|
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Whenever a Royals pitcher has issued a walk lately, the runner has usually scored. So when Ned Yosts own guys worked a pair of walks against the Yankees on Saturday night in the sixth inning of a tied game, the often-dour manager had an optimistic thought. "Lets turn it around this time," Yost said. Salvador Perez did just that. The big catcher belted a three-run homer into the bullpen in left field, and Eric Hosmer added a solo shot later in the game, sending Kansas City to an 8-4 victory over New York. "Ive said all along, I thought we have home-run power," said Yost, whose team has hit just 26 homers -- by far the fewest in the majors. "Itll manifest itself in time." Alex Gordon, Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar and Nori Aoki drove in a run apiece as the Royals bounced back from an offensively inept performance in a 4-2 series-opening loss Friday night. Aaron Crow (3-1) retired one batter in the sixth in relief of starter Danny Duffy, and breezed through the seventh to earn the victory. Kelvin Herrera and Michael Mariot finished it off. David Phelps (1-4) allowed seven runs on 10 hits and two walks in 5 2-3 innings. "Frustrating is the PG-rated word for it," he said. "I was pitching decent going into later parts of games, but its tough to win ballgames when you give up four runs in the sixth and seventh inning. Its frustrating." Yangervis Solarte drove in a pair of runs for New York, and Carlos Beltran -- whos been bothered by an ailing elbow and is still relegated to designated hitter duty -- got an RBI with his first hit since coming off the disabled list Thursday. "Its like starting over for me," Beltran said. "One day, two days is not going to do it, any difference. Basically you have to play every day and with playing time that will come. I cannot tell you (when). I wish I could know." The Royals struck first when Billy Butler and Gordon led off the second inning with back-to-back doubles, and Cain and Escobar provided run-scoring singles for a 3-0 lead. It took the Yankees until the sixth to answer. Derek Jeter started the rally with a single and Mark Teixeira kept it going with a two-out walk. Beltran followed with an RBI double against his former team, and Solarte tied the game 3-all when his sinking liner to centre field dropped just beyond Cains outstretched glove. Duffy, who appeared bothered by lengthy waits for television breaks between innings, was eventually removed after allowing three runs on five hits and three walks in 5 2-3 innings. The Royals made sure to pick him up. Butler and Gordon worked walks to start the bottom half of the sixth, earning Phelps a visit from Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild. It didnt do any good. Two pitches later, Perez sent a no-doubt homer into the bullpen in left field to restore the Royals three-run lead. "We needed that," Perez said. "Its not been easy, but its coming." Cain tripled later in the inning, and Aokis RBI single knocked Phelps from the game. "We just scored three runs. Thats the worst kind of team error right there," Phelps said. "To go out and we have all the momentum right there and in nine pitches gave it right back." It was another poor outing by the Yankees right-hander, who moved from the bullpen into the rotation last month. Phelps has lost four straight decisions, allowing 16 runs in the last three. Hosmers homer leading off the seventh was his first since May 5, a span of 130 at-bats, and Brian Roberts tacked on a run off Mariot in the ninth inning that proved to be moot. "Youve got to keep battling back," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "Were still fighting." NOTES: The Yankees have not scored more than four runs in any of their last nine games. ... Yankees CF Jacoby Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to 12 games. ... Royals 2B Omar Infante went 0 for 5, extending his slump to 0 for 18. ... The Yankees chose RHP Mariano Rivera III, the son of longtime closer Mariano Rivera, in the 29th round of the first-year player draft. ... Yankees RHP Hiroki Kuroda and Royals RHP James Shields are scheduled to start Sunday. . -- Even as Chris Paul remained evasive about his future, he did what team leaders are expected to do. . Heavily-criticized after allowing a dozen goals on 58 shots in two games in Boston, Luongo continued his dominance at home. Hes now allowed two goals in three home games in this series. . Rookie Christian Vazquez got his first three major league hits and drove in three runs, while David Ortiz had three RBIs to break open the game in the sixth inning and lead Boston over the Houston Astros 8-3. . At quarterback, all agree that Andy Dalton has been a wonderful surprise, but to truly progress he has to play his best in the playoffs. The two losses in the wildcard rounds keep the evaluation on Dalton open -- just like it did for Peyton Manning many years ago and Matt Ryan until last year. .com) - Mikko Korhonen carded a 5-under 67 on Thursday to claim medalist honors at the European Tours Final Qualifying Stage tournament.As we head into the final 10 days of the Blue Jays stay in Florida, there a couple of areas of concern. For one, the Jays havent scored more than five runs in 13-straight games. Of course, in the spring, the full everyday line-up is rarely together for more than a couple of games a week and even then, only a few innings at a time. Ryan Goins, for all he is capable of doing with the glove at second base, is only hitting .168 at last glance. Brandon Morrow, counted on so heavily this season, has had trouble commanding his four-seam fastball and has seemingly been dropped to the number-five slot in the rotatioon. On the flip side of that, Drew Hutchison has looked so good that he has been elavated to the number-two position in the rotation between R.A Dickey and lefty Mark Buehrle. Closer Casey Janssen started camp with should soreness, but he apppears to be doing well, throwing on the side and assures everyone he will be ready for opening day, despite not having seen any game action yet. J.A. Happs sore back seems to be coming around and hes been slotted in again as the number-four starter. The Jays Grapefruit Circuit record is only 7-10, but those records are rarely an indication of how a team is going to do in the regular season. A year ago, the Jays were 16-17 in Florida, yet only won 74 games for the 2013 campaign. St. Louis won the National League pennant after going just 16-15 in the spring. The Boston Red Sox played .500 ball in the sunny south at 17-17 in its first year under skipper John Farrell and then went on to beat the Cardinals in the World Series. In 2012, their final year with Farrell as manager, the Blue Jays went a scorching 24-7 in Dunedin, tops in the Majors, with a run differential of plus-79, yet they went on to stumble to just 73 wins during the season. The Detroit Tigers, though, werent too far behind the Jays at 20-8 and they made it to the World Series against San Francisco. The Giants had been 18-15 that spring and went on to win their second Fall Classic in three years. In 2011, the Kansas City Royals went 25-7, while the Seattle Mariners were 22-11. The Royals still havent made the playoffs since winning the World Series in 1985 and the Mariners havent made the playoffs in a dozen years. The most exciting aspect of spring training is watching the breakout performances of young players, as is with the case of the Jays Drew Hutchison this spring. The rest of it is just about hoping your team can open the season healthy and can come close to living up to expectations. - Injuries could play a part in the American League West race and, in turn, the Wild Card. Two of the Oakland As starters are down with arm troubles. Jarrod Parker has forearm stiffness, which can be a precursor to ellow trouble, and the 25-year-old righty already had one Tommy John surgery in 2009. A.J. Griffin has elbow issues as well, and will find out shorttly if he needs Tommy John.ddddddddddddMeanwhile, Seattles number-two starter Hisashi Iwakuma is recovering from a sprained ligament in the middle finger of his pitching hand and is iffy, at best, for the start of season. The Ms top pitching prospect, Taijuan Walker, has bursitis in his shoulder and will likely start the season in the minors on rehab. - Some of the National Leagues better clubs havent escaped the injury bug, either. Atlanta Braves starter Kris Medlen likely needs his seond Tommy John and Brandon Beachy could also be on track for his second. The Braves are also keeping a close watch on Mike Minors shoulder. Arizona Diamondbacks ace lefty Patrick Corbin is currently seeking a second opinion on whether or not he needs Tommy John. If that isnt bad enough for the D-Backs, the recently signed Bronson Arroyo, an iron man with the Cincinnati Reds, is out indefinately with a disc problem in his back. The Philadelphia Phllies, of course, lost Roy Halladay to retirement. Now their number-one starter, Cole Hamels, is dealing with left shoulder fatigue. Though hes starting to feel better throwing on the side, there is no guarantee Hamels will be ready for Opening Day. - I guess you could call it a Panama "Root Canal" for the New York Yankees over the weekend. While on their special goodwill tour of Panama, the home of their now retired future Hall of Fame closer, Mariano Rivera, the Yanks were no-hit by the Miami Marlins. It happened on Saturday at a jam-packed Rod Carew Stadium. The Marlins Brad Hand started off by throwing five perfect innings and striking out six. Steve Cishek came in for a scorless sixth-inning before A.J. Ramos blanked the Yankees in the next two innings and then Arquimedes Caminero finished off the no-no in the ninth. - We talked about a lot of the pitching injuries, but this one appears to be both serious and mysterious. Tigers shortstop Jose Iglesias, a key pick-up from Boston in a three-way deal last season, has a severe case of shin splints in both legs caused by a problem with his feet. He could miss a large chunk of this season, maybe even the entire season, leaving Detroit without a legit number-one shortstop. - Its not exactly a Babe Ruth-ian differential, but the Baltimore Orioles Chris Davis had indeed a special season in the home run department last year. Daviss MLB-best 53 homers was nine better than American League runner-up Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers and 17 up on the National League co-leaders Pedro Alvarez of the Pittsburgh Pirates and the D-Backs Paul Goldschmidt at 36. The last time that happened was 2010, when the Blue Jays Jose Bautista slugged 54 homers, 15 more than AL runner-up Paul Konerko of the Chicago White Sox at 39 and 12 more than NL leader Albert Pujols, then of the Cardinals, at 42. ' ' '
|
