Kansas City Royals OFFICIAL GAME NOTES Seattle Mariners (44-43) @ Kansas City Royals (44-42) Kauffman Stadium - Saturday, July 9, 2016 Game #87 - Home Game #41 FOX Sports Kansas City (HD) & KCSP Radio (610 Sports) UPCOMING SCHEDULE & PITCHING PROBABLES Sunday, July 10 vs. Seattle Mariners: LHP Mike Montgomery (2-3, 2.15) vs. TBA, 1:15 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports July 11: Home Run Derby - Petco Park - 5:00 p.m. (CDT) on ESPN July 12: Major League Baseball All-Star Game - 5:16 p.m. (CDT) on FOX Network, ESPN Radio and MLB International All Royals’ games are broadcast in Kansas City on KCSP Radio (610 Sports) and the Royals Radio Network with Royals’ Hall of Famer Denny Matthews, Steve Physioc and Steve Stewart, while Brian Williams controls the dials...today’s game is being televised by FOX Sports Kansas City with Ryan Lefebvre and Rex Hudler...Royals Live is hosted by Joel Goldberg and Royals’ Hall of Famer Jeff Montgomery. Mariners vs. Royals ONE PITCH THE DIFFERENCE--The Royals were a hitter away from escaping a sixth inning jam, The Royals and M’s have split the first two games of this but a wild pitch resulted in two runs scoring to break a 1-1 deadlock and stake Seattle to a 3-2 decision series with a pair remaining...KC leads the all-time work by a here last night...Yordano Ventura was solid, allowing just six hits and the three runs over 7.0 innings, but 223-210 margin, including a 122-97 advantage here in “The K.” Date Site Score WP LP Att. a two-out uprising in the sixth with a Seth Smith single and Robinson Cano double placed two runners in 4/29 @ Sea L, 0-1 Hernandez Medlen 38,684 scoring position and then a wild pitch and subsequent throwing error while Nelson Cruz was the plate saw 4/30 @ Sea L, 0-6 Miley Ventura 43,444 both Mariners come across...the KC offense once again had its hands full with Hisashi Iwakuma, who ran 5/1 @ Sea W, 4-1 Kennedy Walker 37,053 his mark to 4-0 vs. the Royals allowing just a run on five hits in his 6.2 innings...Salvador Perez scored 7/7 KC W, 4-3 Pounders Cishek 31,425 7/8 KC L, 2-3 Iwakuma Ventura 33,391 both KC runs, reaching on a walk in the fourth and scoring on Cheslor Cuthbert’s single, then homering 7/9 KC in the ninth to cut the deficit to a run...the loss returned the Royals to eight games behind the frontrunning 7/10 KC Indians in the A.L. Central, while staying tied with Chicago for third. RARE CLOSE CALL LOSS AT HOME--Last night’s 3-2 setback marked just the second time Kansas City has lost a one-run decision at home this year, falling to 11-2 in single tally setbacks in Kauffman Stadium...only the Texas Rangers have a better home mark in one-run games in their ballpark, going 11-1...overall, the Royals are 14-10 in one-run finals, scuffling to a 3-8 mark away from “The K.” NOT A BREAK FOR EVERYONE--While the All-Star break is around the corner, several members of the Royals will still be busy come Monday, as manager Ned Yost, his coaching staff and a trio of players will be making the trip to San Diego the 2016 All-Star Game...catcher Salvador Perez and first baseman Eric Hosmer each earned the nod from fans to make the start in the Midsummer Classic, with Perez receiving 4,965,838 votes, the most among all Major League players, the second Royal to lead the Majors in All-Star voting, joining Hall of Famer George Brett (1981)...this will be Perez’s third consecutive starting assignment for the American League... Hosmer will be making his All-Star Game debut, as he won the fan vote over Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera...Wade Davis was selected to the squad by the players’ vote, but will be unable to perform due to his current stint on the disabled list, while Kelvin Herrera was a manager selection for a second consecutive season...this is the fourth straight year the Royals have had at least three players named to the All-Star squad...the American League team will be managed by Ned Yost, who will also have his coaching staff in tow for the game, with this the first year the A.L. is not using other team managers as coaches on the staff...due to the unusual circumstances of National League parks receiving four consecutive All-Star Games through the 2018 season, the American League will serve as the home team and use the home facilities in San Diego’s Petco Park. ONE OF A FEW HERE--Last night was just the fifth in the last 20 home games for the Royals, as the overall 28-12 ledger and .700 winning pct. continue to pace Major League Baseball...dating back to the Royals’ success in the postseason last fall, Kansas City has gone 35-12 in its last 47 games contested on this field, a .745 winning pct...conversely, KC has scuffled to a .348 (16-30) road winning pct. which is third worst in the Majors and a far cry from a year ago when KC had the second best road mark in the American League and fifth best in the Majors at .543 (44-37)...last night’s six-hit performance marked the fewest hits the Royals have had in a home game since May 18 when KC was five-hit in a 3-2 win over Boston. ESKY STILL REACHING SAFELY--Shortstop Alcides Escobar coaxed a seventh inning walk last night to extend his streak of reaching base safely in 24 consecutive games, the top active streak in the Majors, four more games than the Phillies’ Peter Bourjos...Esky has hit safely in 20 of the 24 games at a .305 clip (29-for-95)... included was a 14-game hitting streak that ran from June 19-July 3...he has also reached safely in 24 consecutive games in Kauffman Stadium dating back to May 15. TODAY’S STARTING PITCHERS: LHP Wade Miley (6-5, 5.36) vs. RHP Edinson Volquez (7-8, 4.87) 2016 2015 Career 2016 2015 Career Wade Miley vs. Royals 1-0 2-0 4-1 Major League Record 6-5 (5.36 ERA) 11-11 55-51 Edinson Volquez vs. Mariners - - 4-0 Major League Record 7-8 (4.87 ERA) 13-9 86-76 EDINSON VOLQUEZ is making his team-leading 19th start of the year, 237th career start and 244th overall outing, while he faces Seattle for the eighth time... the right-hander, who turned 33-years-old last Sunday, is in the second year of a two-year deal that includes a mutual option for 2017. SEVENTH INNING BLUES--Edinson was solid for six innings on Monday night in Edinson’s 2016 Starts DATE OPPONENT SCORE IP H R ER HR BB SO TP-K LEFT Toronto, but a big Jays seventh inning led to a 6-2 loss...Volky was charged with four runs 4/3 New York Mets W, 4-3 6.0 2 0 0 0 3 5 106-62 4-0 on four hits in his 6.0-plus innings, with three of those runs coming as part of the Toronto’s 4/10 Minnesota ND, 4-3 5.2 8 2 2 0 0 10 103-72 0-2 4/15 @ Oakland W, 4-2 6.0 4 2 2 1 4 2 103-59 3-2 five-run seventh...he left a 1-1 game with the bases loaded and nobody out, only to have all 4/21 Detroit W, 4-0 7.0 5 0 0 0 1 5 112-73 4-0 4/26 @ L.A. Angels L, 4-9 5.0 12 8 8 1 2 3 99-68 4-8 three of his inherited runners score on a rare off night by the KC bullpen...Volquez didn’t 5/2 Washington L, 0-2 7.2 7 2 2 0 1 7 114-72 0-2 allow a hit until the fourth inning, retiring nine in a row following consecutive walks to 5/8 @ Cleveland L, 4-5 4.1 7 5 5 2 4 4 105-65 3-4 5/13 Atlanta W, 5-1 7.0 6 1 1 0 0 2 83-55 2-1 start the game...he gave up three singles in the fourth, but Alex Gordon’s laser to nail 5/18 Boston L, 2-5 6.0 7 4 4 2 4 5 97-55 1-4 5/24 @ Minnesota W, 7-4 6.2 6 4 2 0 3 6 103-65 7-4 Edwin Encarnacion at the plate helped him escape without damage...Volky worked 6.0 5/29 Chicago White Sox ND, 5-4 6.0 7 3 3 0 1 5 102-65 2-3 6/3 @ Cleveland L, 1-6 6.1 7 5 5 2 4 5 115-67 1-5 innings or more for the fourth time in his last five outings and 13th time in 18 starts overall. 6/8 @ Baltimore L, 0-4 4.2 4 4 4 0 2 5 86-51 0-4 LACKING SUPPORT--The Royals managed just two solo home runs in support 6/13 Cleveland W, 2-1 7.0 2 0 0 0 4 3 95-59 2-0 6/18 Detroit W, 16-5 6.1 8 5 5 1 0 6 89-67 8-5 of Volquez last Monday, which has been a trend in his outings...Edinson has received 6/24 Houston L, 4-13 1.0 8 12 11 1 3 0 48-23 0-9 6/29 @ St.