Kansas City Royals
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Kansas City Royals OFFICIAL GAME NOTES Kansas City Royals (44-40) @ Cleveland Indians (41-43) Progressive Field - Friday, 4th of July, 2014 Game #85 - Road Game #42 Fox Sports Kansas City (HD) & KCSP Radio (610 Sports) UPCOMING PITCHING PROBABLES Saturday, July 5 @ Cleveland Indians: RHP Jeremy Guthrie (5-6, 3.69) vs. LHP T.J. House (0-2, 4.54), 6:05 p.m. (CDT), No TV & 610 Sports Sunday, July 6 @ Cleveland Indians: LHP Danny Duffy (5-7, 2.60) vs. RHP Corey Kluber (7-6, 2.99), 12:05 p.m. (CDT), FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Monday, July 7 @ Tampa Bay Rays: RHP James Shields (8-4, 3.93) vs. RHP Jake Odorizzi (4-7, 4.18), 7:10 p.m. (CDT), FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Tuesday, July 8 @ Tampa Bay Rays: LHP Jason Vargas (8-3, 3.32) vs. LHP Erik Bedard (4-6, 4.82), 7:10 p.m. (CDT), FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Wednesday, July 9 @ Tampa Bay Rays: RHP Yordano Ventura (5-7+ tonight) vs. RHP Alex Cobb (3-6+ tonight), 7:10 p.m. (CDT), FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Tonight’s game is being broadcast in Kansas City on KCSP Radio (610 Sports) and the Royals Radio Network with Ryan Lefebvre 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 Steve Physioc and Rex Hudler on the call, while Joel Goldberg anchors Royals Live. Royals vs. Indians VARGY ON TARGET IN MINNESOTA--Kansas City kicked off this 9-game journey with a 2-1 stop in The Royals swept a brief 2-game set against the Tribe in Minneapolis, taking the finale on Wednesday by a 4-0 count...Jason Vargas recorded his eighth win of the Kauffman Stadium last month to even the season work at 3-3... year with 7.0 scoreless frames allowing only four hits and a pair of walk with five strikeouts...the Twins put KC fell in 3 of 4 games here in April...Kansas City trails the a man on second base only twice while Vargy was on the hill, each time with two outs in the inning...the all-time series by a 300-316 margin, including a 139-172 deficit here near Lake Erie, specifically 66-98 in Progressive Field. Royals plated a pair of second inning runs on run scoring hits from Mike Moustakas and Jarrod Dyson and Date Site Score WP LP Att. then tacked on tallies when Raul Ibanez homered in the eighth and Eric Hosmer singled in Alcides Escobar 4/21 @ Cle L, 3-4 McAllister Guthrie 10,789 in the ninth...Wade Davis and Greg Holland continued their late-game dominance, with Davis working 4/22 @ Cle W, 8-2 Shields Salazar 8,848 4/23 @ Cle L, 3-5 Shaw Herrera 9,311 a 1-2-3 eighth inning and Holland closing the contest out despite it not being a save situation...the result 4/24 @ Cle L, 1-5 Kluber Chen 10,440 was Kansas City’s sixth shutout of the year, but first-ever in Target Field and first in Minnesota since Mark 6/10 KC W, 9-5 Vargas Kluber 25,540 Redman went the distance in a blanking on August 29, 2006...Wednesday’s win also gave KC a 6-2 mark 6/11 KC W, 4-1 Ventura Bauer 19,938 in rubber games this year. 7/4 @ Cle 7/5 @ Cle ROAD WORK IMPRESSIVE--The 2-1 stop in Minnesota to open this journey was KC’s fourth consecutive 7/6 @ Cle 7/24 KC road series win and gave the Royals a 23-18 road ledger this year...Kansas City is now 10-2 in its last dozen 7/25 KC games away from “The K” by winning sets in St. Louis (2-0), Chicago (3-0), Detroit (3-1) and Minneapolis 7/26 KC (2-1)...a year ago after 41 road tilts the Royals were 19-22. 7/27 KC 8/29 KC HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA--As the United States celebrates its 238th birthday, the Royals and Tribe 8/30 KC meet for a second consecutive time on the 4th of July with Kansas City taking a 10-6 decision a year ago in 8/31 KC 9/22 @ Cle Kauffman Stadium...KC is 25-19 on Independence Day, its best holiday record among the major in-season 9/23 @ Cle holidays (Easter, Memorial Day and Labor Day)...luminaries born on our nation’s holiday include our 30th 9/24 @ Cle president, Calvin Coolidge, the late George Steinbrenner and playwright Neil Simon (87). AGE IS BUT A NUMBER--Newcomer Raul Ibanez has made an early impact to the club just two days into his second stint here (2001-03 as well), as he became the oldest to homer in a Royals’ uniform with his eighth inning blast on Wednesday afternoon in Target Field...at 42 years and 32 days, Ibanez supplanted Hal McRae, who at 41 years and 296 days went deep against the Indians on May 2, 1987...also on the 40-plus team home run list is Bob Boon (41 years, 204 days) and George Brett (40 years, 134 days). ESKY AND DUFF PULL MONTHLY HONORS--Kansas City’s Player and Pitcher of the Month award winners for June sponsored by Rally House are shortstop Alcides Escobar and pitcher Danny Duffy, respectively...Esky led Major League shortstops in batting average (.374) and slugging pct. (.527) in June, while pacing the American League shortstops in on-base percentage (.402), hits (34) and doubles (10)...Duffy recorded three wins in June while finishing second in the A.L. in opponents average (.168) and third with a 1.69 ERA..the opponents average is the second-lowest during June in club history and the ERA ranks third. NEXT STOP FLORIDA--Tonight opens the middle stop of this 9-game journey that will conclude with a 3-game visit to St. Pete to face the Rays...a trio of night games await the Royals who went 2-1 when Tampa Bay visited Kauffman Stadium in early April...KC is 26-42 all-time in “The Trop” but has won four of the last six there. TONIGHT’S STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Yordano Ventura (5-7, 3.26) vs. RHP Josh Tomlin (5-5, 3.78) 2014 2013 Career 2014 2013 Career Yordano Ventura vs. Twins 1-0 0-0 1-0 Major League Record 5-7 (3.26 ERA) 0-1 5-8 Josh Tomlin vs. Royals - - 5-2 Major League Record 5-5 (3.78 ERA) 0-0 28-24 YORDANO VENTURA takes the hill for his 16th start of the year and 19th of his big league career...he faces the Indians for the third time, second this season... the right-hander, who turned 23 on June 3, signed as a non-drafted free agent on October 8, 2008. RAIN SHORTENED DAY--Yordanoan abbreviated appearance last Saturday in Yordano’s 2014 starts “The K” and wound up dropping a 6-2 decision to the Angels...he was touched up for a WHEN DATE OPPONENT SCORE IP H R ER HR BB SO TP-K LEFT pair of runs in just 4.0 innings, but could not come back after play resumed 3 hours and 4/8 Tampa Bay ND, 0-1 6.0 2 0 0 0 0 6 95-62 0-0 58 minutes later...the delay denied him the opportunity to be the first KC rookie since 4/15 at Houston W, 4-2 7.0 4 2 1 1 3 7 101-66 4-2 4/20 Minnesota L, 3-8 4.0 6 4 4 0 4 6 94-56 0-4 2002 to record 5 straight quality starts...he’s looking to snap a brief 2-game slide despite 4/25 at Baltimore W, 5-0 8.0 7 0 0 0 2 8 113-75 5-0 4/30 Toronto ND, 4-2 5.0 2 0 0 0 2 4 92-57 2-0 allowing only 2 runs in each of those contests...his last win was June 17 in Detroit. 5/5 at San Diego ND, 5-6 (12) 6.0 5 3 3 1 0 10 101-72 4-3 AMONG THE TOP ROOKIES--Ventura has been one of the top rookie pitchers 5/10 at Seattle L, 1-3 6.1 6 3 3 2 4 3 96-54 1-3 5/15 Baltimore L, 1-2 6.1 7 2 2 1 1 9 104-70 1-2 in the league this year...he has recorded 10 quality starts, second-most by a rookie to 5/20 Chicago L, 6-7 6.0 7 4 4 1 0 3 100-69 2-4 the Yankees’ Masahiro Tanaka (16), while his 3.26 ERA is also second to Tanaka’s 2.27 5/26 Houston L, 2-9 2.2 7 5 5 0 3 3 74-46 0-5 6/5 St. Louis W, 3-2 6.0 7 2 2 0 2 1 91-55 3-2 mark...his 76 strikeouts are the fifth-most by a Royals rookie before the All-Star break, 6/11 Cleveland W, 4-1 7.0 6 1 1 0 0 3 85-61 4-1 and the highest total since Tom Gordon tallied 78 in 1989...should Ventura pass Gordon, 6/17 at Detroit W, 11-4 7.0 8 3 3 0 2 4 102-65 11-3 6/22 Seattle L, 1-2 7.0 6 2 2 1 2 6 101-69 1-2 he’ll have the most by a KC freshman since Steve Busby (106) in 1973...his 10 quality 6/28 Los Angeles (AL) L, 2-6 4.0 7 2 2 0 0 3 56-41 0-2 starts are halfway to the Royals’ rookie record of 20, set by righty Bob Johnson in 1970.