Kansas City Royals OFFICIAL GAME NOTES Kansas City Royals (53-102) @ Detroit Tigers (63-92) Comerica Park - Sunday, September 23, 2018 Game #156 - Road Game #79 Fox Sports Kansas City, KCSP Radio (610 Sports) UPCOMING PITCHING PROBABLES Monday, September 24: Off day in Cincinnati Tuesday, September 25 @ Cincinnati Reds: LHP Eric Skoglund (1-5, 5.60) vs. RHP Matt Harvey (7-9, 4.92), 5:40 p.m. (CDT), FSKC & 610 Sports Wednesday, September 26 @ Cincinnati Reds: RHP Heath Fillmyer (3-2, 4.56) vs. LHP Cody Reed (1-2, 3.66), 5:40 p.m. (CDT), FSKC & 610 Sports Today’s game is being broadcast in Kansas City on KCSP Radio (610 Sports) and the Royals Radio Network with Steve Physioc and Steve Stewart mikeside…every remaining game of the 2018 season will be televised on FSKC, with Ryan Lefebvre and Rex Hudler describing the action...Joel Goldberg and Royals’ Hall of Famer Jeff Montgomery are on board for the pre and post-game shows, Royals Live. Royals vs. Tigers ANOTHER ONE-RUN SETBACK--The Royals are just 1-5 through the first half dozen games of this Today wraps up this visit to Motown, with the Royals 1-2 final road swing, but last night’s 5-4 loss was the fourth single-tally defeat of the tour...after opening the on this stop...KC’s 10-8 mark has iced its fourth straight sea- son series over the Tigers...Kansas City is 4-5 here this year and journey with three one-run losses in Pittsburgh, a two-run eighth inning homer by Mikie Mahtook last overall possesses a 354-347 lead in all-time work but a 169-182 night gave the Tigers a 5-3 advantage...Salvador Perez pulled the Royals to within a run with his career- deficit in Motown. best tying 27th home run of the year in the ninth, but that would signal the end of the scoring...Jakob Junis Date Site Score WP LP Att. 4/2 @ Det L, 1-6 Liriano Hammel 15,476 made the start, allowing three runs on eight hits over 6.0 innings with a walk, five K’s and three wild 4/3 @ Det W, 1-0 Junis Boyd 15,083 pitches...Junis left the contest trailing 3-2, but Whit Merrifield’s second hit of the night, an RBI double in 4/20-1 @ Det L, 2-3 (10) Jimenez Keller 15,406 the eighth, tied the game...Jason Hammel had his record fall to 3-14 when Mahtook hit the two-run shot in 4/20-2 @ Det W, 3-2 Junis Greene 17,194 4/21 @ Det L, 4-12 Fiers Duffy 19,302 the home half of the eighth...fresh off a three-hit effort on Friday, Alex Gordon continued his late-season 4/22 @ Det W, 8-5 McCarthy VerHagen 19,034 resurgence with his 12th homer of the year in the fourth. 5/3 KC W, 10-6 McCarthy Bell 28,866 5/4 KC W, 4-2 Boyer Stumpf 24,648 LOSS TOTAL RISES--The struggles of the 2018 season have brought the Royals to a 100-loss campaign 5/5 KC L, 2-3 Zimmermann Hammel 20,708 for the fifth time in franchise history and the first time since 2006, with last night the 102nd setback...KC 5/6 KC W, 4-2 Junis Boyd 18,424 7/23 KC L, 4-5 Wilson Maurer 18,370 needs to win four of its remaining seven games to avoid matching the club record of 106 setbacks during 7/24 KC W, 5-4 Smith Zimmermann 25,957 the 2005 campaign...Kansas City played its first 33 seasons without hitting the century mark in defeats, 7/25 KC L, 4-8 Boyd Duffy 17,382 but dropped 100 games in 2002, followed by three consecutive 100-loss seasons in 2004 (104), 2005 (106) 8/28 KC W, 6-2 Junis (C) Boyd 16,888 8/29 KC W, 9-2 Duffy Fulmer 17,091 and 2006 (100)...since the last 100-loss season, Kansas City has won two American League titles (2014 9/20 @ Det L, 8-11 Reininger López 20,282 and 2015) and were the World Champions in 2015. 9/21 @ Det W, 4-3 Kennedy Liriano 22,001 9/22 @ Det L, 4-5 Jimenez Hammel 24,815 FINAL STOP, CINCY--Kansas City will pull the curtain on the 2018 road slate with a two-game visit to 9/23 @ Det Cincinnati starting Tuesday...the Royals will get their final off day of the year tomorrow, then play 5:40 (CDT) contests on Tuesday and Wednesday...KC was swept in a two-game set at Kauffman Stadium in June, with the Royals plating only one run in the series...Kansas City has a 13-10 advantage in the all-time work since Interleague play commenced in 1997, including an 8-5 edge in Cincy. SALVY TIES CAREER BEST--Salvador Perez hit his 27th home run of the year last night, matching his career-best established last season…it was his 500th career RBI, making him one of 13 Royals to reach that milestone…he’s one of nine Royals to hit at least 25 homers in consecutive seasons, joining: Eric Hosmer (2016- 17), Carlos Beltrán (2002-03), Mike Sweeney (2000-01), Jermaine Dye (1999-2000), Bo Jackson (1989-90), Danny Tartabull (1987-88), Steve Balboni (1984-86) and John Mayberry (1972-73)…he’s the first catcher in the Majors to do it since Iván “Pudge” Rodríguez did in three-straight years (1999-2001) and Mike Piazza in eight-straight (1995-2002). EXTRA BASE ROLL--Four of Kansas City’s six hits last night went for extra bases, giving the Royals a Major League best 114 extra-base knocks since August 22, eight more than runner-up Toronto, while ranking second in slugging percentage (.471) to Tampa Bay’s .479 mark...the long ball has been a big reason, with Kansas City hitting 39 home runs since August 22, good for fourth in the A.L. in that span, behind only the Yankees (49), Oakland (42) and Toronto (40)…it’s a huge turnaround from when KC ranked last in the Majors in homers (78) and 29th in slugging percentage (.368) prior to the break. TODAY’S STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Brad Keller (8-6, 3.17) vs. LHP Daniel Norris (0-5, 5.71) 2018 2017 Career 2018 2017 Career Brad Keller vs. Tigers 0-1 - 0-1 Major League Record 8-6 (3.17 ERA) - 8-6 Daniel Norris vs. Royals - 1-1 1-2 Major League Record 0-5 (5.71 ERA) 5-8 12-17 BRAD KELLER makes the 20th start and 41st appearance of his rookie season…it’s his fifth appearance (1st start vs. Detroit)…he was acquired via trade from the Reds, who selected him from Arizona in the 2017 Rule 5 Draft, and was originally an eighth-round pick of Arizona in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft. SIX STRONG IN PITTSBURGH--Brad worked 6.0+ innings last Monday in PNC Brad’s Major League Starts Park, but was not around for the decision, a 7-6 KC loss to the Pirates…he was charged DATE OPPONENT SCORE IP H R ER HR BB SO TP-K LEFT 5/30 vs. Minnesota ND, 11-8 3.0 3 1 1 0 1 3 51-29 9-1 with four runs on 10 hits (his second most of the year), with a walk and seven K’s…he 6/5 at LA Angels L, 0-1 4.1 5 1 1 0 1 3 75-45 0-0 6/10 at Oakland ND, 2-3 5.1 5 2 2 0 4 4 85-57 2-2 allowed runs on a Corey Dickerson RBI single in the third and a two-run double by Adam 6/17 vs. Houston ND, 4-7 6.0 9 3 3 0 3 1 83-53 4-3 Frazier in the fourth…he led 5-3 in the seventh, before surrendering back-to-back singles 6/25 vs. LA Angels W, 2-0 7.0 2 0 0 0 2 6 109-67 1-0 7/1 at Seattle L, 0-1 8.0 6 1 1 0 0 3 102-64 0-1 to leadoff the frame, one of which scored after he exited…it snapped his streak of six 7/7 vs. Boston ND, 4-15 4.2 6 4 4 0 5 2 89-46 4-3 7/13 at White Sox L, 6-9 2.2 7 5 5 0 4 1 70-42 2-5 straight starts in which he allowed no more than two earned runs, including at least 7.0 7/22 vs. Minnesota W, 5-3 7.0+ 3 3 3 1 2 8 99-68 5-3 innings in his previous three, the first such streak by a Royal his age or younger since Zack 7/28 at NY Yankees-1 W, 10-5 5.2 9 4 4 1 3 1 92-51 6-4 8/2 at White Sox ND, 4-6 6.1 5 2 2 0 3 9 104-64 0-1 Greinke did it in 2004…he also recorded his first Major League hit on Monday, a single off 8/7 vs. Chicago Cubs L, 0-5 6.0 7 4 4 0 3 4 98-61 0-4 Joe Musgrove in the fifth inning, and later scored his first run on Alex Gordon’s RBI single.