Kansas City Royals OFFICIAL GAME NOTES Houston Astros (1-0) @ Kansas City Royals (0-1) Kauffman Stadium - Friday, October 9, 2015 American League Division Series - Game #2 FS 1, 610 Sports, ESPN Radio UPCOMING SCHEDULE/PROBABLES Saturday, October 10: 1:00 p.m. workout at Minute Maid Park (Media availability times to be announced) Game #3 - Sunday, October 11 @ Houston Astros: RHP Edinson Volquez (13-9, 3.55) vs. LHP Dallas Keuchel (20-8, 2.48), 3:10 p.m. (CDT), MLB Network, ESPN Radio & 610 Sports Game #4 (if necessary) - Monday, October 12 @ Houston Astros: Yordano Ventura (0-1, 13.50) vs. TBA, 12:07 p.m. (CDT), MLB Network, 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...the ALDS is being televised nationally on FS 1 with Matt Vasgersian, newly-minted Hall of Famer John Smoltz, A.J. Pierzynski 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 GAME ONE TO THE ‘STROS--Kansas City opened its American League title defense last night with a The first-ever postseason meeting between these clubs went 5-2 loss to Houston in front of a full house of 40,146 here in Kauffman Stadium...the Wild Card winners the way of the Astros last night...KC fell to Houston in the regu- plated a pair of first inning runs and then added a solo tally in the second off of starter Yordano Ventura, lar season series this year by a 2-4 count. whose night was cut short to just 42 pitches due to a 49-minute rain delay after KC batted in the second... Date Site Score WP LP Att. 6/29 @ Hou L, 1-6 McCullers Blanton 20,419 the lone Kansas City tallies came off the bat of Kendrys Morales, who doubled his career postseason 6/30 @ Hou L, 0-4 Keuchel Duffy 24,642 home run total with solo shots in his first two at bats, matching the total he hit with the Angels during the 7/1 @ Hou L, 5-6 Gregerson Herrera 25,848 2009 postseason...the Royals had minimal other chances and came up empty on five at bats with runners 7/24 KC L, 0-4 Kazmir Guthrie 36,965 7/25 KC W, 2-1 (10) Herrera Harris *38,393 in scoring position...Chris Young, summoned from the pen after the rain delay, fanned seven hitters in his 7/26 KC W, 5-1 Ventura Keuchel 33,638 4.0 innings of work to set a KC postseason record for a relief pitcher, eclipsing the five fanned by Charlie Leibrandt in Game #7 of the 1985 ALCS...Ben Zobrist, whose wife Julianna sang the National Anthem 2015 AMERICAN LEAGUE DIVISION SERIES: prior to the playoff opener, had a pair of singles in the game. Date Site Score WP LP Att. 10/8 KC L, 2-5 McHugh Ventura *40,146 K-MO KO’S PITCHES--Kendrys Morales became the third different Royal to homer twice in a postseason 10/9 KC 10/11 @ Hou game when he went deep in each of his first two at bats last night off of Houston starter Collin McHugh... 10/12 @ Hou (If necessary) the veteran designated hitter was the first Royal to accomplish the feat since George Brett hit a pair in Game 10/14 KC (If necessary) #3 of the 1985 ALCS vs. Toronto...Brett holds the club mark of three in a game hit on October 6, 1978, in the ALCS at Yankee Stadium...Willie Aikens hit two in a game twice with Kansas City, both occurring during the 1980 World Series vs. the Phillies...the last time a player homered twice in a postseason game in the Majors prior to last night was Brandon Moss here with Oakland during the Wild Card game last year on September 30. WHO WILL WIN FIRST HOME GAME???--The Royals joined three other postseason qualifiers in dropping their first home contest of the 2015 playoffs, as the road clubs enter today’s full slate of games with a 4-0 mark...it all began on Tuesday with the Astros winning in Yankee Stadium and then followed up on Wednesday with a Cubs’ victory in Pittsburgh...last night’s defeat here to Houston was prefaced by a Texas Ranger victory in Toronto. SUNDAY ON MLB NETWORK--Major League Baseball announced this week that Game #3 of this American League Divisional Series between the Royals and the Astros will broadcast exclusively on MLB Network at 3:10 p.m. on Sunday...MLB Network’s Matt Vasgersian, John Smoltz and Jon Paul Morosi will be on the call live from Minute Maid Park...MLB Network is widely available in the Royals home television territory via AT&T U-verse, CenturyLink, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox, DIRECTV, DISH Network, Google Fiber, Time Warner Cable and other distributors...since the 2014 World Series, MLB Network has added 20 new distributors nationwide, including Craw-Kan Telephone, Eagle Communications, H&B Communications and Rainbow Communications in the Royals home television territory...fans may visit www.royals.com/postseason for a complete list of the distributors (including channel listings) that offer MLB Network in the Royals home television territory 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. MUST SEE TV--Kansas City set a franchise record by recording a Major League best 12.3 household rating during the 2015 season of telecasts on FOX Sports Kansas City...it was the highest mark for any Major League team on a regional sports network since 2002 and marked the first time the Royals and FSKC ranked #1 in Major League Baseball...viewership rose 84% over the 2014 season and games on FSKC were the most watched programming in Kansas City during the baseball season, with prime-time games averaging a 13.0, which was 136% higher than the closest competitor in the market (KCTV-Channel 5 and KMBC-Channel 9 each had a 5.5). TODAY’S STARTING PITCHERS: LHP Scott Kazmir (7-11, 3.10) vs. RHP Johnny Cueto (11-13, 3.44) 2015 2014 Career 2015 2014 Career Johnny Cueto vs. Astros - - 3-6 Major League Record 11-13 (3.44 ERA) 20-9 96-70 Scott Kazmir vs. Royals 1-1 0-2 5-8 Major League Record 7-11 (3.10 ERA) 15-9 98-90 JOHNNY CUETO takes the hill today, making his third career postseason start and first since the 2013 National League Wild Card Game with the Reds...he posted an 11-13 overall record with a 3.44 ERA in 32 regular season starts between the Royals and Cincinnati...he was acquired by Kansas City from the Reds on July 26, in exchange for left-handed pitchers Brandon Finnegan, John Lamb and Cody Reed. Johnny’s Stats A WIN TO FINISH REGULAR SEASON--Johnny’s last outing was five days ago DATE OPPONENT W-L ERA IP H R ER HR BB SO TP-K LEFT at Target Field, when he closed out the regular season with a 6-1 triumph over the Twins... 2015 w/ Royals 4-7, 4.76 81.1 101 45 43 10 17 56 1340-860 64% 2015 Totals 11-13, 3.44 212.0 194 87 81 21 46 176 3268-2145 66% the veteran righty allowed one run on six hits with four walks and four strikeouts in the first Career Totals 96-70, 3.30 1420.1 1268 570 520 145 410 1171 - - 5.0 innings...the win was his second in his last three starts, after dropping five-straight starts Career Postseason 0-0 5.19 8.2 13 6 5 3 2 3 - - from August 21-September 13...he allowed baserunners in each of the first four innings, but stranded eight Twins and allowed the lone run in the fourth on Danny Santana’s RBI single...he fanned Shane Robinson and Max Kepler to strand the bases loaded in the fourth and then set the side down in order in the fifth. ELUSIVE POSTSEASON ‘W’--Cueto is looking for his first postseason victory this afternoon, entering at 0-2 with a 5.19 ERA (5 ER in 8.2 IP) in three starts... he was a tough-luck loser in Game #3 of the 2010 NLDS, being outdueled by Philadelphia’s Cole Hammels, 2-0...he left his start in Game #1 of the 2012 NLDS vs. San Francisco after just eight pitches, suffering a strained right oblique...his most recent playoff outing was a 6-2 loss at PNC Park in the 2013 Wild Card Game. DOMINATING THE DAY--Throughout his career, Johnny has been very good in his afternoon outings, posting a 40-21 record with a 2.52 ERA and a .225 opponents’ average...he’s been even better over the last three seasons as his 17 daytime victories are tied for fourth-most in the Major Leagues, while his 2.22 ERA (51 ER in 206.2 IP) is the fourth-lowest among starting pitchers, trailing only Jacob deGrom (1.29), Yu Darvish (1.99) and Zack Greinke (2.15).