Kansas City Royals OFFICIAL GAME NOTES Toronto Blue Jays (55-65) @ Kansas City Royals (36-84) Kauffman Stadium - Thursday, August 16, 2018 Game #121 - Home Game #62 Fox Sports Kansas City, KCSP Radio (610 Sports) UPCOMING PITCHING PROBABLES Friday, August 17 @ Chicago White Sox: RHP Jakob Junis (6-11, 4.82) vs. RHP James Shields (4-14, 4.41), 7:10 p.m., FSKC & 610 Sports Saturday, August 18 @ Chicago White Sox: RHP Brad Keller (5-5, 3.40) vs. RHP Dylan Covey (4-9, 6.06), 6:10 p.m., FSKC & 610 Sports Sunday, August 19 @ Chicago White Sox: RHP Heath Fillmyer (1-1, 3.61) vs. RHP Reynaldo López (4-9, 4.40), 1:10 p.m., FSKC & 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 mikeside...tonight’s contest is being televised on Fox Sports Kansas City with Steve Physioc and Rex Hudler on the call...Joel Goldberg and Royals Hall of Famer Jeff Montgomery anchor the pre and post-game shows, Royals Live. Royals vs. Blue Jays GRANDY’S SLAM TRUMPS ROYALS--Toronto used a five-run fourth inning, highlighted by Curtis Toronto grabbed a 2-1 lead in this four-game set with last Granderson’s two-out grand slam, to hand Kansas City a 6-5 defeat for the second-straight night...the night’s victory, winning by a 6-5 score for the second-straight night...the Royals trail this year’s work by a 1-5 margin...Kansas slam spoiled Jorge López’s Royals debut, as he suffered the loss surrendering six runs over 4.2 innings... City lags in all-time regular season work, 192-205, but still holds he held the Jays to one run in the first three frames, before allowing four-straight to reach in the fourth a 104-93 edge at ‘The K’. and Granderson’s bases-loaded blast after two were out...Salvador Perez homered twice, including a Date Site Score WP LP Att. two-run shot in the first inning, to gave KC an early lead...it was the All-Star catcher’s fifth career multi- 4/17-1 @ Tor L, 3-11 Garcia Skoglund - 4/17-2 @ Tor L, 4-5 (10) Clippard Flynn 18,645 homer contest, while he became the fifth player in franchise history to record four-straight seasons of 4/18 @ Tor L, 5-15 Happ Kennedy 28,803 20 or more roundtrippers, blasting his 20th and 21st last night...Ryan O’Hearn also went deep, pinch- 8/13 KC W, 3-1 Keller Reid-Foley 14,721 hitting in the ninth inning, cuttingthe deficit to one...it was the second pinch-hit home run by a Royal in 8/14 KC L, 5-6 Petricka Boyer 13,680 8/15 KC L, 5-6 Estrada López 14,391 the last two weeks, after the club went three seasons without one...KC will look to split this four-game 8/16 KC set tonight. SAL JOINS ELITE GROUP--Salvador Perez clubbed a pair of home runs last night, his 20th and 21st of the season...he became the fifth Royal with at least four-straight 20+ home run seasons, joining: John Mayberry (1972-75), Steve Balboni (1984-87), Bo Jackson (1987-90) and Mike Sweeney (1999-2002)...he’s also the ninth catcher in Major League history to record four or more seasons with at least 20 roundtrippers, before the age of 29, six of which are in the Baseball Hall of Fame...Perez had a rough go of it earlier this season, hitting just one home run and collecting one RBI between June 5 and July 1...however, since July 11, he’s hit 10 home runs and collected 24 RBI, while recording a .603 slugging percentage. ERRORLESS STREAK EXTENDED--Kansas City’s defense was flawless for a 15th consecutive game last night, extending the franchise-record streak, with the current run of errorless innings reaching 138.0...the Royals’ last miscue came in the first inning of the July 29 contest at Yankee Stadium, when Hunter Dozier committed an error while playing first base...KC has committted a Major-League low seven errors since the All-Star break and has the best fielding percentage (.992) in baseball during that time...for the season, the club’s .988 fielding percentage is tied for the American League lead with Houston. WEEKEND IN WINDY CITY--Following tonight’s homestand finale, the Royals will head to Chicago to open a three-game set with the White Sox, beginning tomorrow night at 7:10...this will mark KC’s third trip to guaranteed Rate Field since July 13, with the clubs splitting the first six on the Southside...Kansas City trails in the season series by an 8-5 count, losing the first five meetings this year, and has a 377-393 deficit all-time, including a 173-217 mark in the Windy City. DON’T RUN ON THESE GUYS--Brett Phillips made his presence felt in center field last night, cutting down Richard Urena at the plate in the third inning following a Randal Grichuk single...it was Phillips’ second assist in his first 13 defensive games with the Royals and Kansas City’s 14th assist by their outfielders since June 1, which ranks fourth in the American League in that span...since the start of 2010, KC’s outfielders have assisted on throwing out 292 baserunners, the most in the Major Leagues and two more than Minnesota (290), which is second in that span. TONIGHT’S STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Sam Gaviglio (2-5, 4.86) vs. RHP Glenn Sparkman (0-1, 5.06) 2018 2017 Career 2018 2017 Career Sam Gaviglio vs. Royals First career appearance Major League Record 2-5 (4.86 ERA) 4-5 6-10 Glenn Sparkman vs. Blue Jays First career appearance Major League Record 0-1 (5.06 ERA) 0-0 0-1 GLENN SPARKMAN is making his first Major League start, his ninth appearance this season and 11th of his career...a former Blue Jay, he’s making his first appearance vs. Toronto...the 26-year-old right-hander was a 20th-round selection by the Royals in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft out of Wharton Junior College (Texas)...he was selected by Toronto in the 2016 Rule 5 Draft, but returned to Kansas City on July 8, 2017, after just two big league appearances. FOR STARTERS--Glenn made his Major League debut last season for these Jays Sparkman’s Last 5 MLB Appearances on June 30, and has made all 10 of his previous appearances out of the bullpen, including DATE OPPONENT SCORE IP H R ER HR BB SO TP-K LEFT 7/25 vs. Detroit ND, 4-8 2.1 1 0 0 0 0 2 32-24 2-7 eight for Kansas City this season...he made 16 starts between Northwest Arkansas (AA) 7/28 at N.Y. Yankees ND, 4-5 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 1 18-9 4-5 8/1 at Whites Sox ND, 10-5 1.0 2 1 1 0 0 0 10-9 10-5 and Omaha (AAA) this year, while 60 of his 95 minor league appearances have come as 8/4 at Minnesota ND, 2-8 2.0 4 2 2 1 2 4 52-32 2-8 a starter...he was 3-2 with a 2.94 ERA (11 ER in 33.2 IP) in six starts with the Naturals, 8/10 vs. St. Louis ND, 0-7 4.1 4 2 2 1 1 2 68-43 0-7 2018 MLB Totals 0-1 5.06 16.0 19 9 9 2 7 14 278-183 65.8% before being promoted to Triple-A on May 12...he went 3-0 with a 3.13 ERA (8 ER in Career MLB Totals 0-1 8.47 17.0 28 16 16 2 8 15 - - 23.0 IP) in his first four outings with Omaha, before pitching to a 5.63 ERA (20 ER in Sparkman’s Last 3 Starts (w/ Omaha) DATE OPPONENT SCORE IP H R ER HR BB SO TP-K LEFT 32.0 IP) in his final six starts, before being recalled on July 8. 6/22 Oklahoma City ND, 6-3 6.0 7 3 3 1 1 5 100-71 2-3 AS A RELIEVER--Sparkman has made eight relief appearances this season, since 6/27 at Round Rock ND, 4-6 6.0 6 3 2 0 1 6 92-61 0-3 7/3 Nashville L, 2-9 5.0 9 7 7 3 1 7 102-68 2-7 being recalled for the first time on July 8...he’s 0-1 while pitching to a 5.06 ERA (9 ER 2018 MiLB Totals 7-3 3.96 88.2 102 43 39 10 11 61 1457-1007 69.1% in 16.0 IP) with seven walks and 14 strikeouts...he worked a career-high 4.1 innings last Friday night vs. St. Louis, allowing two runs on four hits with a walk and two strikeouts...Glenn was actually optioned to Omaha (AAA) on Sunday, but recalled the following day when veteran left-hander Danny Duffy was placed on the 10-day disabled list (left shoulder impingement). ADD ANOTHER NAME TO THE LIST--Glenn is the 231st different pitcher, 167th right-hander, to start a game in the 50-year history of the Royals...he’s the 11th different starting pitcher employed by the club this season and second in as many nights to make their first start with KC, joining Jorge López, who endured a 6-5 defeat here last night...with a win tonight, Sparkman would become the 25th Royals pitcher to win his first big league start and the first right-hander since Kris Wilson in 2001 (4-1 over St.