Kansas City Royals
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Kansas City Royals OFFICIAL GAME NOTES Oakland A’s (4-4) @ Kansas City Royals (2-5) Kauffman Stadium - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 Game #8 - Home Game #2 FOX Sports Kansas City (HD) and KCSP Radio (610 Sports) UPCOMING PITCHING PROBABLES Thursday, April 13 vs. Oakland A’s: RHP Jesse Hahn (0-0, 3.00) vs. LHP Jason Vargas (1-0, 1.50), 7:15 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Friday, April 14 vs. Los Angeles Angels: TBA vs. LHP Danny Duffy (1-0, 2.08), 7:15 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Saturday, April 15 vs. Los Angeles Angels: RHP Matt Shoemaker (0-0, 7.71) vs. RHP Nate Karns (0-0, 7.11), 6:15 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Sunday, April 16 vs. Los Angeles Angels: LHP Tyler Skaggs (0-1, 8.71) vs. RHP Ian Kennedy (0-2, 4.09), 1:15 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 Royals’ Hall of Famer Denny Matthews, Steve Physioc and Steve Stewart, while Don Free controls the dials as the producer/engineer...tonight is also being televised in High Definition on FOX Sports Kansas City with Ryan Lefebvre and Rex Hudler at the mics...Joel Goldberg and Royals’ Hall of Famer Jeff Montgomery anchor the pre and post-game shows, Royals Live. Royals vs. A’s BLANKED IN EMOTIONAL OPENER--The Royals opened the home half of the 2017 slate on Monday Kansas City’s struggles with the A’s continued in Monday’s with a 2-0 loss to the Oakland A’s in front of a full house of 40,019, who not only came to watch Opening home opener, with KC now 1-7 over the last season-plus...this Day baseball, but also to mourn the off-season passing of Yordano Ventura...after the emotional pre-game, series ends tomorrow and then these clubs will meet again in Oakland in mid-August...KC trails the all-time series by a 260- that featured Ventura’s mother, Marisol Hernandez, throwing out the first pitch to Salvador Perez, the KC 315 mark, but possesses a slim a 145-144 advantage in Kansas offense couldn’t get untracked against Jharel Cotton, who allowed only two hits over his 7.0-inning stint... City, 129-124 here in “The K.” Ian Kennedy was the hard-luck losing hurler, allowing a two-run opposite field homer to Khris Davis in Date Site Score WP LP Att. the fourth inning for the only runs of the game...all told, Kennedy fell to 0-2 despite surrendering just the 4/10 KC L, 0-2 Cotton Kennedy *40,019 4/12 KC two runs and six hits with two walks and four K’s over 6.0 innings...KC had several scoring opportunities 4/13 KC despite just the three hits on the day, but went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position...the Royals were 8/14 @ Oak 8/15 @ Oak fanned 12 times on Monday, just a day after striking out 17 times in an extra-inning loss in Houston. 8/16 @ Oak ROSTER MOVES--The Royals made a pair of roster moves over the last two days, optioning outfielder Terrance Gore to Northwest Arkansas (AA) after Monday’s game and then optioning left-handed pitcher Matt Strahm to Omaha (AAA) yesterday...to replace them on the 25-man roster, Kansas City has recalled left-handed reliever Scott Alexander and right-hander Jake Junis...Alexander, 27, has 21 career big league relief appearances, including 17 last year...he has worked twice for Omaha this year, tossing 2.0 scoreless innings...Junis, 24, made the jump from AA to AAA last season, closing out the year with six starts at Omaha...he made one start for the Storm Chasers this year prior to his promotion, working 6.1 innings at Colorado Springs last Friday, allowing two runs on four hits with no walks and 7 K’s...in other minor league news, right-handed pitcher Kyle Zimmer will take Junis’ spot on the Omaha roster and pitch for the Chasers on Friday vs. New Orleans. DUPE NOW 3-FOR-3 TO START ‘17--Kansas City’s replay specialist, Bill Duplissea was quiet for the first four games of 2017, but has been busy (and successful) in the last three contest, forging reversals each time out...in Monday’s home opener he noticed that Raul Mondesi should’ve been deemed safe at second base when the infielder didn’t have contact with the bag while receiving the throw...1:18 later the call was overturned, keeping Duplissea and the Royals perfect in challenges during the first week...on Sunday in Houston, the Royals challenged Josh Reddick’s second inning stolen base and 1:40 later the crew in New York agreed with Duper’s diagnosis...the first challenge came on Saturday when Houston violated the slide rule at second base (Rule 6.01 j)...Duplissea closed 2016 as the best in baseball at his craft with a 69.2% success rate, making good of 27 of 39 challenges, with the Mets next at 67.7% (21-for-31). STARTERS CONTINUE TO IMPRESS--The Royals are well into their second lap through the starting rotation and all signs have been positive for the fivesome... Kansas City opened 2017 with three new names in the rotation from last year, with Danny Duffy and Ian Kennedy being joined by a now healthy Jason Vargas and newcomers to the organization Jason Hammel and Nate Karns...in the seven games to open the season, the handful of hurlers have combined for a 2.88 ERA, allowing 13 earned runs in 40.2 innings, which is good for fourth best among American League starting rotations and fifth best in the Majors...in the last four games particularly, the foursome of Vargas, Duffy, Karns and Kennedy have combined to allow just six earned runs in a combined 24.2 innings for a 2.19 ERA. 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 Andrew Triggs (1-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Jason Hammel (0-0, 5.40) 2016 2015 Career 2017 2016 Career Andrew Triggs vs. Royals First career appearance Major League Record 1-0 (0.00 ERA) 1-1 2-1 Jason Hammel vs. Athletics - - 4-1 Major League Record 0-0 (5.40 ERA) 15-10 84-87 JASON HAMMEL makes his second start of the year, the 250th start of his career and 308th overall appearance...the 34-year-old right-hander faces one of his former teams, Oakland, for the eighth time in his career, his fourth overall start against the A’s...he signed a two-year deal with the Royals on February 8, after spending last season with the Chicago Cubs...Jason is in his 12th Major League season with his sixth team, previous pitching for Tampa Bay (2006-08), Colorado (2009-11), Baltimore (2012-13), Oakland (2014) and the Cubs (2014, 2015-16). Jason’s 2017 Starts DECISION-LESS DEBUT--Jason made his Royals debut last Thursday afternoon DATE OPPONENT SCORE IP H R ER HR BB SO TP-K LEFT at Target Field, but didn’t factor into the decision with the Twins scoring late for a 5-3 4/6 @ Minnesota ND, 3-5 5.0 6 3 3 0 4 2 95-59 3-3 win...he allowed a pair of second-inning runs, surrendering three hits and a walk in a 2017 Totals 0-0 5.40 5.0 6 3 3 0 4 2 95-59 62.1% Career Totals 84-87 4.42 1508.0 1548 790 741 188 484 1193 - - 30-pitch frame, with Max Kepler’s RBI double snapping a 2-2 tie in the fifth...however, 2017 Spring Totals 0-2 6.45 22.1 25 17 16 2 6 16 - - Mike Moustakas’ solo shot in the following inning took Jason off the hook...the four walks marked Hammel’s highest total in his last 24 starts, going back to May 7 of last year, when he also yielded four free passes in 5.0 innings to Washington...last season, Jason gave up two or fewer walks in 13-straight outings (May 30-August 10). 2016 RECAP--Jason earned a career-high 15 wins in 2016 with the eventual World Series champion Chicago Cubs, five more than his previous career high done four times (2009, ‘10, ‘14, ‘15)…he had a 0.75 ERA (2 ER in 24.0 IP) through his first four starts, the second-best mark by a Cubs’ starter through four starts since 1920, according to Elias, trailing only Steve Stone (0.51 ERA in 1976)…he won a career-high six straight starts following the 2016 All-Star break, posting a 0.95 ERA (4 ER in 38.0 IP) during that stretch.