Kansas City Royals
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Kansas City Royals OFFICIAL GAME NOTES Los Angeles Angels (44-33) @ Kansas City Royals (40-38) Kauffman Stadium - Friday, June 27, 2014 Game #79 - Home Game #41 Fox Sports Kansas City (HD) & KCSP Radio (610 Sports) UPCOMING PITCHING PROBABLES Saturday, June 28 vs. Los Angeles Angels: LHP Hector Santiago (0-7, 4.41) vs. RHP Yordano Ventura (5-6, 3.20), 1:10 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Sunday, June 29 vs. Los Angeles Angels: LHP C.J. Wilson (8-6, 3.70) vs. RHP Jeremy Guthrie (5-6, 3.75), 1:10 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Monday, June 30 @ Minnesota Twins: LHP Danny Duffy (4-7, 2.69) vs. RHP Yohan Pino (0-1, 6.30), 7:10 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Tuesday, July 1 @ Minnesota Twins: RHP James Shields (8-3, 3.79) vs. RHP Ricky Nolasco (4-6, 5.74), 7:10 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Wednesday, July 2 @ Minnesota Twins: LHP Jason Vargas (7-3+ tonight) vs. RHP Kevin Correia (4-8+ tonight), 12:10 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Tonight’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...tonight’s game is being televised in High Definition on Fox Sports Kansas City with Ryan Lefebvre and Rex Hudler on the call, while Joel Goldberg and Jeff Montgomery anchor Royals Live. Royals vs. Halos BRUISING WAY TO LOSE--The Royals dropped the rubber game of the Dodgers’ 3-game visit to “The Kansas City dropped 2 of 3 to the Angels in Anaheim in K” on Wednesday when A.J. Ellis was hit by a Wade Davis pitch with the bases loaded to force in the late-May, the lone win a 13-inning marathon in the middle game tie-breaking run in a 5-4 KC setback...Davis, who had not been scored upon since April 23, had his 22.1 of the set...KC trails the all-time series by a 271-282 margin, including a 126-145 deficit in Kansas City, 112-126 in “The K.” inning scoreless streak halted when he loaded the bases on two hits and a walk before plunking Ellis...the Date Site Score WP LP Att. loss was Kansas City’s sixth in the last seven games and ran the homestand mark to 1-5 with this weekend 5/23 @ Ana L, 1-6 Wilson Duffy 35,082 set remaining...the game starting promising enough when Lorenzo Cain homered off of Dan Haren to 5/24 @ Ana W, 7-4 (13) Crow Morin 42,140 5/25 @ Ana L, 3-4 Kohn Collins 36,114 open the contest, his third blast of the year, first as a leadoff man...James Shields was the starter for the 6/27 KC Royals, allowing four runs on seven hits over 7.0 innings and departing with the score deadlocked...Cain 6/28 KC and Mike Moustakas each had a pair of hits, while Jarrod Dyson hammered his first home run in 277 6/29 KC at bats with a solo shot to open the fifth...a week ago yesterday, Kansas City arrived at Comerica Park in Detroit with a 1 1/2-game lead in the A.L. Central, but this current drought coupled with the Tigers not losing since that day has made the deficit 4 1/2 games entering tonight. CLOSE CALLS THE NORM--In most cases during this 1-6 drought, Kansas City has been one swing away from turning frowns upside down, as the club has gone 1-4 in one-run games over the last week...the Royals have played four 2-1 contests since a week ago yesterday, losing three of those, while also dropping a 5-4 affair on Wednesday night to the Dodgers...as if the one-run decisions haven’t been frustrating enough, the other two games in this stretch have been decided by only two runs, with the Royals winning a 5-3 decision and losing a 7-5 contest...KC is just 8-16 in one-run games this year after winning an American League best 31 such affairs in 2013. CAIN HITS GAME OPENING BOMB--Lorenzo Cain has only made four starts out of the leadoff spot, but he has adapted well while Nori Aoki, the leadoff man for 64 games this year, heals on the disabled list...Cain had hit .333 (6-for-18) and on Wednesday hit a first game-opening homer, taking Dan Haren deep to left- center in the home half of the first...it was the first to leadoff a game for Kansas City since Alex Gordon went deep on September 11, 2013 in Cleveland...Cain’s blast was the 87th in franchise history. KC ROTATION AMONG ELITE--The Royals enter tonight with the only rotation in baseball that features five starters with an ERA of 3.79 or better...the group begins with Danny Duffy (2.69), followed in ERA order by tonight’s starter Jason Vargas (3.16), Yordano Ventura (3.20), Jeremy Guthrie (3.75) and James Shields (3.79)...there are five clubs with four starters who possess ERA’s over 3.79 or better (Detroit, the Dodgers, Seattle, St. Louis and Washington), while seven other teams have three such starters (the Angels, Oakland, Miami, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Houston and the Chicago Cubs). ROAD WORK AHEAD--This weekend will pull the curtain on a 9-game stay as the Royals will charter out of town on Sunday evening for a 9-game, 10-day journey through Minnesota, Cleveland and Tampa Bay...the trip begins on Monday night in Target Field, as KC attempts to avenge a 3-game sweep at the hands of the Twins during the frigid days of April...following a Wednesday matinee in Minny, Kansas City will travel to Cleveland and take next Thursday off before opening a holiday weekend set against the Tribe, another place KC didn’t fare well in April, going 1-3...the trip concludes with a 3-game stop in “The Trop” where the Royals were 3-1 last year. TONIGHT’S STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Matt Shoemaker (5-1, 3.42) vs. LHP Jason Vargas (7-3, 3.16) 2014 2013 Career 2014 2013 Career Matt Shoemaker vs. Royals 0-0 - 0-0 Major League Record 5-1 (3.42 ERA) 0-0 5-1 Jason Vargas vs. Angels 0-0 - 5-4 Major League Record 7-3 (3.16 ERA) 9-8 58-61 JASON VARGAS takes the hill for his 17th start of the season, the 171st of his career and 191st overall appearance...an Angel last season, he faces his former team for the second time this season and 15th in his career...the 31-year old signed a four-year free agent contract with the Royals on November 22. ONE PITCH TOO MANY--Jason tossed a season-high 8.2 innings here last Saturday Jason’s 2014 Starts afternoon against Seattle, however his 115th pitch proved costly as Dustin Ackley’s two- DATE OPPONENT SCORE IP H R ER HR BB SO TP-K LEFT 4/2 at Detroit ND, 1-2 (10) 7.0 5 1 1 1 1 6 106-69 0-1 out RBI single in the ninth handed the M’s a 2-1 triumph...Vargas retired the first two 4/7 Tampa Bay W, 4-2 8.0 4 1 1 1 1 2 110-74 4-1 hitters in the deciding frame, but then allowed consecutive base hits to Kyle Seager, Stefen 4/13 at Minnesota ND, 3-4 7.0 5 2 2 1 3 4 112-70 3-2 4/18 Minnesota W, 5-0 7.0 7 0 0 0 1 4 113-71 5-0 Romero and Ackley...the veteran lefty suffered his first loss in over a month, allowing 4/23 at Cleveland ND, 3-5 6.0 6 3 2 0 2 2 100-63 3-3 2 runs on 10 hits with no walks and 2 strikeouts...Seattle scored its first run in the third 4/29 Toronto ND, 10-7 6.1 10 5 5 1 0 5 94-64 2-5 5/4 Detroit L, 4-9 5.0 11 7 7 2 2 3 107-63 0-7 inning on three-straight singles with Cole Gillespie providing the RBI hit...the loss 5/9 at Seattle W, 6-1 7.0 3 0 0 0 0 6 98-65 5-0 snapped Jason’s 3-game winning streak against the Mariners, which dated back to June 17 5/14 Colorado W, 3-2 6.2 5 2 2 1 1 8 103-66 3-2 of last season and included a 6-1 win at Safeco Field with the Royals earlier this year. 5/19 Chicago L, 6-7 4.2 8 7 7 3 2 6 82-53 6-7 5/25 at Los Angeles ND, 3-4 6.1 3 1 1 0 5 6 109-60 3-0 QUALITY IN QUANITY--Vargas recorded his sixth-straight quality start last 5/30 at Toronto W, 6-1 6.0 7 1 1 1 3 7 108-70 4-1 Saturday, besting his streak of 5 consecutive quality assignments to open the year...his 6/4 St. Louis ND, 2-5 (11) 8.0 9 2 2 0 2 3 117-75 0-2 6/10 Cleveland W, 9-5 7.2 6 3 3 0 0 5 116-78 6-3 season total (13) leads all Major League lefties and ties him for third overall in the A.L..