Kansas City Royals OFFICIAL GAME NOTES Cleveland Indians (81-69) @ Kansas City Royals (79-71) Kauffman Stadium - Tuesday, September 17, 2013 - 7:10 P.M
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Kansas City Royals OFFICIAL GAME NOTES Cleveland Indians (81-69) @ Kansas City Royals (79-71) Kauffman Stadium - Tuesday, September 17, 2013 - 7:10 p.m. Game #151 - Home Game #77 Fox Sports Kansas City (HD) & KCSP Radio (610 Sports) UPCOMING PITCHING PROBABLES Wednesday, September 18 vs. Cleveland Indians: RHP Danny Salazar (1-2, 2.66) vs. LHP Bruce Chen (7-3, 3.11), 7:10 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Thursday, September 19: Off day at home Friday, September 20 vs. Texas Rangers: LHP Martin Perez (9-5, 3.64) vs. RHP Ervin Santana (9-9, 3.23), 7:10 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Saturday, September 21 vs. Texas Rangers: RHP Matt Garza (9-6, 4.06 - AL & NL) vs. RHP Jeremy Guthrie (14-11, 4.08), 6:10 p.m., MLB Network (HD) & 610 Sports Sunday, September 22 vs. Texas Rangers: TBA vs. RHP James Shields (12-9, 3.33), 7:10 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Every game can be heard in Kansas City on KCSP Radio (610 Sports) with Denny Matthews, Steve Physioc and Steve Stewart mikeside tonight, while Don Free mans the board as the producer/engineer...each game of this series will be televised in High Definition by FOX Sports Kansas City with Ryan Lefebrve and Rex Hudler describing the action...the pre and postgame show on FSKC, Royals Live, is hosted by Joel Goldberg, who is joined by Royals Hall of Famer Jeff Montgomery. Royals vs. Indians RESILIENT ROYALS GAIN GROUND--Coming off a tough 1-2 weekend stop in Detroit, the Royals The Royals have won three in a row over the Tribe and a win continued to display the resiliency they’ve shown all year, opening a huge series against division rival tonight would even the season work at 9-9...Kansas City holds a Cleveland with a 7-1 victory here last night...James Shields won for the sixth time in his last seven 5-3 edge in contests here at Kauffman Stadium...the Royals are decisions, working 6.0 innings allowing just a run on 6 hits with a season-high 10 strikeouts...he handed 296-312 all-time vs. the Indians, including 158-143 mark in KC, 145-131 in “The K.” it over to the best statistical pen in the American League and they didn’t disappoint, as a trio of relievers Date Site Score WP LP Att. combined for three scoreless, fanning seven in the process to give Kansas City its first-ever 17-strikeout 4/27 KC W, 3-2 Santana Kazmir 19,224 nine-inning game...the offense was propelled by catcher Salvador Perez, who was on base in all four plate 4/28 (D) KC W, 9-0 Guthrie Masterson 22,001 4/28 (N) KC L, 3-10 Kluber Smith 19,831 appearances, going 3-for-3 with walk, a triple and two runs scored...his leadoff triple in the sixth opened 4/29 KC L, 0-9 Jimenez Davis 14,255 up a 3-run frame that turned a slim 2-1 lead into a 5-1 advantage...Alcides Escobar extended his hitting 6/17 @ Cle W, 2-1 Crow Shaw 12,803 streak to 10 games with a 2-for-4 night, also knocking home a run and Emilio Bonifacio and David Lough 6/18 @ Cle L, 3-4 Allen Herrera 14,853 6/19 @ Cle L, 3-6 Masterson Mendoza 17,349 each contributed a pair of hits, Lough’s coming after entering the game in the sixth inning...the win cut 7/2 KC L, 5-6 Allen Collins 15,625 KC’s deficit in the Wild Card hunt to just 2 1/2 games behind Texas, who comes to town this weekend, a 7/3 KC W, 6-5 Smith Allen 28,534 half game in back of Baltimore and two games behind the Tribe...the Royals are once again eight games 7/4 KC W, 10-7 Hochevar Shaw 16,792 7/12 @ Cle L, 0-3 Kluber Collins 24,077 over .500 for the third time in the last week and have yet to get to nine over. 7/13 @ Cle L, 3-5 Kazmir Guthrie 29,740 17-K PERFORMANCE--As mentioned above, last night was the first time a Kansas City pitching staff 7/14 @ Cle L, 4-6 Hill Collins 15,432 9/9 @ Cle L, 3-4 Jimenez Santana 9,794 fanned 17 hitters in a nine-inning game in the 45-year history of the franchise...the only other 17-K 9/10 @ Cle W, 6-3 Guthrie McAllister 12,615 performances occurred in 17-inning games, May 2, 1970 in a 4-3 win over the Tribe in old Municipal 9/11 @ Cle W, 6-2 Shields Kazmir 12,085 Stadium on Brooklyn and May 25, 1986 in a 2-1 win here over the White Sox...the 10 strikeouts by James 9/16 KC W, 7-1 Shields Kazmir 15,413 9/17 KC Shields last night marked his best overall total as a Royal and was the 20th time he has reached a double- 9/18 KC digit strikeout total in his career. STAFF ENHANCING TOP RANKING--The Kansas City pitching staff allowed just the one run last night and lowered its season ERA to 3.49, still the best mark in the American League by a long shot over second ranked Oakland (3.62)...should the club be able to maintain its earned run average over the remaining 12 games of the season, it would be the lowest by a Royals team since the World Champion club posted a 3.49 ERA in 1985. STARTERS SHOULDER THE LOAD--James Shields delivered at least six innings for the 28th time with last night’s performance, his 25th “quality” start of the year which matches the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw for the Major League lead...it was the 110th time this year that member of the revamped 2013 starting rotation contributed at least 6.0 innings, which are 28 more than last year’s season total...this year’s group has also tossed at least 7.0 frames on 54 occasions in 2013, 17 more than last year...the 913.1 innings by starters this year rank third in the American League behind only Detroit (951.1) and Boston (915.0)...conversely, the most overworked bullpen in the league in 2012 has been called up for the second fewest innings in the American League this year with 426.0. THE FINAL DOZEN--Kansas City takes the field tonight with 12 regular season games remaining on the 2013 docket, including just five more home games...last night started a stretch of six consecutive games against clubs who are ahead of the Royals in the Wild Card chase...Cleveland enters tonight with a 2-game advantage over the Royals, while Kansas City is now just 2 1/2 games behind Texas for the final Wild Card spot...the club will hit the road next week for a 3-game visit to Seattle and a 4-game season-ender in Chicago. TONIGHT’S STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Corey Kluber (9-5, 3.55) vs. RHP Yordano Ventura (MLB Debut) 2013 2012 Career 2013 2012 Career Corey Kluber vs. Royals 2-0 0-0 2-0 Major League Record 9-5 (3.55 ERA) 2-5 11-10 Yordano Ventura vs. Indians 1st career appearance Major League Record M.L. debut YORDANO VENTURA will make his Major League debut after having his contract selected from Omaha this morning...the 22-year-old native of the Dominican Republic was signed as a non-drafted free agent by the Royals on October 8, 2008. “ACE” VENTURA--Yordano started the season with Northwest Arkansas Yordano’s 2013 starts with NW Arkansas WHEN (AA), before being promoted to Omaha (AAA) on his 22nd birthday, June 3...he DATE OPPONENT SCORE IP H R ER HR BB SO TP-K LEFT had a combined 155 strikeouts in 134.2 innings between the two stops...he made 15 4/7 Frisco ND, 2-3 5.0 5 2 2 0 0 5 72-49 2-2 4/13 at Midland W, 4-1 5.0 3 0 0 0 2 7 88-55 4-0 appearances (14 starts) for the PCL champion Storm Chasers, going 5-4 with a 3.74 4/19 Tulsa ND, 4-5 4.0 4 2 2 1 1 5 77-50 3-2 ERA over 77.0 IP (32 ER), recording 81 strikeouts while holding opponents to a .271 4/24 at Springfield ND, 10-3 4.1 4 3 2 0 3 6 81-52 7-1 batting average...he showed improvement in the second half, going 3-1 with a 2.76 ERA 4/30 Springfield W, 4-0 5.0 1 0 0 0 3 10 88-53 4-0 5/6 Arkansas W, 6-1 6.0 2 0 0 0 2 10 98-63 4-0 in his 8 starts following All-Star break...the righty made back-to-back starts in August 5/11 at Springfield ND, 5-4 (20) 5.0 2 0 0 0 3 4 87-55 2-0 where he tossed 6.0 scoreless innings in wins over Sacramento (9-4 on August 9) and 5/16 at Arkansas L, 0-2 6.0 3 2 2 0 0 9 99-68 0-2 Fresno (1-0 on August 14)...Ventura pitched the final 0.1 inning at the SiriusXM All- 5/22 at Corpus Christi L, 2-8 4.1 9 7 6 1 3 4 88-55 1-6 5/27 at San Antonio ND, 1-2 8.0 4 1 1 1 0 8 96-71 1-1 Star Futures Game, marking his second-straight selection to the contest, retiring all 4 6/1 San Antonio ND, 2-5 (10) 5.0 2 0 0 0 3 6 94-58 1-0 hitters he’s faced...he was 3-2 with a 2.34 ERA (15 ER in 57.2 IP) in his first 11 starts of Totals 3-2, 2.34 57.2 39 17 15 3 20 74 968-629 65% the year at Northwest Arkansas...he was named the Texas League’s Pitcher of the Week Yordano’s 2013 appearances with Omaha on May 13 after recording a third-straight scoreless outing.