2015 KANSAS CITY ROYALS Spring Training Game Notes Kansas City Royals (13-9) @ Seattle Mariners - SS (10-10-2) Thursday, March 26, 2015 BLANKED BY CHISOX--Kansas City was kept off the board for the first time this spring, dropping a 6-0 decision last night to the Chicago White Sox in front of 7,288 in Surprise...Jason Vargas was solid as the starter, but still wound up with the loss, working a spring-high 6.0 innings allowing a run on three hits with two walks and four strikeouts...the pen was solved for five more runs, with Louis Coleman allowing a tally and Franklin Morales getting touched up for four in his inning of work...southpaw Brian Flynn continued his terrific first spring as a Royal, working a 1-2-3 ninth, giving him 11.1 innings of work this spring with just two runs allowed (1.59 ERA)...at the plate, Alex Rios had the lone multi-hit game with a pair of knocks, but KC scuffled to an 0-for-9 evening with runners in scoring position...the loss dropped the Royals to 13-9 after a 10-1 start to the spring season. ROTATION SET--Kansas City skipper Ned Yost has announced his season-opening starting rotation for 2015, beginning with 23-year old Yordano Ventura slated to take the ball on Opening Upcoming Probables Day, April 6, vs. the Chicago White Sox in Kauffman Stadium...the last time Ventura worked in Thursday vs. Seattle Mariners (SS) @ Peoria Stadium (1:05) “The K” was Game #6 of the World Series vs. the Giants, blanking San Francisco in the must-win Jeremy Guthrie, Greg Holland, Jason Frasor, Kelvin Herrera, game by a 10-0 count...Yordano will be followed in the rotation by another “home grown” hurler Ryan Madson with Danny Duffy slated to pitch in the #2 slot with his first start taking place on Wednesday, vs. April 8 vs. the ChiSox...newcomer Edinson Volquez will get the nod to finish up the Chicago series Felix Hernandez, Yoervis Medina, Tom Wilhelmsen, and then Jason Vargas will work the first road game of the year in Anaheim on May 10, where he Charlie Furbush (L) opened the 2014 ALDS vs. the Halos with 6.0 strong innings of a contest the Royals won, 3-2 in 11 innings...lastly, Jeremy Guthrie will wrap-up the first lap through the rotation in the second game Friday vs. Seattle Mariners @ Surprise Stadium (6:05) of the visit to Anaheim. James Paxton (L) vs. RADIO CHANGES--The Royals and 610 Sports Radio yesterday announced that four games have Yordano Ventura, Wade Davis, Jason Frasor, Luke Hochevar, been added to the spring training schedule, starting with tomorrow night when the Royals host these Franklin Morales (L) Seattle Mariners...also added to the schedule are the weekend games vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks Saturday vs. Arizona Diamondbacks @ Salt River Fields (1:05) on Saturday from Salt River Fields and Sunday’s matchup in Surprise vs. the Chicago Cubs, with first pitch slated for 3:05 (CDT)...the final exhibition addition is the April 4 finale in Houston with Danny Duffy (L) a 3:10 first pitch scheduled...one other alteration in the spring schedule now has the Monday, March vs. TBA 30 game vs. the Rangers as a webcast on Royals.com and MLB.com, with first pitch scheduled for 3:05 p.m. (CDT)...that contest was initially announced as a radio game, but will now be available Sunday vs. Chicago Cubs @ Surprise Stadium (1:05) on the web...all told, 21 exhibition games will have been broadcast on 610 Sports and the Royals TBA Radio Network, one more than the previously announced schedule. vs. Edinson Volquez (L) ROSTER MOVES--The Royals continued to trim their spring roster on Sunday, optioning seven players and reassigning two others...optioned to Omaha (AAA) were pitchers Michael Mariot and Yohan Pino, catcher Francisco Pena, infielder Cheslor Cuthbert and outfielder Reymond Fuentes...optioned to Northwest Arkansas (AA) was left-handed pitcher Brandon Finnegan and optioned to Wilmington (A) was outfielder Terrance Gore...reassigned to the minor league side were catcher Parker Morin and outfielder Brett Eibner...the moves left the Royals with 37 active players in camp, including nine non-roster invitees...the breakdown includes 18 pitchers (4 non-roster), 3 catchers (1 non-roster), 10 infielders (3 non-roster) and 6 outfielders (1 non-roster)...among the 18 pitchers remaining in camp, 4 are left-handed...included are Kris Medlen, who is on the 60-day disabled list as he continues to recover from Tommy John surgery last spring and Tim Collins, who underwent TJ surgery on March 11. COVER BOYS--The regional cover for this week’s Sports Illustrated hit the newsstands on Tuesday and among the four being spread across the country was one featuring Salvador Perez and Greg Holland...the photo is contrarian in design with Salvy posing with a scowl and Holly displaying unbridled excitement. VS. M’S--Today is the first meeting of 2015 between the Royals and Mariners, with tomorrow night in Surprise the second and final spring session...after tomorrow, these clubs won’t meet until June 22-24 in Safeco and then closeout the season series on September 22-24 in Kauffman Stadium. STATISTICALLY SPEAKING--Kansas City’s 13 wins this spring are tied for second most in the Majors...KC’s .294 team batting average is second best among all American League clubs, trailing only the Angels’ .306 team mark. TV SCHEDULE CHANGE--With FS1 adding Kansas City’s June 18 game at home against the Milwaukee Brewers to their national schedule, the Royals and FSKC have added the July 29 game in Cleveland to the 150-game package for this season...with the most recent addition by FS1, currently only one game of the entire 162-game slate is not ticketed for television, the Thursday, August 27 day game at home vs. Baltimore, but should ESPN add any other Sunday Night Baseball exposures to KC’s schedule, that contest will likely also be picked up by FSKC...KC now has six games scheduled for FS1, four on FOX Sports and one Sunday Night Game on ESPN. GOOD START ON THE TUBE--The Royals and FOX Sports Kansas City had a 2.1 rating last night, which was a 62% increase over last year’s first exhibition telecast (1.3)... tomorrow night will be the second of four telecasts on FSKC, with the own announce crew of Steve Physioc, Rex Hudler and Joel Goldberg working the contest vs. the Mariners...FSKC will also carry the March 28 game in Scottsdale vs. the D’Backs and March 31 in Peoria vs. the Padres, with fans having the chance to listen to the announce crews of the Diamondbacks and Padres, respectively. ADDS FOR TODAY VS. THE MARINERS--The Royals have tapped into minor league camp for some assistance tonight by adding right-handed pitchers #90 Malcolm Culver and #90 Andrew Triggs, catcher #95 Micah Gibbs, first baseman #53 Casey Kotchman, infielder #69 Alex Liddi and outfielder #79 Ethan Chapman. ON THE NETWORK--The next MLB Network exposure for the Royals is today vs. the Mariners in Peoria, which will be taped delayed until 8:00 a.m. (CDT) tomorrow... KC’s final game in Surprise on April 1 vs. the Dodgers will also be shown on MLB Network, but not until 2:00 a.m. on Thursday, April 2 (set your DVR for that one). SPRING WORK--The Royals are now 13-9 this spring, which is one more victory than all of last spring when the club went 12-16-2...Kansas City is 212-165 (.562) with 37 ties since moving to the Valley of the Sun in 2003...the Royals have an all-time exhibition record of 644-588 with 37 ties for a .523 winning pct...the Royals spent their first 34 seasons training in Florida, beginning with Fort Myers (1969-87), followed by a 15-year stint in Baseball City (1988-2002). THE FINAL WEEK AHEAD--Kansas City will host these Mariners tomorrow night in a 6:05 contest in Surprise...the Royals will travel back to Scottsdale for a final time in 2015 on Saturday for a 1:05 match with the Valley-dwelling Diamondbacks and then KC will have the Cubs pay their lone visit to Surprise on Sunday...the final exhibition action in Arizona will consist of a Monday matinee in Surprise as the visitor vs. the Rangers, a night game next Tuesday in Peoria vs. the Padres and then a spring finale at noon next Wednesday vs. the Dodgers in Surprise Stadium. POSTSEASON DROUGHT IS OVER--Though the sting of dropping Game Seven of the World Series lingered throughout the offseason, the participation in the Fall Classic represented Kansas City’s first appearance in the postseason since 1985...the Royals did it in dramatic fashion, clinching the playoff berth in Chicago on the final weekend of the regular season and then winning the still talked about Wild Card game over Oakland, rallying from a 7-3 deficit to Jon Lester in the eighth inning to take a 9-8 decision in 12 innings...that triumph would be the first of a Major League record eight consecutive wins to open the postseason, with KC’s first loss coming in Game One of the World Series vs. the Giants...in the interim, the Royals rolled through the Angels in three straight in the ALDS and then swept all four games from Baltimore in the ALCS, with Lorenzo Cain taking MVP honors.