Kansas City Royals
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Kansas City Royals OFFICIAL GAME NOTES Kansas City Royals (3-0) @ Los Angeles Angels (2-1) Angel Stadium - Friday, April 10, 2015 Game #4 - Road Game #1 Fox Sports Kansas City (HD) and KCSP Radio (610 Sports) UPCOMING PITCHING PROBABLES Saturday, April 11 @ Los Angeles Angels: RHP Jeremy Guthrie vs. RHP Jered Weaver (0-1, 6.00), 8:05 p.m. (CDT), FOX Sports 1 (HD) & 610 Sports Sunday, April 12 @ Los Angeles Angels: RHP Yordano Ventura (1-0, 1.50) vs. LHP C.J. Wilson (1-0, 0.00), 2:35 p.m. (CDT), FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Monday, April 13 @ Minnesota Twins: LHP Danny Duffy (0-0, 9.00) vs. TBA, 3:10 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Tuesday, April 14: Off day in Minneapolis Wednesday, April 15 @ Minnesota Twins: RHP Edinson Volquez (1-0, 1.13) vs. TBA, 7:10 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Thursday, April 16 @ Minnesota Twins: LHP Jason Vargas (0-0+ tonight) vs. TBA, 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 Steve Physioc and Steve Stewart, while Don Free controls the dials as the producer/engineer...tonight’s game is being televised in High Definition by Fox Sports Kansas City with Ryan Lefebvre and Rex Hudler...the pre and postgame shows on FSKC, Royals Live, are hosted by Joel Goldberg, who is joined by Jeff Montgomery. Royals vs. Angels OPENING SERIES A SWEEPING SUCCESS--Kansas City hits the road for the first time in 2015 Tonight is the first of 7 regular season battles between these fresh off a 3-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox in Kauffman Stadium, capped by a 4-1 matinee two combatants from last October’s ALDS...the Royals and Halos triumph yesterday...Edinson Volquez made a tremendous first impression in his KC debut, working 8.0 split the 6 games contested during the summer last year, with KC innings allowing just a run on four hits with a walk, hit batter and five strikeouts...Greg Holland did what going 1-2 here and 2-1 back home...Kauffman Stadium will see 4 Greg Holland has done for over two years, working a perfect 1-2-3 ninth for his second save of the young games between the Royals and Angels in August...Kansas City trails the all-time series by a 273-283 margin, but actually leads here in season...yesterday’s win was newsworthy in that Kansas City entered the day 0-7 all-time vs. ChiSox Anaheim, 145-137. southpaw John Danks, but the Royals plated four to hand him a loss for the first time vs. the Royals... Date Site Score WP LP Att. Alcides Escobar opened the game with a double to extend his two-season hitting streak to a dozen games 4/10 @ Ana and scored the game’s first run...KC scored three more in the sixth, with Salvador Perez clubbing a 2-run 4/11 @ Ana 4/12 @ Ana homer to end the scoring. 8/13 KC 8/14 KC BIG FLIES CONTINUE--The 2015 Royals hammered a handful of home runs in their first 3-game 8/15 KC series of the year, a figure the club didn’t attain in 2014 until the 15th game of the year...the last time 8/16 KC Kansas City hit five homers in its first three games was in 1983. A 3-0 START--Kansas City is off to its first 3-0 start since the 2008 season when the Royals opened with a 3-game sweep of the Tigers in Comerica Park...the sweep of the White Sox marked the first time KC has won its first three at home since the 2003 season. PAULO DEBUTS WITH A KNOCK--Paulo Orlando had a stellar Major League debut yesterday, walking in his first big league plate appearance and then tripling in his first official at bat while playing outstanding defensively in leftfield...after nine years of minor league baseball, Paulo became the third native of Brazil to appear in a Major League game joining Cleveland catcher Yan Gomes and former White Sox hurler Andre Rienzo...the triple by Orlando marked the 12th time an Kansas City player debuted with a 3-base hit as their first knock, the most recent Christian Colon last year in Minnesota...he was also the fifth Royal to triple in his big league debut joining Irving Falum, Johnny Damon, Edgar Caceres and Brian McRae. A BATTLE OF PENS AND LEATHER--This weekend series in Anaheim features two of several clubs who have yet to give up a run out of the bullpen or commit an error defensively...the Kansas City bullpen, which carried the torch during the 2014 postseason, is off to an 8.0-inning streak of scoreless work with yesterday, it’s least called upon affair in the early going, with Greg Holland cleaning things up with a perfect ninth for his second rescue...the defense is one of nine clubs, including the Angels, to play flawlessly through its first series of the year. COMEBACK COMPLETE--Ryan Madson worked the ninth inning on Monday to cap a 3-year comeback to the Majors with his first outing in “The Show” since September 28, 2011 with the Phillies...Madson underwent “Tommy John” surgery after signing with Cincinnati in 2012, was then signed in 2013 by the Angels, but his only appearance one minor league outing...he was out of the game last year and then Monday was the first of his 492 big league outings that was not as a Phillie. NETWORK TELEVISION TOMORROW--The middle game of this series will not be on FSKC, but will be a national telecast on Fox Sports 1...Kenny Albert and Eric Karros will be on the call, while Jon Paul Morosi serves as the field analyst...this is the first of six FS 1 games for Kansas City this year. TONIGHT’S STARTING PITCHERS: LHP Jason Vargas (11-10, 3.71 ERA in ‘14) vs. LHP Hector Santiago (6-9, 3.04 ERA in ‘14) 2014 2013 Career 2014 2013 Career Jason Vargas vs. Angels 0-0 - 5-4 Major League Record 11-10 (3.71 ERA) 9-8 62-68 Hector Santiago vs. Royals 0-0 1-0 1-0 Major League Record 6-9 (3.04 ERA) 9-12 66-59 JASON VARGAS makes his first start of the season, the 185th starting assignment of his career and 205th overall appearance...he faces the Angels for the 16th time in the regular season (15th start), after pitching for the Halos in 2013...the veteran southpaw is in the second year of a 4-year deal he signed with the Royals on November 22, 2013. SOLID FIRST SEASON--Jason posted a career-best 3.71 ERA (77 ER in 187.0 Vargas’ 2015 spring appearances IP) last season, his first in Kansas City...his ERA was the lowest by a qualifying Royals DATE OPPONENT SCORE IP H R ER HR BB SO TP-K LEFT left-handed pitcher since Charlie Leibrandt (3.19) in 1988...he allowed just 1.97 walks 3/9 @ Milwaukee ND, 5-4 2.0 2 1 1 0 0 3 - - 3/14 L.A. Angels ND, 6-7 (10) 3.0 8 5 3 0 1 3 - - per 9.0 innings, which tied with Jon Lester for 10th lowest in the American League and 3/19 Colorado L, 2-13 1.2 9 9 9 3 1 1 - - third among A.L. southpaws...he missed nearly 3 weeks of action in July after having 3/25 Chicago White Sox L, 0-6 6.0 3 1 1 0 2 4 - - 3/30 @ Texas W, 11-7 5.0 7 5 5 4 1 5 - - an appendectomy on July 10, going on the 15-day D.L...shortly after being reinstated 4/5 @ Houston ND, 3-1 4.0 0 0 0 0 1 3 - - (August 2), he recorded his sixth career shutout and 11th complete game, blanking the 2015 Spring Totals 1-2 7.89 21.2 29 21 19 7 6 19 - - A’s on three hits, 3-0, August 13 at Kauffman Stadium. SPRING STATS--Vargy struggled to find consistent success in the thin Arizona air, allowing 7 home runs in his 5 Cactus League starts...however, he was superb in KC’s final exhibition game, last Saturday in Houston, tossing 4.0 hitless innings with a walk and 3 strikeouts...overall, he collected 19 K’s in 21.2 innings. VS. THE HALOS--Jason is making his 15th start and 16th overall appearance against the Angels, entering at 5-4 with a 3.02 ERA (32 ER in 95.1 IP)...the former Angel made two starts against his ex-mates last season, allowing 7 earned runs in 10.1 innings (6.10 ERA) and did not factor in either decision...he also had a no-decision here in Game #1 of the American League Division Series, allowing 2 solo home runs in 6.0 innings of work in a game KC won, 3-2 in 11 innings. GO WEST, YOUNG MAN--Coming to the Royals after five years in the A.L. West, Vargas was stingy to his former division rivals last season, posting a 2.60 ERA (15 ER in 52.0) and a 3-3 record in eight starts...his ERA was fourth-lowest against the Western Division among hurlers that made at least eight starts, behind only Felix Hernandez (1.71), Jon Lester (2.06) and James Paxton (2.13).