Kansas City Royals Game Notes
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KANSAS CITY ROYALS GAME NOTES 1985 & 2015 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS | 1980, 1985, 2014-15 AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONS | 1976-78, 1980, 1984-85 AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST CHAMPIONS | 2015 AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL CHAMPIONS KANSAS CITY ROYALS (30-31) at OAKLAND ATHLETICS (37-27) FRIDAY, JUNE 11, 2021 | 8:40 (CT) FIRST PITCH | RINGCENTRAL COLISEUM | OAKLAND, CALIF. GAME NO. 62 (30-31) | ROAD GAME NO. 31 (14-16) | BALLY SPORTS KANSAS CITY | KCSP RADIO (610 SPORTS) TONIGHT’S STARTERS: RHP BRADY SINGER (3-5, 4.88) vs. LHP COLE IRVIN (4-7, 3.89) UPCOMING PITCHING PROBABLES & BROADCAST SCHEDULE UPCOMING GAMES TIME (CT) PROBABLE PITCHERS TV & RADIO Sat, June 12 at OAK 3:07 p.m. RHP Jackson Kowar (0-1, 54.00) vs. RHP James Kaprielian (2-1, 3.08) ESPN+/Bally Sports KC & 610 Sports Radio Sun, June 13 at OAK 3:07 p.m. LHP Kris Bubic (1-1, 3.32) vs. RHP Chris Bassitt (6-2, 3.44) Bally Sports KC & 610 Sports Radio Tonight’s game is available on KCSP Radio (610 Sports) and the Royals Radio Network, with Steve Physioc and Steve Stewart on the call, while Eric Guthrie is the producer/engineer…Royals Hall of Famer Denny Matthews will return to the booth on the next homestand…tonight’s game is being televised on Bally Sports Kansas City with Ryan Lefebvre and Rex Hudler on the call…Joel Goldberg and Royals Hall of Famer Jeff Montgomery anchor the pre and postgame shows, Royals Live. MEDIA NOTE: All pre and postgame interviews for the foreseeable future will be conducted via Zoom…times and links will be announced regularly via email advisory and on Twitter @Royals_PR…Zoom recordings, media guides, notes, rosters, lineups, etc. can be found via the Royals Gameday Info folder. PRONUNCIATION GUIDE: Phonetic spellings and audio clips of players names are now available at www.mlb.com/royals/team/pronunciation. STREAK STOPPER: The Royals rallied with three-spots in the seventh and eighth innings last night en route ROYALS BY THE NUMBERS to a 6-1 win over the American League West-leading Athletics, snapping their five-game losing streak…the Record 30-31 Royals were held to two hits through the first six innings and trailed 1-0 heading into the seventh, when four Streak W1 of the first five batters reached, including a game-tying RBI double byHunter Dozier and a go-ahead two-run This Trip 1-3 single by Kelvin Gutierrez…with two outs in the eighth, the Royals recorded three consecutive extra-base hits, Series Record 8-7-5 including a solo home run by Andrew Benintendi, a double by Salvador Perez and a two-run home run by Series Record Home | Road 6-3-1 | 2-4-4 Jorge Soler, the 100th of his career…the late offensive surge made a winner out of Mike Minor, who allowed Series Opener | Rubber Game 11-10 | 3-2 just one run—a solo HR by Jed Lowrie—on three hits and one walk over 7.0 innings, with eight strikeouts… Home | Road 16-15 | 14-16 Minor combined with Scott Barlow (1.0 IP) and Greg Holland (1.0 IP) to retire the final 13 batters following a Day | Night 14-13 | 16-18 walk to Elvis Andrus in the fifth to snap an eight-game stretch in which the Royals had allowed 5.5 runs/game. Opp. At or Above | Below .500 14-15 | 16-16 Ê Gutierrez’s two-run single in the seventh gave the Royals their first lead since the fifth inning last vs. LH | RH Starters 9-9 | 21-22 Saturday vs. Minnesota, snapping a streak of 46 innings in which they either trailed (38) or were tied (8). vs. AL | NL 25-30 | 5-1 Comeback Wins | Blown Leads 15 | 9 Ê The HR by Benintendi and Soler in the eighth marked the Royals’ first multi-HR frame since Aug. 29, 2020, Ahead After 6 | 7 | 8 22-2 | 25-2 | 25-1 when Maikel Franco’s three-run HR & Ryan McBroom’s pinch-hit HR sparked a five-run seventh in Chicago. Behind After 6 | 7 | 8 4-27 | 1-25 | 2-27 Ê Eight of the nine Royals in the lineup recorded a hit, the only exception being Whit Merrifield, who Tied After 6 | 7 | 8 4-2 | 2-2 | 1-1 went 0-for-5 to snap a 10-game hit streak, in which he went 15-for-41 (.366) with five extra-base hits. 1-Run | 2-Run Games 9-9 | 5-5 Ê The Royals have won seven of their last nine series-opening games dating back to May 14 in Chicago. Extra Inning Games 1-1 Royals | Opp Walk-Off Wins 3 | 3 LET THE KIDS PLAY!: Tonight’s starter Brady Singer (24) will be the first of three Royals starting pitchers this Royals | Opp Score First 17-7 | 13-24 weekend who are under the age of 25, coming before tomorrow’s starter Jackson Kowar (24) and Sunday’s Royals | Opp Score 4 or More 21-8 | 10-26 starter Kris Bubic (23)…in addition to Brad Keller (25) and Daniel Lynch (24), the Royals have had five different Royals | Opp Score 3 or Less 9-23 | 20-5 pitchers 25 or younger make a start this season, which is tied for the third most in the Majors, trailing only Miami April | May | June 15-9 | 11-17 | 4-5 (7) and Seattle (6)…including Singer’s start tonight, 35 of the Royals’ 62 games this season have been started July | August | September 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 by a pitcher 25 of younger (56.5%), which trails only the Marlins, who have started a pitcher 25 or younger in Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday 3-4 | 4-5 | 4-5 48 of 63 games (76.2%)…since May 16—the day before Danny Duffy was placed on the 10-day Injured List—the Thursday | Friday 4-4 | 4-4 Royals have started a pitcher 25 or younger in 16 of their last 22 games (72.7%), a stretch in which they’re 12-10. Saturday | Sunday 6-4 | 5-5 Royals Errorless | Commit Error 17-18 | 13-13 SOLER EXTENDS LONG-ARMED LEAD: Jorge Soler reached via catcher interference in the seventh inning last Royals Hit HR | Don’t Hit HR 23-16 | 7-15 night and scored the go-ahead run on Kelvin Gutierrez’s two-run single…it marked Soler’s 11th career catcher Royals SP 6.0 IP+ | Less Than 6.0 14-7 | 16-24 interference—all since 2019—extending his Major League lead during that time to four more than Tommy MOST TIMES REACHING VIA CATCHER La Stella (7)…Soler’s total is also a franchise record, now eight more than the previous career mark held by INTERFERENCE IN 1 SEASON (ELIAS) Mike Macfarlane and Alex Gordon (3 each)…Soler leads the Major Leagues this season with six instances of PLAYER (YEAR) CI reaching on a catcher interference, which puts him on pace for 16, a number that would shatter the single- 1. Jacoby Ellsbury (2016) 12 season Major League record, according to Elias, currently held by Jacoby Ellsbury in 2016 (see chart to right). 2. Roberto Kelly (1992) 8 Ê Soler has 11 of the 54 catcher interference’s (20.4%) in Royals history, including 11 of the last 14 since 2019. T3. Josh Reddick (2017) 7 Ê Soler also hit his 100th career HR last night, 73 of which have come with the Royals…he’s the 16th T3. Dale Berra (1983) 7 Cuban-born player to reach the 100-HR milestone and he’s one of three active players on that list, 5. JORGE SOLER (2021) 6 joining fellow countrymen José Abreu (209) and Yasmani Grandal (159)…Soler has homered twice in his last four games—a stretch in which he’s slugging .833—on the heels of an 11-game homer drought. ROYALS vs. ATHLETICS All-Time 268-327 in Kansas City 148-150 The Royals’ season to this point can be broken into four separate stretches that tell A ROYAL ROLLER COASTER: at Kauffman Stadium (1973-present) 132-130 two very different stories…through May 1, the Royals led the Majors with a 16-9 record and held a 1.5-game lead at Municipal Stadium (1969-72) 11-13 over the White Sox in the American League Central Division…an 11-game losing streak ensued, dropping them in Oakland 120-177 to 16-20, which put them 6.5 games behind the White Sox for the division lead…the Royals snapped the skid on at The Coliseum (1969-present) 120-177 May 14, which began a 13-6 run through June 4, a stretch in which the Royals played to the second-best record in 2021 1-0 the American League and outscored opponents 99-68 (+31)…that carried them to a 29-26 record—three games in Kansas City 0-0 over .500—making them the just sixth team in the last 67 years, according to Elias, to fall below .500 thanks to in Anaheim 1-0 an 11-game losing streak, only to return to above .500 later in that same season…the Royals then lost five straight games before snapping that skid last night, and they will look to begin a new winning streak tonight in Oakland. ROYALS vs. ATHLETICS (2021) Ê According to Bally Sports Kansas City’s Dave Holtzman, the Royals are the only team in the Majors this DATE SITE SCORE WP LP season with two winning streaks of at least five games and two losing streaks of at least five games.