Kansas City Royals
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Kansas City Royals OFFICIAL GAME NOTES Oakland Athletics @ Kansas City Royals Kauffman Stadium - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 American League Wild Card Game TBS, KCSP Radio (610 Sports) & ESPN Radio POSSIBLE UPCOMING SCHEDULE Thursday, October 2: Possible ALDS Game 1 @ Anaheim Stadium, Time TBA, TBS, ESPN Radio & 610 Sports Tonight’s game is being broadcast on KCSP Radio (610 Sports) and the Royals Radio Network with Royals’ Hall of Famer Denny Matthews, Ryan Lefebvre, Steve Physioc and Steve Stewart, while Don Free controls the dials as the producer/engineer...tonight’s game is being televised nationally on TBS with Ernie Johnson Jr., Cal Ripken Jr., Ron Darling and Matt Winer...tonight is also being broadcast nationally on ESPN Radio with Jon “Boog” Sciambi and Chris Singleton. Royals vs. A’s FALL BALL RETURNS TO KC--Tonight marks a return to postseason play for the Royals for the first time (Regular Season) since George Brett and Bret Saberhagen embraced on the artificial turf of then Royals Stadium on October The Royals won the season series from the Athletics this year, 27, 1985...Kansas City snapped the dry spell with an 89-73 season, capped on Sunday afternoon with a 6-4 going 5-2 on the year, including a 3-1 mark here in Kauffman win over the White Sox in Chicago to finish one game behind the Detroit Tigers in the American League Stadium...this is the second time that Kansas City has faced the A’s in postseason play, the other occurring in 1981 when Oakland Central...the rollercoaster ride that was the 2014 season saw the Royals trail by as many as 6 1/2 games after won the battle of the two half season champs in the then A.L. play on June 1, only to reel off a 13-2 stretch to take a 1 1/2-game advantage in the Central on June 18...KC West after the year was interrupted by a work stoppage...below then fell into a 9-18 skid from June 19-July 21 to fall to eight games behind the Tigers, but a win in Chicago are the results from this summer: on July 22 jumpstarted a season-ending stretch in which the Royals were 41-23 and popped champagne Date Site Score WP LP Att. 8/1 @ Oak W, 1-0 Guthrie Gray 35,067 corks for the first time in 29 years last Friday night with a win over the White Sox in U.S. Cellular Field... 8/2 @ Oak L, 3-8 Lester Vargas 30,097 the 41 victories since July 22 were the second most in the Majors, trailing only the Orioles and Nationals, 8/3 @ Oak W, 4-2 Shields Kazmir 22,612 who recorded 42 each...the 89-victory season marked the most by the Kansas City franchise since winning 8/11 KC W, 3-2 Herrera Gray 21,479 92 times in 1989...KC has coupled its last two seasons for a 175-149 mark for a .540 winning pct. 8/12 KC L, 3-11 Lester Guthrie 27,161 8/13 KC W, 3-0 Vargas (C) Kazmir 21,099 TONIGHT’S 25-MAN ROSTER--The Royals have elected to go with nine pitchers for tonight’s game, 8/14 KC W, 7-3 Crow Samardzija 20,569 since rosters can be reset prior to each leg of the postseason...tonight’s active roster consists of: PITCHERS (9): Wade Davis, Danny Duffy (L), Brandon Finnegan (L), Jason Frasor, Jeremy Guthrie, Kelvin Herrera, Greg Holland, James Shields, Yordano Ventura. CATCHERS (2): Erik Kratz, Salvador Perez. INFIELDERS (7): Billy Butler, Christian Colon, Alcides Escobar, Eric Hosmer, Omar Infante, Mike Moustakas, Jayson Nix. OUTFIELDERS (7): Nori Aoki, Lorenzo Cain, Jarrod Dyson, Alex Gordon, Terrance Gore, Raul Ibanez, Josh Willingham. VENEZUELAN CONNECTION BREAK MARKS--A pair of Venezuela natives have established records for games played at their respective positions with their workload in 2014...Alcides Escobar started all 162 games at shortstop, which are two more than the previous team record for a Kansas City shortstop held by Greg Gagne (1993) and Angel Berroa (2005)...Esky was the only shortstop in the Majors to play in all 162 games this year and the first to do so in either league since Starlin Castro in 2012 with the Cubs...catcher Salvador Perez broke the team record for games caught by a Kansas City catcher with 146 this year, eclipsing Darrell Porter’s mark from 1978 by one game...Salvy is the first catcher to play at least 146 games behind the plate in a single season since 2008 when both Jason Kendall (Milwaukee) and Russell Martin (L.A. Dodgers) caught 149. ROAD WARRIORS--The Royals have saved their best work for the road this year going 47-34 away from ‘The K’, five wins better than Kansas City totaled at home this year (42-39)...the road season turned around in Chicago, as KC entered play on July 22 in Chicago with a 26-25 record away from ‘The K’, but then reeled off a 21-9 record in road tilts, matching the Angels for the most road wins since that date...Kansas City was 8-1-1 in its last 10 road series played, winning sets at Chicago (twice), Oakland, Arizona, Minnesota, Texas, New York and Cleveland, while going 1-1 in Colorado and losing two of three in Detroit...the 47 road wins were the third most in franchise history and one win behind the ‘77 club for second highest success rate away from home. HOLLY BACK IN FORM--Greg Holland finished the year with 46 saves, good for second in the A.L. in saves and is the first Royal to record back-to-back 40-save seasons for Kansas City since Dan Quisenberry did it in 1983 (45) and ‘84 (44)...Holly has made good of 46 of his 48 tries this year, including 39 of the last 40 and 20 in a row...over a longer haul, Holland has converted 86 of his last 89 attempts (96.6%) since May 30 of last season, the highest percentage among closers with at least 40 opportunities in that span...since that date, Greg has five more saves than any other pitcher in baseball (Craig Kimbrel - 81) and Holland has allowed just 14 earned runs in 113.1 innings for a 1.11 ERA...he recorded his 100th career save on August 8 and since posting his first career save on August 3, 2011 vs. Baltimore, Holland has gone 113-for-123, the best save pct. at 91.9 among closers with at least 100 save opportunities. NED LONGEST TENURED KC SKIPPER--Ned Yost has been at the helm for 775 games as the Kansas City manager, surpassing Royals’ Hall of Famer skipper Dick Howser (770) for the most games managed in franchise history, and becoming the first manager since Howser to lead the Royals to the postseason...Yost has a 373-402 ledger as KC’s manager, including a 175-149 (.540) mark in the last two seasons...coupled with 457 wins in Milwaukee, Yost is tied for 73rd on the all-time managerial win list with 830 over his 11-year career, matching Fred Hutchinson’s total in a 12-year career as a skipper of the Tigers, Cardinals and Reds. SHORT GAME PAID OFF--The Royals finished the year second in the American League in infield hits with 158...Kansas City featured four in the Top 14 individually in infield knocks with Lorenzo Cain tied for third (28), Nori Aoki tied for sixth (27), Alcides Escobar tied for 12th (24) and Jarrod Dyson tied for 14th (22). TONIGHT’S STARTING PITCHERS: LHP Jon Lester (16-11, 2.46) vs. RHP James Shields (14-8, 3.21) 2014 2013 Career 2014 2013 Career Jon Lester vs. Royals 3-0 0-1 9-3 Major League Record 16-11 (2.46 ERA) 15-8 116-67 James Shields vs. A’s 1-0 0-1 6-4 Major League Record 14-8 (3.21 ERA) 13-9 114-90 JAMES SHIELDS is making his seventh career postseason start after finishing the regular season at 14-8, his eighth straight year with double-digit wins...he has 15 career appearances vs. Oakland, including two this year...the right-hander was acquired as the centerpiece of a 7-player deal from Tampa Bay on December 9, 2012. NOTHING DECIDED IN CHICAGO--James tossed 6.0 innings last Thursday night at U.S. Cellular Field, but was not around when the Royals rallied for their 6-3 come-from-behind victory...Shields allowed 3 runs on 5 hits with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts over his 6.0 innings of work, firing 112 pitches...he allowed a 2-run homer to Josh Phegley in the second inning, while back-to-back hits by Moises Sierra and Jordan Danks produced the White Sox third run...however, after Danks’ RBI hit, James retired 9 of the final 10 hitters he faced, allowing the Royals to tie the game in the sixth...Shields recorded his 24th quality start of the seasonand tossed at least 6.0 frames for the 13th consecutive start. VS. OAKLAND--Shields is 6-4 with a 3.82 ERA over 15 regular season outings against the Athletics, including 1-0 in 2 starts this year...he won the rubber game at Oakland on August 3, going 8.0 innings in a 4-2 win over former Rays teammate Scott Kazmir...James retired the first 15 batters before Josh Reddick broke up his shot at the record books with a homer to lead off the sixth...Reddick hit a second solo shot in the eighth, as Shields finished the day allowing 2 runs and 4 hits and no walks with 2 strikeouts...James faced the A’s here 11 days later, taking a no decision after working 6.0 innings in a 7-3 win...he was charged with 3 runs, 7 hits and a walk, striking out 5 over 6.0 innings, with the Royals rallying for 5 runs in the seventh.