Kansas City Royals OFFICIAL GAME NOTES Kansas City Royals (41-40) @ Seattle Mariners (41-42) Safeco Field - Monday, July 3, 2017 Game #82 - Road Game #39 FOX Sports Kansas City (HD) & KCSP Radio (610 Sports) UPCOMING PITCHING PROBABLES Tuesday, July 4 @ Seattle Mariners: LHP Danny Duffy (4-4, 3.54) vs. RHP Felix Hernandez (3-2, 4.66), 5:40 p.m. (CDT), FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Wednesday, July 5 @ Seattle Mariners: LHP Jason Vargas (12-3, 2.22) vs. LHP Ariel Miranda (7-4. 3.82), 9:10 p.m. (CDT), FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Thursday, July 6: Off day in Pasadena, CA Tonight’s game can be heard locally on KCSP Radio (610 Sports) and the Royals Radio Network with Royals Hall of Famer Denny Matthews, Ryan Lefebvre and Steve Stewart on the call, while Don Free controls the dials as the producer/engineer…tonight is also being televised in HD on FOX Sports Kansas City with Steve Physioc and Rex Hudler in the booth while Joel Goldberg and Royals Hall of Famer Jeff Montgomery anchor the Royals Live the pre and post-game shows. Royals vs. Mariners THREE-HIT WHIT AND PEN LEAD WAY--Whit Merrifield had a huge offensive afternoon and a quintet Tonight is the first of seven meetings with the M’s in 2017, of hurlers with no starts between them in 2017 combined to record a 6-2 win over Minnesota on Sunday, three to be contested here and then a 4-game set in Kauffman giving KC a 3-1 series win in the abbreviated homestand...Merrifield went 3-for-5 with two doubles, a run Stadium on August 3-6...the Royals were 3-4 vs. Seattle last year, going 1-2 here and splitting four in KC...Kansas City leads the scored, RBI and three stolen bases...his run scoring double in the third off of starting and losing hurler Hector all-time series by a 224-209 margin, but trails here in the Emerald Santiago jumpstarted a 3-run frame...that would be enough for KC’s mound staff that began with Travis City by a 101-111 count, including a 29-43 record in Safeco. Wood making his first big league start in over two years...he contributed 4.0+ innings, allowing a pair of Date Site Score WP LP Att. runs, then handed it over to Scott Alexander, whose 2.0 scoreless frames earned him his first Major League 7/3 @ Sea win...Peter Moylan, Joakim Soria and Kelvin Herrera kept Minnesota off the board with an inning each to 7/4 @ Sea secure KC’s 41st win at the halfway point of the season...Alcides Escobar and Eric Hosmer each added a pair 7/5 @ Sea of hits, with Esky also knocking home two runs. ROYALS SEND AT LEAST A PAIR TO MIAMI--The teams for the 2017 All-Star Game slated for July 11 in Miami were announced last night and the Royals will have at least two representatives with catcher Salvador Perez being voted in for a fourth consecutive season and fifth Midsummer Classic overall and Jason Vargas earning his first career trip to the game thanks to his 12-3 start to the year...for the second time in three years, Mike Moustakas is part of the Final Five fan vote, where one of those will be named to the squad...Perez, 27, becomes the first Royals player to start in four-straight All-Star Games since George Brett did it in five consecutive years (1981- 85)...Vargas, 34, is the first Royals starting pitcher to be named to the All-Star team since Zack Greinke in 2009...Moustakas, 28, won the Esurance MLB All-Star Game Final Vote in 2015 and is looking to participate in his second All-Star Game...fans can vote via text message up to 35 times per phone before balloting closes at 3 p.m. (CDT) on July 6...to receive the ballot, text the word “VOTE” to 89269 or to vote for a specific player, text the choice to 89269 #VoteMoose (A5). WOODY STEPS UP--The depleted starting rotation had to reach into the bullpen for yesterday’s homestand finale against the Twins and Travis Wood, a starter throughout much of his time with the Chicago Cubs, took the ball and gave KC a much needed 4.0+ solid innings...though not able to stick around for the decision after the first three hitters reached to open the fifth, Wood was charged with two runs on six hits with a walk and three K’s...it took 81 pitches to navigate his assignment, which were the most he’d thrown in a game since May 14, 2015 against the Mets when he fired 97...his single-game pitch high this year had been 49 on June 4 vs. Cleveland. A RETURN TO THE LEFT COAST--Tonight jumpstarts a 6-game journey to the Pacific time zone, the second such trip for the Royals in the last three weeks...KC went 7-2 on a mid-June tour of California, gong 2-1 in San Diego, 2-0 in San Francisco and 3-1 in Anaheim...all told, Kansas City is 17-21 on the year away from “The K”, but have flipped the script from a rough 2-11 road start to the year...starting with the first trip of May which was a 3-1 stop in Tampa Bay, the Royals have gone 15-10 on the road for a .600 winning pct. including wins in eight of its last 11 road games. FOUR THE WIN--Kansas City ran its season mark to 32-9 when scoring at least four runs with yesterday’s 6-2 triumph at home over the Twins...KC was 15-0 in June when plating a Mickey Mouse handful, but had that streak snapped with a 10-5 loss to Minnesota on Saturday...the 2015 World Series title club reeled off 19 straight (May 9-June 28) when scoring at least four, then just like this year KC had the streak snapped on July 1, then won eight more in a row with at least four for a 27-1 stretch. ACE 30 REMEMBERING YO--The morning of January 22, 2017 will always be remembered as one of the most tragic days in franchise history when word was received that pitcher Yordano Ventura had his life cut short due to a car accident in his native Dominican Republic...signed as a 17-year old in 2008, the fireballing right-hander compiled a 38-31 during his abbreviated Major League career...among many highlights, “Ace” will be most remembered for blanking the San Francisco Giants over 7.0 innings in Game #6 of the 2014 World Series to force a seventh and deciding game, while pitching with a heavy heart himself due to the untimely passing of his friend Oscar Tavares...to honor the late Ventura, all uniforms in 2017 will be adorned with the ACE 30 patch. TONIGHT’S STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Ian Kennedy (2-6, 4.72) vs. RHP Andrew Moore (1-0, 3.86) 2016 2015 Career 2017 2016 Career Ian Kennedy vs. Mariners 1-0 0-2 1-2 Major League Record 2-6 (4.73 ERA) 11-11 88-85 Andrew Moore vs. Royals First career appearance Major League Record 1-0 (3.86 ERA) - 1-0 IAN KENNEDY makes his 15th start of the season and the 252nd of his career (254th appearance)…he’s facing the Mariners for the fourth time in his career, all of them coming over the last two-plus seasons…the 32-year-old right-hander is in the second of a five-year deal he signed with the Royals on January 29, 2016. TOUGH ON TIGERS--Ian won his second-straight decision last Tuesday night in Ian’s 2017 Starts Detroit, working 7.0 strong innings in an 8-2 triumph...he surrendered a pair of solo home DATE OPPONENT SCORE IP H R ER HR BB SO TP-K LEFT 4/5 at Minnesota L, 1-9 5.0 3 3 3 0 5 5 95-55 1-3 runs in the outing, his longest since April 22, and scattered five hits with a walk and five 4/9 Oakland L, 0-2 6.0 6 2 2 1 2 4 99-61 0-2 4/16 LA Angels ND, 1-0 8.0 2 0 0 0 2 10 111-67 0-0 strikeouts...he retired nine of the first 10 hitters he faced while his teammates built a 5-0 4/22 at Texas ND, 1-2 7.0 4 1 1 1 3 3 95-60 1-1 lead...Kennedy’s effort allowed him to set a club record, allowing six hits or less in each of 4/28 Minnesota ND, 4-6 5.1 2 2 2 1 2 6 100-61 3-2 5/4 White Sox L, 3-8 4.1 6 5 4 2 1 3 84-52 0-5 his first 14 starts this season, one better than Edinson Volquez to open 2015...Ian recorded 5/21 at Minnesota (2) L, 4-8 2.0 3 5 5 2 3 1 54-28 2-5 5/26 at Cleveland ND, 6-4 5.0 3 4 4 1 2 4 88-50 4-4 his second quality start in his last three outings, after going seven-straight without (April 5/31 Detroit L, 5-6 3.0 4 5 5 1 3 4 74-43 3-5 28-June 10)...it also marked his fourth consecutive start that the Royals won, after the club 6/5 Houston L, 3-7 5.0 6 4 4 1 3 4 96-53 2-4 6/10 at San Diego ND, 12-6 6.0 6 4 4 1 2 5 100-67 3-4 had a 2-8 mark in his first 10 appearances this year.