Kansas City Royals OFFICIAL GAME NOTES Seattle Mariners (39-53) @ Kansas City Royals (38-51) Kauffman Stadium - Wednesday, July 18, 2012 - 7:10 p.m. Game #90 - Home Game #43 FOX Sports Kansas City & KCSP Radio (610 Sports) UPCOMING PITCHING PROBABLES Thursday, July 19 vs. Seattle Mariners: RHP Felix Hernandez (7-5, 2.92) vs. RHP Luke Hochevar (6-8, 5.26), 1:10 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Friday, July 20 vs. Minnesota Twins: RHP Nick Blackburn (4-5, 8.10) vs. RHP Luis Mendoza (3-6, 4.32), 7:10 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Saturday, July 21 vs. Minnesota Twins: LHP Scott Diamond (8-3, 2.96) vs. TBA, 6:10 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Sunday, July 22 vs. Minnesota Twins: RHP Samuel Deduno (0-0, 5.59) vs. Everett Teaford (1-3, 4.98), 1:10 p.m., FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Monday, July 23 @ Los Angeles Angels: LHP Bruce Chen (7-8+ tonight) vs. TBA, 9:05 p.m. (CDT), FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Tuesday, July 24 @ Los Angeles Angels: RHP Luke Hochevar (6-8+ tomorrow) vs. TBA, 9:05 p.m. (CDT), FSKC (HD) & 610 Sports Wednesday, July 25 @ Los Angeles Angels: RHP Luis Mendoza (3-6+ Friday) vs. TBA, 2:35 p.m. (CDT), 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, Ryan Lefebvre and Steve Stewart, while Don Free controls the dials as the producer/engineer...tonight’s telecast is in High Definition on FOX Sports Kansas City with Steve Physioc and Royals Hall of Famer Jeff Montgomery...the pre and post-game show, Royals Live, is hosted by Joel Goldberg. Royals vs. Mariners SAME TUNE HITS SOUR NOTES--For the second consecutive night the Mariners piled on early and The Royals have dropped the first two games of this set, often, plating six runs before the end of the second inning and cruising to a 9-6 decision to take the first surrendering nine runs in each outing...this series runs thru two games of this series...the Royals, in falling to 13 games below .500 for the first time this year, have tomorrow and then KC will travel to Safeco Field for an extended now gone just 1-4 thru the first half of this 10-game homestand and stand at 15-27 at home this year... weekend set at the end of the next road trip...the Royals hold a Ryan Verdugo had a rough big league initiation, allowing all six tallies in just 1.2 innings...he retired 210-190 advantage in the all-time work, including a 115-90 edge the first two Mariners he faced, then allowed three runs in the first and was solved for three more in at “The K.” the second before departing...the eventual difference in the game actually took place in the fifth when Date Site Score WP LP Att. 7/16 KC L, 4-9 Vargas Sanchez 16,697 Seattle scored three times off of reliever Vin Mazzaro, which at the time made the score 9-3, but the 7/17 KC L, 6-9 Beavan Verdugo 15,769 Royals would plate three more before the night was over...Alex Gordon continued to swing the bat well, 7/18 KC going 2-for-4 with an RBI triple and Lorenzo Cain chipped in with a 2-run pinch-hit homer, his first 7/19 KC roundtripper in a Royals’ uniform. 7/26 @ Sea 7/27 @ Sea ROYALS NAB FIRST PICK OF COMPETITIVE BALANCE LOTTERY--Per the 2012-2016 basic 7/28 @ Sea agreement, there are two six-team newly-created competitive balance rounds immediately following the 7/29 @ Sea first and second rounds, respectively, in the first-year player draft...MLB held their first-ever lottery today at the MLB Network studios and the Royals were rewarded the first pick in RoundA which immediately follows the first round of the draft. GORDO COMFY AT THE TOP--Alex Gordon tacked on two more hits from the leadoff position last night, including an RBI triple, as he continues to prove that’s his most comfortable slot in the lineup...manager Ned Yost inserted Gordo into the leadoff spot in the lineup on May 27 in Baltimore and since that afternoon, he has batted at a .348 clip (62-for-178) in 44 games with 30 runs, 18 doubles, a .426 on-base pct. and .926 OPS, while hitting safely in 36 of those affairs...overall, his .306 average from the #1 spot is the sixth best among leadoff men in the Majors with at least 200 at bats, while Gordo’s .393 on-base pct. in that role is third behind only Detroit’s Austin Jackson (.402) and the Angels’ Mike Trout (.408)...since being inserted in the #1 spot dating back to last season, Gordon has hit .305 in 145 games from the leadoff position with a .387 on-base pct...his 29 doubles are tied for first in the A.L. with Cleveland’s Shin-Soo Choo, second only in the Majors to Cincinnati’s Joey Votto (36), who just went on the D.L. with torn knee cartilage. ESCOBAR AMONG SHORTSTOP ELITE--The 2012 All-Star Game has come and gone, but despite not making the Midsummer Classic shortstop Alcides Escobar continues to show why he belongs in the conversation when it comes to being among the top at his position...the 25-year old currently leads all big league shortstops with a .311 average, good for 11th overall in the A.L., while ranking second at his position in the Majors in on-base pct. (.353), tied for fourth in doubles (21) and fourth in slugging pct. (.433)...he is hitting .358 (43-for-120) over his last 32 games...his “worst” month to date was a .295 April, but he’s since batted .310 in May, .333 in June and has a .296 average to this point in July...in the 185 games since bottoming out at .203 on June 6 of last year, Esky has batted .298 (196-for- 658), which is the second best batting average among all big league everyday shortstops (minimum 162 games), trailing only Derek Jeter (.315). TONIGHT’S STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Kevin Millwood (3-7, 3.71) vs. LHP Bruce Chen (7-8, 5.50) 2011 2010 Career 2012 2011 Career Kevin Millwood vs. Royals - 0-1 6-5 Major League Record 3-7 (3.71 ERA) 4-3 166-147 Bruce Chen vs. Mariners 1-0 1-0 4-0 Major League Record 7-8 (5.50 ERA) 12-8 67-66 BRUCE CHEN makes his team-leading 20th start tonight, his 337th career big league appearance (189th start) and 12th career outing (eighth start) vs. the Mariners... over the winter Bruce inked a 2-year deal thru 2013. Bruce’s 2012 starts SIX’S WILD IN JULY--The beginning of July hasn’t been kind to Bruce, as he’s WHEN surrendered 6 runs in each of his 3 starts, the most recent resulting in a no decision here DATE OPPONENT SCORE IP H R ER HR BB SO TP-K LEFT 4/6 at LAA ND, 0-5 6.0 3 0 0 0 0 4 75-54 0-0 last Friday against the White Sox...he gave up 3 home runs that led to the 6 tallies with 9 4/11 at Oakland ND, 4-5 (12) 5.0 4 3 2 1 2 3 102-70 2-3 hits in just 4.2 innings, but the game wound up going 14 innings, with Chicago prevailing 4/17 Detroit L, 1-3 7.0 6 2 2 0 0 7 108-78 1-1 4/23 Toronto L, 1-4 7.0 6 3 3 2 2 3 106-68 1-3 by a 9-8 count...Chen also allowed 6 runs on July 1 in Minnesota, spanning 5.2 innings, 4/29 at Minnesota L, 4-7 2.2 6 6 6 0 2 1 62-37 1-6 in a 10-8 setback and then followed that with 6 runs in just 3.1 frames Detroit on July 7, 5/4 New York L, 2-6 6.2 9 6 6 2 1 4 93-61 2-6 an 8-7 loss...all told, July has raised his season ERA nearly a full run to 5.50 after entering 5/9 Boston W, 4-3 6.2 7 3 3 0 0 5 103-68 4-3 5/14 at Texas W, 3-1 6.2 5 1 1 1 2 7 106-67 3-1 the month with a 4.53 mark...the home run ball has been his biggest nemesis, as opponents 5/19 Arizona W, 7-3 6.1 8 2 2 0 2 4 100-67 7-1 have connected for 7 over that span, including 3 at Minnesota on July 1 and 3 more last 5/25 at Baltimore L, 2-8 4.0 7 6 6 0 2 2 84-56 0-5 5/30 at Cleveland W, 6-3 5.0 7 3 3 0 2 3 100-58 5-3 week against the Sox...the homers have accounted for 12 of the 18 runs he has allowed 6/5 Minnesota W, 1-0 7.0 4 0 0 0 0 5 88-62 1-0 over this tough stretch...his last win was here on June 26, an 8-2 triumph over Tampa Bay.