The KC Royals started the week by winning two of three out in LA, but then were swept in Oakland over the weekend. So, they went 2-4 as they are in Houston for three games starting tonight. They are four games out of first place in the American League Central, behind the hot Cleveland Indians (and Detroit).

Omaha split their most recent series at home versus Las Vegas and went 2-4 over the week. The Storm Chasers are still in second place in the Pacific Coast League’s American Northern Division at 21-20. They begin a four-game home series tonight against Tuscon.

NW Arkansas won just one game last week (1-6), which dropped them further back in the Texas League’s North Division (ten games back). The Naturals are the worst team in the league and finished their home series with Tulsa this afternoon with a loss. With an off day tomorrow, they head to Corpus Christi and San Antonio for three games each.

Wilmington went 3-4 last week. The Blue Rocks are 20-23 overall, four games back in the Northern Division of the Carolina League. They have today off before welcoming first place Lynchburg to town for three games beginning on Tuesday night.

Lexington went 5-2, the only Royals affiliate to have a winning record last week. However, the Legends are still in sixth place in the Southern Division of the South Atlantic League (just 3.5 games back). They return home for three games beginning tonight against Asheville.

Now to the awards…

Hitter of the Week

Majors: It is a tie between Billy Butler and Alex Gordon. Both went exactly 12-for-25 (.480) in six games. They both also hit three doubles. Butler drove in ten runs. Gordon scored five runs.

Minors: Alex Hudak, Wilmington. He went 7-for-20 (.350) with three doubles, a homerun, and four RBIs. One of the newest Blue Rocks had his five-game hitting streak come to an end on Sunday.

Honorable Mention: Irving Falu, Omaha. He went 7-for-21 (.333) with a double, two triples, and three runs scored.

» Continue reading “Royals Weekly Awards”

The KC Royals scored a run in the first inning, but could not scratch out another run, as they lost in Oakland, 2-1.

Billy Butler drove in their lone run with an RBI single with two outs (after Alex Gordon doubled). That’s two of their five hits coming in the first inning.

Ervin Santana

They had the bases loaded in the second with nobody out, but A’s starter Tommy Milone wriggled out of the jam by getting a foul pop up and two strikeouts.

Ervin Santana was cruising along until the 6th inning when the A’s got to him for their two runs. One scored on a sac fly, the other on a Brandon Moss two out triple. Santana allowed four hits and three walks over seven innings. He struck out five.

Tim Collins pitched a scoreless 8th inning, but he needed 21 pitches to do it.

Salvador Perez and Butler picked up two of the five hits in the loss.

The two teams finish the series on Sunday afternoon with Luis Mendoza matching up against AJ Griffin.

The weather forecast called for rain all day and all night in Baltimore, yet the KC Royals only faced an hour long rain delay in the 7th inning. Unfortunately, they still lost, 4-3.

The way the game started for the Royals and Ervin Santana, you would be surprised that he lasted until the rain delay. I know I was. But he settled down and really pitched well. After allowing three runs on four hits in the first, he did not allow another base runner until Nate McLouth singled with two outs in the fifth. Santana only walked one over six innings while striking out four.

Meanwhile, the Royals offense continues to be the singles brigade. They collected nine of them and actually out-hit the O’s.

In the 3rd inning against O’s starter Wei-Yin Chen, the Royals strung together three singles to score their first run. Then the two teams’ offenses were kept off the scoreboard until the rains came.

Miguel Tejada, who started at third base singled with one out against Chen. With Elliot Johnson at the plate (he started at second base), the downpour came. The tarp was put on the field and play was halted until 9:45pm ET.

Brian Matusz was the new pitcher for the O’s when play resumed. After getting Johnson to fly out, Alex Gordon hit a no doubter over the right field scoreboard to tie the game at 3-3. It was the first and only extra base hit for the Royals. It was also their last base runner.

The Royals also went to their bullpen, first with lefty Tim Collins. He once again struggled with his command, as he walked one in his first inning of relief, but escaped. For some reason, Ned Yost sent Collins back out for another inning. He walked the first batter he faced before striking out Chris Davis. He then got the hook and in came Luke Hochevar. His pick off throw to first base hit Adam Jones, allowing him to take second base. Matt Wieters then dropped in a double to break the tie. From my seat, it looked foul. That was the third RBI of the night for Wieters.

The Royals then went down quietly to O’s closer Jim Johnson. Jeff Francoeur flied out to center. Salvador Perez struck out. Pinch-hitter Mike Moustakas got a 2-0 count and then sent a dinky fly ball to left field to end the game.

The Royals left five men on base and hit into three double plays.

Luis Mendoza will get the ball in the middle game of the series against Chris Tillman. I hope more people show up for tomorrow’s game. There were less than 10,000 actually in attendance and way less after the delay.

*Every time Gordon got on base, Alcides Escobar hit into a double play: once in the first and once in the fifth to end the inning (with a runner on third base).

**Outside of the rain, it was a nice two and a half hour game. I just wish the rain hadn’t come because I would have made it home an hour earlier.

***The Royals also flashed some glove work from their infield subs. Tejada made a great play in the third, flipping over and throwing Jones out from his knees. Johnson’s play came in the bottom of the eighth when he dove deep into the hole on Ryan Flaherty‘s sure base hit. He threw him out by a few steps.

The KC Royals fended off a Cleveland Indians rally to win 3-2 on Saturday night. They won despite being out-hit 9-6.

Salvador Perez at the plate on April 6, 2013 in Philadelphia.

The Royals took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 2nd inning on Salvador Perez‘ first homerun of the season. They tacked on an insurance run in the seventh on an Eric Hosmer bases loaded walk with two outs. The Indians used five relievers two record the three outs and walked three in a row.

Kelvin Herrera survived a leadoff double in the 8th inning and handed the ball over to closer Greg Holland in the ninth. With one out, Mark Reynolds singled before Hosmer committed a fielding error. After striking out Drew Stubbs (but then who doesn’t strike him out?), Michael Brantley tripled in two runs. Holland bounced back to strike out Jason Kipnis to end the game.

If you thought Ervin Santana was going to be this good, raise your hand. I’m sure they are not many of you out there. But he has pitched well so far for the Royals. Tonight, he pitched seven shutout innings. Santana allowed six hits while striking out five (he did not walk a batter). Tonight’s performance lowered his ERA to 2.00.

On offense, Alex Gordon collected two hits and stole his first base of the season.

The two teams will play a day-night doubleheader on Sunday, with Jeremy Guthrie and Justin Masterson matching up in the day game. Lefty Will Smith will be called up as the 26th man and start the night game. Corey Kluber will start for the Indians.

The KC Royals received solid starting pitching, great bullpen efforts, and some power to beat Boston at Fenway Park in the day-night doubleheader on Sunday.

In Game 1, Ervin Santana out-dueled Ryan Dempster for the 4-2 win. Santana allowed two runs on six hits over seven innings. He struck out seven to pick up his second win of the season.

Greg Holland during ST against Oakland on March 12, 2013.

Bruce Chen got into some trouble in the 8th inning, but Aaron Crow escaped the jam. Greg Holland pitched a perfect 9th inning for his fourth save of the season. He struck out two of the three batters he faced on just 11 pitches.

The Royals took the lead for good in the top of the 4th inning when they scored three runs. Lorenzo Cain doubled in the inning’s first run, before Salvador Perez singled in two runs with two outs. Four of the Royals eight hits came in that inning.

The night game took ten innings to complete, as Cain walked with the bases loaded in the top of the 10th inning for the Royals 5-4 win.

Holland picked up his fifth save when he struck out the side in the bottom of the inning on 14 pitches. He struck out five total Red Sox hitters in the doubleheader.

Kelvin Herrera rebounded from an awful outing on Saturday afternoon with two scoreless innings of relief to pick up his second win of the season.

The Royals tied the game in the top of the 5th inning when George Kottaras and Alex Gordon both hit solo homeruns, their firsts of the season. It was Kottaras‘ first start of the season and he even threw a runner out trying to steal. It was short-lived, as Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie allowed a one out RBI single to Mike Napoli (who fell a triple short of the cycle).

Billy Butler hit his third homerun of the season, a solo shot, in the top of the 8th inning to tie the game at 4-4. The score stayed tied until the tenth.

On offense for the Royals, Gordon snapped out of his mini funk by going 3-for-5 with three runs scored. Alcides Escobar went 2-for-4 and Eric Hosmer also picked up two hits.

*The Royals now have off before facing Detroit on Tuesday night.

The KC Royals salvaged the final game of their three-game home series against the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon with a 3-2 walk-off win.

Alex Gordon was the hero, though Chris Getz also had a hand in the victory.

With the game tied at 2-2, the Blue Jays went to veteran lefty reliever Darren Oliver for the bottom of the ninth. The first three hitters were left-handed, as Oliver got Jarrod Dyson to fly out the center. But then Getz doubled, putting the winning run in scoring position. That brought up Gordon, who singled to right field on the very first pitch he saw from Oliver. Getz raced home for the game winner.

It was another pitcher’s duel between Ervin Santana and Brandon Morrow. Santana allowed two runs (one earned) on seven hits and three walks over eight innings. Morrow allowed two runs on six hits and one walk over six innings. He only struck out three.

Edwin Encarnacion did all the damage for the Blue Jays against Santana. He drove in a run in the first on a ground out and hit a solo home run in the sixth to give Toronto the lead. However, that lead was short-lived.

The Royals originally tied the game at 1-1 in the third on Alcides Escobar’s sac fly. In the bottom of the sixth, Billy Butler singled with one out and went to second base on Eric Hosmer’s two out single. Butler rumbled home to tie the game at 2-2 on Lorenzo Cain’s single to center. The game stayed tied until Gordon’s heroics in the ninth.

Kelvin Herrera pitched a perfect ninth to pick up the win.

The Royals will now enjoy an off day in Atlanta before playing two games against the Braves on Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon. The Braves have won nine in a row and will be throwing Kris Medlen and Mike Minor. The Royals will counter with Jeremy Guthrie and Wade Davis. The Wednesday game will be televised on MLB Network beginning at noon ET.

Down 1-0 heading into the bottom of the 8th inning, the KC Royals scored three runs against the visiting Minnesota Twins. They held on for the 3-1 win in their home opener.

Alcides Escobar

Lorenzo Cain led off the bottom of the eighth with a double off Twins starter Kevin Correia. Chris Getz sacrificed him to third base before Alex Gordon singled him home to tie the game at 1-1. After a coaching visit, Alcides Escobar gave the Royals the lead with an RBI double. After a pitching change and a wild pitch, Billy Butler singled home Esky with the third run.

Aaron Crow entered in the 9th inning and he struck out the first batter he faced. After walking the next, he induced a game-ending double play out of Brian Dozier. It was Crow’s first save of the season.

Ervin Santana was shaky in his first Royals start, as he allowed four hits and one run in the very first inning. He was saved by a Gordon outfield assist or it could have been worse. He then retired nine in a row before hitting Josh Willingham to lead off the sixth. All-in-all, Santana allowed eight hits and one walk while striking out seven over eight innings.

Just over 40,000 were on hand at Kauffman Stadium for the beautiful afternoon victory.

Next up, Jeremy Guthrie gets the start against the Twins and Mike Pelfrey on Tuesday night.

The KC Royals lost their second game of the season, with a 5-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox. The long ball once again did them in.

Ervin Santana struggled in his Royals debut, as he allowed four runs on five hits and a walk over six innings. He struck out eight. The line isn’t so bad, but he allowed three home runs on a chilly Chicago afternoon.

Adam Dunn hit a solo home run in the second and Tyler Flowers hit his second home run of the season, a solo shot in the third. Both led off the inning. Dayan Viciedo hit a two-run shot with two outs in the fourth that Alex Gordon almost caught in left field (it hit the tip of his glove).

Then in the 7th inning, Luke Hochevar made his bullpen debut and allowed a solo home run to Alexei Ramirez.

Meanwhile, the Royals offense had their chances to score, but once again could not come up in the clutch. They left the bases loaded in the seventh (it started with one out). They also could not capitalize on three White Sox errors, though the Royals did score one run on an error (two in that inning). They went just 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and struck out seven times.

The two teams finish up the series (which I hope doesn’t end in a sweep) on Thursday. Jeremy Guthrie starts for the Royals against Chicago’s Gavin Floyd. It is yet another afternoon game, so it will get done early so they can head to Philadelphia for the Phillies home opener on Friday.

Really?

That was what I uttered when I heard the news. When I told my dad that the KC Royals acquired Santana, he was hoping I meant Johan from the NY Mets.

Ervin Santana during the 2011 season (Keith Allison/Flickr)

Instead…the Royals acquired Ervin Santana from the LA Angels (and some cash) for minor leaguer Brandon Sisk. I had been wondering why he hadn’t pitched over the last week in winter ball (now I know why).

It was rumored that the Angels were trying to get rid of both Santana and fellow rotation member Dan Haren before Wednesday was over because they didn’t want to have to pick up their exorbitant options.

Well, now the Royals will be paying him all that money ($13 million).

Apparently GM Dayton Moore thinks that Santana is a HUGE upgrade to their already awful rotation. REALLY? Then why have the Angels been trying to get rid of him the last two years?

The soon-to-be 30 year old has a career 96-80 record with a 4.33 ERA over eight seasons. He is a former All-Star and has thrown a no-hitter.

In 2012, Santana was a spectacular 9-13 with a 5.16 ERA. He allowed a league-high 39 homeruns. The silver lining is that, over his final ten starts, he was 5-2 with a 3.91 ERA for the playoff-pushing Angels.

I guess the Royals are looking for reclamation projects for pitching coach Dave Eiland (they also picked up Chris Volstad). I feel like the team is stocking up on pitchers who are alot like Luke Hochevar and that’s one too many

The one positive about the Santana signing is that he did have two good seasons with the Angels in 2010 (17-10 with a 3.92 ERA) and 2011 ( 11-12 with a 3.38 ERA). In those seasons, he had back-to-back 220 innings pitched. Can he return to that success? Who knows, but the Royals seem to think so.

The Royalsneed to make a 40-man roster move by Friday to make the deal official, as the roster is full. Three players are also on the 60-day DL (Danny Duffy, Felipe Paulino, and Blake Wood) and need to be added back to the roster.

Apparently, according to Moore, the Royals aren’t done wheeling-and-dealing:

“We’re not done,” Moore said. “We’re going to try to continue to upgrade our rotation through trades that make sense, continue to work internally to evaluate our young pitchers, perhaps one or two of our guys in the bullpen and we’re certainly going to explore free agency.”

*Sisk was 3-2 with a 2.54 ERA and eight saves in 50 appearances with Triple-A Omaha this season.

After the heartbreaking loss on Opening Night, the KC Royals came back to take the next two games and the series from the host LA Angels.

Angels starter Ervin Santana struggled today with his fastball command and the Royals hitters took advantage of some pitches left out over the plate.

Eric Hosmer got the Royals scoring started with an RBI single in the first inning. Billy Butler followed with a two-run homerun.

Hosmer hit a two-run homerun of his own in the 5th inning. After looking pretty bad at the plate on Opening Night, Hosmer has looked really good in his next two games. In those games, he was 4-for-10 with five runs scored and four RBIs.

The Royals pitching wasn’t great but it got the job done. After a long bottom of the first and a long bottom of the third inning in which the Angels scored single runs, I didn’t think Royals starter Jonathan Sanchez would go much longer. However, he made it through five innings without allowing another run.

Lefty Jose Mijares followed with one inning of shutout relief (though he allowed a hit). Kelvin Herrera followed with 1.1 innings of relief. He allowed five hits and a solo homerun to Vernon Wells.

Aaron Crow finished off the Angels in the 8th inning, but for some reason, manager Ned Yost hasn’t learned that Crow isn’t good in his second inning of work. Crow allowed a leadoff single to Howie Kendrick in the 9th inning and walked Albert Pujols on four pitches nowhere near the strike zone. That was all for Crow.

In came closer Jonathan Broxton, who was slow and deliberate, but got the job done. He struck out the next three hitters to send the Royals off to Oakland with a 7-3 victory.

» Continue reading “Homers Help Royals Win Series”