Kansas City Royals OFFICIAL GAME NOTES Kansas City Royals (1-1) @ Houston Astros (1-1) Minute Maid Park - Sunday, October 11, 2015 American League Division Series - Game #3 MLB Network, 610 Sports, ESPN Radio UPCOMING SCHEDULE/PROBABLES Game #4 - Monday, October 12 @ Houston Astros: Yordano Ventura (0-1, 13.50) vs. RHP Lance McCullers (0-0), 12:07 p.m. (CDT), FS1, ESPN Radio & 610 Sports This series is being broadcast on KCSP Radio (610 Sports) and the Royals Radio Network with Ryan Lefebvre, Steve Physioc and Steve Stewart, while Don Free controls the dials as the producer/engineer...today’s game will be televised nationally on the MLB Network with Matt Vasgersian, newly-minted Hall of Famer John Smoltz and Jon Paul Morosi...every game is also being broadcast nationally on ESPN Radio with Dave O’Brien and John Kruk. THE 2015 KANSAS CITY ROYALS POST-SEASON GUIDE IS AVAILABLE ON-LINE AT MLBPRESSBOX.COM Royals vs. Astros ALDS MOVES TO TEXAS--The American League Division Series returns to work today with the Royals KC evened this ALDS at a game apiece with Friday’s come- visiting Houston and the Blue Jays resuming their series with the Rangers in Arlington...Kansas City evened from-behind victory...the Royals are now looking for their first this series by becoming the first home club to record a win in this year’s postseason with Friday’s 5-4 triumph win over 2015 in Minute Maid Park, where they’re 11-10 all- in Kauffman Stadium...since that victory, both the Cardinals (on Friday) and the Dodgers (last night) have time. Date Site Score WP LP Att. joined the home club win list as their sets are also squared...Kansas City is slated for a pair here in Houston, 6/29 @ Hou L, 1-6 McCullers Blanton 20,419 where the club was blanked in three tries in late June...as for postseason road work, the Royals went 5-2 6/30 @ Hou L, 0-4 Keuchel Duffy 24,642 during October last year, taking the first two games of both the ALDS in Anaheim and ALCS in Baltimore 7/1 @ Hou L, 5-6 Gregerson Herrera 25,848 before a 1-2 stop in San Francisco for the World Series...dating back to the 1985 campaign, which was KC’s 7/24 KC L, 0-4 Kazmir Guthrie 36,965 7/25 KC W, 2-1 (10) Herrera Harris *38,393 last trip to the postseason prior to its 2014 run, the Royals have won nine of their last 12 road playoff games. 7/26 KC W, 5-1 Ventura Keuchel 33,638 A ROYAL REBOUND--Kansas City used two formulas that got it through the Central Division winning 2015 AMERICAN LEAGUE DIVISION SERIES: 2015 season on Friday, winning a close one and coming from behind to do so...the Royals rallied from a 4-1 Date Site Score WP LP Att. 10/8 KC L, 2-5 McHugh Ventura *40,146 deficit to take a 5-4 decision in front of 40,008 blue-clad fans in Kauffman Stadium on Friday, the 41st come- 10/9 KC W, 5-4 Herrera Harris *40,008 from-behind win of 2015, while recording a 24th one-run victory...Ben Zobrist’s run-scoring single after an 10/11 @ Hou Alcides Escobar opened the seventh with a triple capped the rebound and brought the Royals to Houston 10/12 @ Hou (If necessary) with the series now deadlocked...KC plated a pair of sixth inning runs on an RBI knock from Eric Hosmer 10/14 KC (If necessary) and then bases loaded walk from Salvador Perez, who received only 13 freebies throughout the entire regular season...Johnny Cueto was solved for four runs before there was an out recorded in the third inning, allowing one in the first, two in the second and then another to open the third...from that point forward, however, he retired 12 of the last 14 Astros he faced...Kansas City then employed its stellar bullpen, with Kelvin Herrera, Ryan Madson and Wade Davis finishing things off with a scoreless inning each...Escobar, Zobrist and Perez each had a pair of hits in KC’s 11-hit attack. SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE--After earning 17 saves during the regular season, new closer Wade Davis recorded his first of this year’s postseason with a scoreless ninth on Friday...coupled with his regular season finish, Davis has allowed one earned run in his last 20.2 innings, while fanning 26 in that span...he was rewarded with his eighth win of the year on September 23, which were more victories than 15 pitchers in the Majors who made at least 25 starts this year...he went 8-1 with 17 rescues and a 0.95 ERA during the regular season...dating back to September 4, 2013, when Wade made the full-time return to the bullpen, he has posted a Major League best 19-4 record among relievers and 0.96 ERA, allowing only 16 earned runs in 149.1 innings, while fanning 194 hitters for an 11.69 strikeouts per 9-inning ratio. UP TO THE CHALLENGE--Kansas City continued it’s successful work behind the eagle eye of replay coordinator Bill Duplissea with a pair of huge call reversals in Friday’s win over the Astros...Alcides Escobar was originally ruled out on a bunt hit attempt in the third, but after a 1:23 deliberation, that call was changed to a base hit, and then in the ninth, Wade Davis was credited with a pickoff of pinch runner Carlos Gomez after a 1:02 view of the play turned it into the 26th out of the game...Duplissea, whose on a 5-challenge winning streak, and the Royals were 20-13 on challenges this year, with nine of the 13 not overturned coming back as inconclusive (stands). 95-WIN SEASON--The Royals finished the regular season with a 95-67 record, the most wins since the 1980 squad went 97-65, en route to the franchise’s first A.L. Championship...the 95 wins were the third-most in franchise history with the 1977 Royals setting the standard with 102 wins...this year’s squad was the sixth straight Royals’ club to improve its win total dating back to 2009...after winning 65 games in 2009, the Royals then won 67, 71, 72, 86, 89 and now, 94...only Connie Mack’s 1919-1925 Philadelphia A’s have achieved that stretch of continued improvement. TWO OUTS? NO PROBLEM--The Royals finished the regular season with a big league best .277 batting average with two outs, 34 points higher than the league average (.243)...KC also led the big leagues with a .278 average with two down and runners in scoring position, plating 301 two-out runs, third most in the Majors....a season ago, Kansas City hit just .236 in two-out situations with 219 total runs...the Royals had three of the top eight individual two-out hitters in the A.L. with Lorenzo Cain (.372) leading the league, followed by Kendrys Morales (.335) in fourth and Eric Hosmer (.303), who was eighth...Morales, who finished sixth in the A.L. in overall RBI (106) drove exactly half of those in with two outs with an American League-leading 53 while shattering Joe Randa’s (2000) previous club record of 46. TOMORROW’S STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Edinson Volquez (13-9, 3.55) vs. LHP Dallas Keuchel (20-8, 2.48) 2015 2014 Career 2015 2014 Career Edinson Volquez vs. Astros 0-0 - 6-0 Major League Record 13-9 (3.55 ERA) 13-7 79-68 Dallas Keuchel vs. Royals 1-1 0-0 2-1 Major League Record 20-8 (2.48 ERA) 12-9 41-35 EDINSON VOLQUEZ takes the hill for Game #3 of this ALDS, making his first start of the series and third career in postseason play...the veteran righty posted a 13-9 record with a 3.55 ERA in 33 regular season starts during the regular season, his first in Kansas City...the 32-year-old righty signed a two-year free-agent contract with the Royals on December 29, 2014. Edinson’s Stats DATE OPPONENT W-L ERA IP H R ER HR BB SO TP-K LEFT QUALITY WORK IN FINAL WEEK--Edinson made one start and one relief 2015 Totals 13-9, 3.55 200.1 190 89 79 16 72 155 3298-2107 64% appearance during KC’s final road trip of the regular season...he took a no-decision at U.S. 2015 as a Starter 13-9, 3.58 198.1 190 89 79 16 70 152 3261-2085 64% Cellular Field on October 1, scattering nine hits and allowing one run over 6.0 innings in Career Totals 79-68 4.29 1243.0 1186 643 593 125 592 1090 - - a game KC won 5-3 in 10, while he also tossed 2.0 hitless innings of relief in Minnesota Career Postseason 0-2 12.15 6.2 9 9 9 1 5 3 - - three days later...his relief appearance pushed him over the 200-inning mark for the first time in his career, while it marked his first outing out of the bullpen since April 3, 2014...he stranded nine baserunners in his 6.0 innings against the White Sox, allowing just an RBI single to Adam Eaton in the second...he departed with a 3-1 lead, however Tyler Flowers’ RBI double in the eighth tied the game and cost him his 14th victory.