2017 KANSAS CITY ROYALS Spring Training Game Notes Kansas City Royals (1-1) vs. Seattle Mariners (2-0) Monday, February 27, 2017 ACE 30 HOME STREAK SNAPPED BY RANGERS--The Royals had their 8-game home winning streak that obviously dated back to last spring halted yesterday with a 6-4 loss to the Texas Rangers...KC’s the last two losses in Surprise Stadium have come at the hands of the Rangers, but yesterday’s was the first “home” loss in Surprise since March 13 of last year vs. Cleveland (KC also lost a “road” game to Texas to closeout last spring)...Texas plated a pair of first inning runs off of starting and losing hurler Kyle Zimmer, then tacked on another his his second inning of work...Kansas City got on the board in the third when Hunter Dozier tripled home pinch runner Peter O’Brien, but then the Royals were held in check until plating three in the ninth with the game ending with the tying run at the plate...20-year old non-roster catcher Chase Vallot made his presence felt offensively, collecting a double, triple and two RBI after spelling Mike Moustakas as the designated hitter...Scott Alexander, Bobby Parnell, Malcolm Culver and Peter Moylan each contributed a scoreless inning of relief from the hill. A WORLD BASEBALL SPRING--The Royals and the rest of Major League Baseball Upcoming Probables opened training camp early this year due to this being a WBC season...players from 16 Today @ Seattle Mariners @ Peoria Stadium (12:10) different countries will compete starting on March 6 in Seoul, Korea...other first round Jason Vargas (L), Joakim Soria, Mike Minor (L), Jonathan stops include Tokyo, Japan, Jalisco, Mexico and Miami, Florida...team USA, who will Sanchez (L), Andrew Edwards, Eric Stout (L), Al Alburquerque have Royals’ Eric Hosmer and Danny Duffy has been assigned the Miami pool, which vs. also features the defending champion Dominican Republic, Canada and Colombia...the Yovani Gallardo, Rob Whalen, Nick Vincent, Colombian squad will have Royals’ minor league catcher Meibrys Viloria and infielder Marc Rzepczynski (L), Dan Altavilla, Jonathan Aro Mauricio Ramos...also participating in this year’s WBC are: Drew Butera (Italy), Salvador Tuesday @ Milwaukee Brewers @ Maryvale Stadium (1:05) Perez and Alcides Escobar (Venezuela), Joakim Soria (Mexico) and minor leaguers Gabe Danny Duffy (L), Matt Strahm (L), Peter Moylan, Luke Farrell, Kramer and Jake Kalish (Israel), Allan De San Miguel (Australia)...recently re-signed Malcolm Culver, Kevin McCarthy, Yender Caramo pitcher Peter Moylan is also slated to appear for Australia. vs. Zach Davies, Hiram Burgos,Carlos Torres, Michael Blazek, VS. MARINERS--Today’s earlier than previously scheduled game thanks to Mother Joba Chamberlain, Ryan Webb Nature is the first of three exhibition meetings between the Royals and M’s this spring... KC will host Seattle as part of split-squad action on Thursday, March 16 and then return Wednesday vs. Chicago Cubs @ Surprise Stadium (1:05) Nate Karns, Jake Junis, Josh Staumont, Brandon League, here on Friday, March 24...these clubs will meet for real when the Royals travel to the Bobby Parnell, Chris Withrow, Scott Alexander (L) great northwest on July 3-5 for a 3-game set and then the Mariners will hit Kauffman vs. Stadium for a 4-gamer on August 3-6. Eddie Butler ROSTER BREAKDOWN--The Royals open the 2017 spring season with 66 players in Thursday vs. Colorado Rockies @ Surprise Stadium (1:05) camp...the breakdown includes 33 pitchers (15 non-roster), 8 catchers (5 non-roster), 14 TBA infielders (4 non-roster) and 11 outfielders (1 non-roster)...among the 33 pitchers in camp, vs. 11 are left-handed...southpaw Brian Flynn is listed among the 66 players on the roster, Chris Young, Travis Wood (L), Joakim Soria, Peter Moylan, but will open the year on the 60-day disabled list as he recovers from a low back injury Jonathan Sanchez (L), Miguel Almonte incurred just prior to spring training...of the 35 non-roster players in camp with Kansas City, nine have previous Major League experience, including six who had time in “The Show” in 2016...of the 33 roster players in camp, eight have yet to accrue any big league service time. .500 FOR THE DEFENDING CHAMPS--After consecutive American League crowns, capped by a World Series title in 2015, the Royals recorded an 81- 81 ledger last season, finishing third in the American League Central...Kansas City has gone 351-297 in its last four seasons, tying the Baltimore Orioles for the second best record in the American League in that span, just one-half game behind Cleveland (351-297)...this four-year stretch marks the first time the Royals have finished at .500 or better in four consecutive campaigns since going six straight from 1975-80...last year’s club navigated through the first three months with a 42-36 ledger, but scuffled to a 7-19 month of July...the Royals recovered with a 20-9 August, but then slipped and finished the campaign with a 12-17 record over September and October. EXTRA TROOPS--The Royals have added a pair of hurlers from minor league camp to assist with today’s game: left-handed pitcher Onelki Garcia (#86) and righty Jake Newberry (#82). SPRING WORK--Kansas City has split its first two exhibition games in 2017 after finishing the ‘16 exhibition season with a 14-21 ledger, including a 10-5 mark as the home club in Surprise...Kansas City drew a Surprise home record 126,108 for a per game average of 8,407....the Royals have an all-time exhibition record of 666-611 with 38 ties for a .522 winning pct...the club has posted a 234-188 mark with 18 ties for a .555 mark in the Valley of the Sun... the Royals spent their first 34 seasons training in Florida, beginning with Fort Myers (1969-87), followed by a 15-year stint in Baseball City (1988-2002). THE SEASON AHEAD--The 2017 campaign will begin on Monday, April 3 in Target Field, as the Royals and Twins face-off in the first of a three-game series...all three games in Minneapolis will be day affairs, with an off day on Tuesday, April 4, sandwiched between games one and two...Kansas City will then head to Houston for a three-game weekend set before the home half of the schedule opens on Monday, April 10 against the Oakland A’s...KC will host the Athletics for a three-game set, also separated by an off day on April 11, then visits from the Los Angeles Angels (3) and San Francisco Giants (2) will wrap-up the initial stay of the season...Kansas City will have a stretch from April 28-May 18 when it will play 16 of 20 games in Kauffman Stadium, separated only by a four-game journey to Tampa Bay on May 8-11...as evidenced by the two-game visit from the Giants during the opening homestand, the Royals will battle the N.L. West in Interleague play in 2017, also making trips to San Francisco (2), Dodger Stadium (3) and San Diego (3), while the Giants, Rockies (3) and Diamondbacks (3) pay a visit to “The K”, with the D’Backs series wrapping up the regular season on September 29-October 1. AT THE HELM--The winningest manager in franchise history, Ned Yost begins his seventh full season with the club, taking the reins on May 13, 2010... he has a 549-550 regular season record at the helm for the Royals, surpassing Whitey Herzog’s previous team mark of 410 wins (1975-79)...Yost is the 16th full-time manager in franchise history and enters this year seventh among active managers is games (2,058) and wins (1,006)...this is his second stint as a big league manager after nearly six full campaigns at the helm for the Milwaukee Brewers (2003-2008)...he compiled a 457-502 record with the Brew Crew including a 166-146 mark in his last two seasons...Yost, a catcher during his playing days, began his coaching career in the Atlanta organization, including 12 straight seasons on Bobby Cox’s big league staff (1991-2002). THE WEEK AHEAD--Tomorrow will be the second of back-to-back road games for Kansas City, as the Royals will travel to Maryvale to face the Milwaukee Brewers...the contest vs. Milwaukee will jumpstart a stretch in which Kansas City plays a National League opponent on nine occasions over an eight-day stretch (including a split-squad this Saturday)...the Royals return to Surprise on Wednesday when the last two World Series champions meet as the 2016 winning Cubs are here to face the 2015 champs, then Thursday KC will host the Colorado Rockies...the Royals will travel to Glendale on Friday for a matinee against the Dodgers and then split up on Saturday with a game in Surprise against the San Francisco Giants and on the road in Goodyear vs. the Cincinnati Reds...the consecutive stretch of games vs. the Senior Circuit will continue on Sunday when the Royals travel to Scottsdale to face the Giants, followed by a home game a week from today against the Diamondbacks and road game in Goodyear vs. the Reds a week from tomorrow...the streak will be halted when KC hosts Team Venezuela in an exhibition on Wednesday, March 8, prior to their trip to Mexico to open the WBC. ON THE RADIO--Today is the second of at least 20 spring radio broadcasts on KCSP Radio (610 Sports) and the Royals Radio Network...Denny Matthews, Ryan Lefebvre, Steve Physioc and Steve Stewart will be mikeside all spring...today through Friday are scheduled for 610 Sports and the Network...the games not ticketed for 610 will be on the web with Steve Stewart providing the play-by-play.