New month, same story for Royals
Here it was a new month, and Royals manager Buddy Bell, fresh off a hole in one earlier in the day, suggested before Thursday’s game that maybe his club’s fortunes were about to change.
Nope.
Not yet, anyway, thanks to two homers by Texas catcher Rod Barajas and a boatload of missed opportunities that channeled into a 5-4 loss at Kauffman Stadium.
“We didn’t capitalize,” said center fielder Chip Ambres, who had two of the Royals’ 12 hits and ended the game standing on third with the potential tying run.
“That’s got to change because that’s been one of our biggest problems.”
The Royals stranded four runners at third, including three who got that far with fewer than two outs.
“We did have a lot of opportunities,” Bell agreed. “We just couldn’t do a lot with them. Kenny Rogers made some good pitches to get out of those jams. He’s been doing that for years.”
Not so much lately, though.
This was Rogers’ first victory in five starts since returning from a 13-game suspension for shoving a TV cameraman. To get it, he needed to pitch around 11 hits in seven-plus innings — and then sweat out threats in the eighth and ninth against the bullpen.
The Rangers had a sufficient cushion, thanks to Barajas, who clubbed his 15th and 16th homers of the season on well-placed drives down the left-field line.
Barajas’ first homer was a three-run blast off the left-field foul pole in a four-run fourth inning against Royals starter J.P. Howell.
“A 3-1 fastball inside,” Howell said. “I didn’t want to walk him. That same pitch next time, maybe he pops it straight up.”
Or maybe it curls a few more inches and goes foul.
Then again, Barajas’ second homer was eerily similar, high and tight to the line on Ambiorix Burgos’ first pitch in the seventh inning. It missed the foul pole — although not by much — and proved to be the winning run.
Steve Karsay, Brian Shouse and Francisco Cordero closed out the victory for Rogers, who improved to 12-7 by beating the Royals for the third time in three starts this season.
Cordero worked a scoreless ninth and got his 30th save in 37 opportunities.
The Royals finished with 12 hits, including two apiece from Ambres, Joe McEwing, Terrence Long, Angel Berroa and Matt Diaz. That was sufficient to trigger the season’s 13th Krispy Kreme doughnut giveaway.
It just wasn’t enough to win.
The Royals built a 2-0 lead on two-out RBI singles by Diaz in the second and Long in the third. McEwing had an RBI single in the fifth after Texas produced its four-run fourth.
Berroa’s RBI single in the eighth trimmed the lead to one run again after Barajas’ second homer.
Howell, 1-5, gave up four runs and five hits before exiting after six innings and a career-high 108 pitches. He struck out seven and walked two.
“Overall, I liked what I saw,” Bell said. “He’s starting to understand how to use his pitches. I like his stuff.”
Rogers carried a 5-3 lead into the eighth but left after Long opened the inning with a double. Karsay retired Emil Brown on a fly to right that allowed Long to reach third. John Buck then drew a walk before Berroa flicked an RBI single into center.
The Royals sent Aaron Guiel up to bat for Diaz, which prompted Texas manager Buck Showalter to bring in Shouse for a lefty-lefty matchup.
Bell countered by sending Paul Phillips up to bat for Guiel.
All this maneuvering produced a fielder’s-choice force at second when Phillips grounded back to the pitcher.
The Royals then loaded the bases on a walk to Justin Huber, but Shouse stranded all three runners by slipping a called strike past Denny Hocking on a 3-2 pitch.
The Royals got the tying run to third base in the ninth after Cordero opened the inning with a walk to Ambres, who reached second on McEwing’s sacrifice and third on Long’s ground out.
That left it up to Brown, whose single in the ninth inning Wednesday provided the only run Wednesday in 1-0 victory over the Twins.
This time, he ended the game by striking out on a checked swing.
Source: http://www.kansas.com/
Nope.
Not yet, anyway, thanks to two homers by Texas catcher Rod Barajas and a boatload of missed opportunities that channeled into a 5-4 loss at Kauffman Stadium.
“We didn’t capitalize,” said center fielder Chip Ambres, who had two of the Royals’ 12 hits and ended the game standing on third with the potential tying run.
“That’s got to change because that’s been one of our biggest problems.”
The Royals stranded four runners at third, including three who got that far with fewer than two outs.
“We did have a lot of opportunities,” Bell agreed. “We just couldn’t do a lot with them. Kenny Rogers made some good pitches to get out of those jams. He’s been doing that for years.”
Not so much lately, though.
This was Rogers’ first victory in five starts since returning from a 13-game suspension for shoving a TV cameraman. To get it, he needed to pitch around 11 hits in seven-plus innings — and then sweat out threats in the eighth and ninth against the bullpen.
The Rangers had a sufficient cushion, thanks to Barajas, who clubbed his 15th and 16th homers of the season on well-placed drives down the left-field line.
Barajas’ first homer was a three-run blast off the left-field foul pole in a four-run fourth inning against Royals starter J.P. Howell.
“A 3-1 fastball inside,” Howell said. “I didn’t want to walk him. That same pitch next time, maybe he pops it straight up.”
Or maybe it curls a few more inches and goes foul.
Then again, Barajas’ second homer was eerily similar, high and tight to the line on Ambiorix Burgos’ first pitch in the seventh inning. It missed the foul pole — although not by much — and proved to be the winning run.
Steve Karsay, Brian Shouse and Francisco Cordero closed out the victory for Rogers, who improved to 12-7 by beating the Royals for the third time in three starts this season.
Cordero worked a scoreless ninth and got his 30th save in 37 opportunities.
The Royals finished with 12 hits, including two apiece from Ambres, Joe McEwing, Terrence Long, Angel Berroa and Matt Diaz. That was sufficient to trigger the season’s 13th Krispy Kreme doughnut giveaway.
It just wasn’t enough to win.
The Royals built a 2-0 lead on two-out RBI singles by Diaz in the second and Long in the third. McEwing had an RBI single in the fifth after Texas produced its four-run fourth.
Berroa’s RBI single in the eighth trimmed the lead to one run again after Barajas’ second homer.
Howell, 1-5, gave up four runs and five hits before exiting after six innings and a career-high 108 pitches. He struck out seven and walked two.
“Overall, I liked what I saw,” Bell said. “He’s starting to understand how to use his pitches. I like his stuff.”
Rogers carried a 5-3 lead into the eighth but left after Long opened the inning with a double. Karsay retired Emil Brown on a fly to right that allowed Long to reach third. John Buck then drew a walk before Berroa flicked an RBI single into center.
The Royals sent Aaron Guiel up to bat for Diaz, which prompted Texas manager Buck Showalter to bring in Shouse for a lefty-lefty matchup.
Bell countered by sending Paul Phillips up to bat for Guiel.
All this maneuvering produced a fielder’s-choice force at second when Phillips grounded back to the pitcher.
The Royals then loaded the bases on a walk to Justin Huber, but Shouse stranded all three runners by slipping a called strike past Denny Hocking on a 3-2 pitch.
The Royals got the tying run to third base in the ninth after Cordero opened the inning with a walk to Ambres, who reached second on McEwing’s sacrifice and third on Long’s ground out.
That left it up to Brown, whose single in the ninth inning Wednesday provided the only run Wednesday in 1-0 victory over the Twins.
This time, he ended the game by striking out on a checked swing.
Source: http://www.kansas.com/
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home