Kansas City Royals OFFICIAL GAME NOTES Kansas City Royals (48-46) @ Boston Red Sox (43-52) Fenway Park - Friday, July 18, 2014 Game #95 - Road Game #48 Fox Sports Kansas City (HD) & KCSP Radio (610 Sports) UPCOMING PITCHING PROBABLES Saturday, July 19 @ Boston Red Sox: LHP Danny Duffy (5-9, 2.76) vs. RHP Rubby De La Rosa (2-2, 2.89), 6:10 p.m. (CDT), FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Sunday, July 20 @ Boston Red Sox: RHP Yordano Ventura (7-7, 3.22) vs. LHP Jon Lester (9-7, 2.65), 12:35 p.m. (CDT), FSKC (HD), TBS & 610 Sports Monday, July 21 @ Chicago White Sox: RHP Jeremy Guthrie (5-8, 4.56) vs. LHP Chris Sale (8-1, 2.08), 7:10 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Tuesday, July 22 @ Chicago White Sox: LHP Bruce Chen (1-2, 6.46) vs. RHP Scott Carroll (4-5, 4.19), 7:10 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Wednesday, July 23 @ Chicago White Sox: RHP James Shields (9-5+ tonight) vs. LHP Jose Quintana (5-7+ tonight), 1:10 p.m., No TV & 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 anchors Royals Live. Royals vs. Red Sox BACK TO WORK AFTER BASEBALL’S BREAK--The Royals and the rest of MLB get back at it Tonight is the first of seven meetings this year between the tonight after a 4-day break, other than the select few who made the trek to Minneapolis for the 2014 All- Royals and BoSox, with this series running thru Sunday...Kansas Star festivities...Kansas City won its series finale last Sunday at home against Detroit to halt a 4-game City will host Boston on September 11-14...KC was 5-2 vs. the Red Sox last year, including a 2-1 mark during the traumatic first slide to the Tigers and post the first win in seven tries against the Bengals in Kauffman Stadium this weekend after the Boston Marathon bombing...the Royals hold year...KC entered the break with a 48-46 ledger and 6 1/2 games removed from the top spot in the A.L. a slim 223-221 advantage in the all-time work, but trail here in Central and 2 1/2 games in back in the A.L. Wild Card...a year ago, the Royals were 43-49 when the break Fenway by a 100-123 margin. commenced and eight games back in the division...this is only the second time since 1996 that Kansas Date Site Score WP LP Att. 7/18 @ Bos City entered the All-Star break with a winning record, the other occurring in 2003 when the Royals were 7/19 @ Bos 51-41 to conclude the unofficial first half. 7/20 @ Bos 9/11 KC ALL-STAR RECAP--For the first time since 1987-88, the Royals sent three players to Minneapolis 9/12 KC for the All-Star festivities, with Salvador Perez, Greg Holland and Alex Gordon being named to the 9/13 KC American League squad for a second straight year...similar to the ‘87 season, two of this year’s threesome 9/14 KC were healthy enough to play, while Gordon was forced to sit (George Brett was named and sat due to injury in ‘87)...Perez was the starting catcher in Tuesday’s A.L. win due to the injury to the elected Matt Wieters and went 0-for-1 while receiving the first four innings of the contest...though a fill-in starter, Salvy was the first Royal to start an All-Star Game since Jermaine Dye was elected to the 2000 squad and the first KC catcher to start since Darrell Porter in 1979...Holland worked a sparkling seventh inning in relief on Tuesday, retiring Josh Harrison (flyout), Charlie Blackmon (strikeout) and Hunter Pence (groundout) ROSTER CHANGES--While most players had the last four days off, the front offices didn’t rest, particularly the Royals’ front office as the club acquired righthanded reliever Jason Frasor from the Texas Rangers in exchange for minor league pitcher Spencer Patton...the 36-year old Frasor, who will wear #54 when the season resumes tonight, was 1-1 with a 3.34 ERA in 38 appearances for the Rangers, totaling 29.2 innings with 30 strikeouts...KC is his fourth big league stop after spending 7 1/2 years of his career with Toronto before going to the White Sox for 20 appearances in 2011, then returning to Toronto for one season and then spending the last 1 1/2 years with Texas...the 26-year old Patton appeared in the AAA All-Star Game on Wednesday night in Durham, NC, striking out the only man he faced just hours after receiving the news he had been dealt to the Rangers...to make room on the 25-man roster for Frasor, the Royals optioned righthanded reliever Louis Coleman. ALL SOX JOURNEY COMMENCES--Tonight kicks off Kansas City’s all-Sox trip, with the 3-game series here in Fenway Park and then a 3-game stop in U.S. Cellular Field against division rival Chicago...the Royals have played their best baseball away from Kauffman Stadium this year, going 26-21 on the road, one of four clubs with a losing home record and winning road ledger (Dodgers, Yankees and Mariners)...Kansas City has had three straight winning road trips and four out of the last five with the only losing excursion in that span a 1-2 single-city stop in Anaheim in late-May...the Royals are 13-5 in their last 18 road games...once this 6-game road trip has concluded, Kansas City will have played 15 of 19 games on the road. TONIGHT’S STARTING PITCHERS: RHP James Shields (9-5, 3.65) vs. RHP Clay Buchholz (4-5, 5.42) 2014 2013 Career 2014 2013 Career James Shields vs. Red Sox - 1-0 9-13 Major League Record 9-5 (3.65 ERA) 13-9 109-87 Clay Buchholz vs. Royals - 1-0 4-1 Major League Record 4-5 (5.42 ERA) 12-1 62-38 JAMES SHIELDS makes his team-leading 21st start of the year, his 272nd career start and 273rd overall appearance...the former A.L. East resident, Shields is facing Boston for the 26th time in his career, third time since being acquired by the Royals in a 7-player deal with Tampa Bay on December 9, 2012. TOUGH LUCK LOSS TO TIGERS--James pitched well last Saturday vs. Detroit, James’ 2014 Starts but came up on the short end of a 5-1 defeat...he scattered 7 hits and allowed 2 runs, with DATE OPPONENT SCORE IP H R ER HR BB SO TP-K LEFT no walks and 8 K’s in his 7.0-inning stint...Shields left the contest down just 2-1 to Rick 3/31 at Detroit ND, 3-4 6.1 5 3 3 1 1 3 106-71 3-1 Porcello, the Detroit tacked on 3 more in the ninth to ice it...his 121 pitches were 5 shy of 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 a career high and his most since May 17, 2013 at Oakland (122)...it was his 20th career 4/17 at Houston W, 5-1 8.0 4 1 1 0 2 12 107-64 5-1 start with at least 8 K’s and no walks. 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 LOOKING FOR A 10-SPOT--Shields looks to build on his 9 wins, which established 5/2 Detroit L, 2-8 6.1 12 8 7 1 1 3 105-68 2-6 a career best in pre-break career work (8 in 2011 and 2012)...he can become the seventh 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 active hurler to hold a current streak of 8-plus seasons with double-digit wins, joining 5/18 Baltimore W, 8-6 7.0 9 3 3 0 1 3 99-64 8-3 Mark Buehrle (14), CC Sabathia (13), A.J. Burnett (9), Dan Haren (9), Jered Weaver (9) 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 and Justin Verlander (8)...the totals for Buehrle and Weaver include 2014, with Haren and 6/3 at St. Louis ND, 8-7 5.1 9 7 5 2 4 1 96-57 6-7 Verlander entering today at 8 wins, Burnett at 6 and Sabathia (3) on the disabled list.