royals rebounded from a series opening loss in Chicago to take the final two games and start this run...since then KC has won at home vs. Cleveland, Minnesota, at Oakland, at Arizona, at home vs. San Francisco, at home vs. the A’s and now in Minnesota...this is the first time the Royals have won as many as eight series in a row since Kansas City won nine straight from July 17 - August 14, 1991...last night’s win also put KC 14 games over .500 for the first time since August 9, 1994, when the club was 64- 50, but unfortunately the season actually came to an abrupt halt after a loss the following day due to the ‘94 work stoppage...a victory tonight would push the Royals 15 games over break-even for the first time since August 6, 1994, when a loss to Seattle dropped the season record to 63-48. THE SCHEDULE DWINDLING--Kansas City enters tonight with 38 games remaining on their 2014 regular season docket and a 69-55 record, which puts the Royals a season high two games up in the Central Division standings...of the 38 remaining games, 24 of them are against clubs who are currently at or below .500, including the Twins (3), the White Sox (7), Texas (6), Boston (4) and this final Interleague stop in Colorado (2)...as for remaining opponents with winning records, the Royals have six games to go with Detroit, six with Cleveland and four more with the Yankees (three in the Bronx, one in Kansas City). SUCCESSFUL INTERLEAGUE YEAR WINDING DOWN--The Royals will closeout what is already their best-ever season against National League competition with this 2-game stop in Coors Field against the Rockies...the most recent work against the National League was a 3-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants in Kauffman Stadium on August 8-10 to up Kansas City’s 2014 Interleague mark is 14-4, the best record and best winning pct. (.778) in the Majors in 2014...KC’s previous best win total against the Senior Circuit was 13-5 in 2008...this year the Royals have gone 2-0 vs. the Giants, 3-0 vs. Arizona, 2-0 vs. Colorado, 2-1 vs. San Diego, 3-1 vs. St. Louis and 1-2 vs. the Dodgers. TONIGHT’S STARTING PITCHERS: RHP James Shields (11-6, 3.29) vs. LHP Tyler Matzek (2-8, 5.50) 2014 2013 Career 2014 2013 Career James Shields vs. Rockies 1-0 - 1-1 Major League Record 11-6 (3.29 ERA) 13-9 111-88 Tyler Matzek vs. Royals First career appearance Major League Record 2-8 (5.50 ERA) - 2-8 JAMES SHIELDS makes his team-high 27th start of the season, his 278th career start and 279th overall appearance...he faces Colorado for the second time this year and the third time in his career...he was acquired by the Royals as the centerpiece in a 7-player deal with Tampa Bay on December 9, 2012. NO DECISION IN COMEBACK WIN--James made a third straight start against a James’ 2014 Starts Bay Area club last Thursday at home, working 6.0 innings against Oakland in a contest DATE OPPONENT SCORE IP H R ER HR BB SO TP-K LEFT the Royals had to rally for a 7-3 win...he was charged with 3 runs on 7 hits and a walk 3/31 at Detroit ND, 3-4 6.1 5 3 3 1 1 3 106-71 3-1 with 5 K’s, but left the game down 3-2 due to a “sun ball” in the outfield that dropped and 4/6 Chicago L, 1-5 7.0 5 1 1 0 0 6 102-65 0-1 4/12 at Minnesota L, 1-7 5.2 6 7 1 2 3 5 115-69 1-7 plated a pair of runs...the offense extricated the hook with a 5-spot in the seventh. 4/17 at Houston W, 5-1 8.0 4 1 1 0 2 12 107-64 5-1 STRONG OF LATE--“Juego G” has been surging in recent weeks, posting his best 4/22 at Cleveland W, 8-2 6.0 6 2 1 0 1 9 106-65 6-2 4/27 at Baltimore W, 9-3 7.0 3 2 2 1 2 6 101-69 8-2 stretch of the season...in 8 starts since July 7, Shields has gone 3-2 with the A.L.’s third-best 5/2 Detroit L, 2-8 6.1 12 8 7 1 1 3 105-68 2-6 ERA among starters (1.94) and a .223 opponents’ average...it’s a far cry from his eight starts 5/7 at San Diego W, 8-0 7.0 7 0 0 0 2 4 118-73 7-0 5/13 Colorado W, 5-1 7.0 5 1 1 0 0 8 98-75 4-1 between May 24 and July 1, when he recorded a 5.66 ERA and opponents hit .324 against 5/18 Baltimore W, 8-6 7.0 9 3 3 0 1 3 99-64 8-3 him with 10 home runs...since 2012, his best numbers have come in baseball's unofficial 5/24 at Los Angeles ND, 7-4 (13) 6.0 9 4 4 2 2 4 112-71 4-4 5/29 at Toronto ND, 8-6 (10) 7.0 8 6 6 3 0 6 108-72 5-6 second half, as he’s 18-9 with a 2.80 ERA and .220 opponents' average.