I think we all saw this coming. Outfielder Mitch Maier, who has spent many a year taking up a roster spot on the KC Royals yet not getting into many games, has elected to become a free agent.

Maier was designated for assignment in July and supposedly, the Royals were trying to find him a new deal. Nothing happened, though I find it hard to believe that NO team was in need of a backup outfielder with some speed.

He took the assignment to Triple-A Omaha and helped them reach the Pacific Coast League postseason. However, after losing to Reno in the PCL Finals, Maier was not promoted to the big leagues as a September callup.

He has now decided that it is time to part ways with the only team he has ever known since being taken in the first round of the 2003 draft.

Pitcher Roman Colon, in his second tour with the Royals, also elected free agency. He actually had a solid season with Triple-A Omaha in 2012 (4-2 with a 3.08 ERA in 39 games out of the bullpen).

Reliever Bryan Paukovits was released. This was interesting considering he was one of the Royals representatives last season in the Arizona Fall League. He struggled in 2012 at Double-A after a solid season with High-A Wilmington in 2011. He carried a 5.01 ERA over 29 games out of the Naturals bullpen.

*Other minor leaguers to be let go by the Royals are RHP Fernando Cruz, RHP Julio Morales, RHP Andrew Stueve, RHP Ryan Wood, LHP Dave Middendorf, C Travis Lane, C Tyler Smith, OF Lance Harper.

It was another crazy day in St. Louis, but the KC Royals couldn’t hold off the Cardinals offense, as they lost 10-7.

Starter Bruce Chen was LIT UP. He registered just five outs and allowed six runs on seven hits over just 1.2 innings. With one out, former Royal Carlos Beltran singled and Matt Holliday followed with a two-run homerun. After an out and a David Freese double, Yadier Molina followed with another two-run homerun.

In the second inning, Beltran and Holliday got to Chen again, with Beltran driving in a run with a single and Holliday following with an RBI double. That end Chen‘s afternoon.

That came after the Royals took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning against Cardinals rookie starter Joe Kelly on a Mike Moustakas RBI single. That all came after Cardinals manager Mike Matheny was ejected after a controversial call. Kelly turned a triple-play, but after Royals manager Ned Yost came out to argue, the umpires overturned the call, giving the Royals just one out.

The Royals offense kept chipping away, so much so that they took the lead in the top of the 7th inning. In that 7th inning, the Royals scored three runs. Mike Moustakas delivered an RBI single and Alcides Escobar drove in two runs with a single.

» Continue reading “Wild Game Goes to Cardinals”

There was a crazy ending, but the KC Royals held on for the 3-2 win over St. Louis.

With pinch-hitter Rafel Furcal at the plate and two outs, Tyler Greene (who had singled) stole second base. The throw from catcher Humberto Quintero hit Greene as he was sliding and kicked into the outfield. Greene jumped up and took off for third base. Chris Getz picked up the ball and threw wide of third base. Greene then headed for home. Mike Moustakas hustled after the ball and made a perfect throw home to get Greene to end the game.

That crazy ending gave Jonathan Broxton his 16th save of the season. It also made a winner of Vin Mazzaro, who was spotless over six innings. He allowed just five hits and a walk while striking out four.

The Royals bullpen got smacked around a bit in the bottom of the 7th inning. Newly added to the roster Roman Colon (he’s baaack) allowed a leadoff single to David Freese and a one out RBI double to Matt Adams. After striking out Greene, Colon allowed a pinch-hit RBI single to Shane Robinson to cut the Royals lead to 3-2.

Aaron Crow got into trouble in the 8th inning, as he allowed two hits, but induced a double play ground out from Freese to end the threat.

So how did the Royals score their runs you ask?

Jarrod Dyson delivered a two out RBI single in the 2nd inning against Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse. Jeff Francoeur drove in a run with a single in the 3rd inning. Frenchy drove in another with a sac fly in the 7th inning.

Alex Gordon, Getz, and Dyson each had two hits.

*For more on the Cardinals, check out Aaron Miles’ Fastball.

Omaha hit two solo homeruns, one in the 8th to tie the game and one in the 12th to win the game, as they beat New Orleans 2-1. Anthony Seratelli hit a homerun in the 8th inning (he went 2-for-4). Wil Myers hit the game winner in the 12th inning.

Roman Colon picked up the win, as he pitched three scoreless innings of relief. He struck out two and allowed just one hit. Vin Mazzaro got the start and allowed one run on six hits over 6.2 innings. He struck out five and did not walk a batter. Jeremy Jeffress followed with two scoreless innings of relief.

Two 3-run innings and two 2-run innings propelled NW Arkansas over Midland, 10-3. The Naturals hit three homeruns, with Carlo Testa and John Whittleman picking up their sixth of the season. Whittleman went 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

Eric Duncan went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs and Nick Van Stratten went 2-for-4 in the win.

Elisaul Pimentel took advantage of the run support to pick up his second win of the season. He allowed one run (a solo homerun) on seven hits and a walk over 5.2 innings. He struck out five.

Tonight’s Wilmington Blue Rocks game in Myrtle Beach was a rematch of last Saturday night’s game in Wilmington, as Nick Tepesch took the mound coming off his no-hitter. He didn’t pitch a no-hitter, but the Pelicans won 10-2.

Tepesch did however pick up a win, as he allowed three runs on five hits over 6.2 innings. His counterpart again, Jason Adam, struggled from the beginning. He ended up allowing seven runs on ten hits over 5.1 innings.

Kevin David continues his hot hitting, as he went 2-for-3 to up his average to .278.

With reliever Jon Keck being promoted to NW Arkansas, Edwin Carl was promoted from Kane County. He will pitch out of the bullpen, despite pitching well out of the rotation for the Cougars.

A seven run 3rd inning was enough for Kane County, as they beat Burlington 7-3.  In that inning, they collected five hits and walked five times.

Justin Trapp, Jorge Bonifacio, Michael Antonio, and Orlando Calixte each had two hits in the win.

All of that offense made a winner of Brooks Pounders. He allowed two unearned runs on four hits over six innings. He struck out four.

Omaha beat Albuquerque, 14-10, but it took 13 innings to complete. In the top of the 13 inning, Terry Evans hit a three-run homerun (it was his only at-bat of the game). Two batters later, Clint Robinson hit a two-run homerun to give the Storm Chasers a 14-9 lead.

Tommy Hottovy took the mound in the bottom of the inning and gave up a Tim Federowicz RBI triple before finishing off the Isotopes. Roman Colon earned the win after pitching three scoreless innings of relief. He allowed just one hit while striking out two.

Offensively for Omaha, Robinson, Kevin Kouzmanoff, and David Lough each collected two hits and two runs scored. Max Ramirez went 3-for-3 with three RBIs and two walks.

After scoring six runs in the 7th inning and scoring single runs in the 8th and 9th innings to take a 9-7 lead, Francisley Bueno allowed two runs in the bottom of the 9th inning to allow Albuquerque to tie the game and send it to extra innings. One of the runs was unearned and it was Bueno’s third inning of work.

Then the offense went to work in the top of the 13th inning against Wil Ledezma.

Omaha suffered through another poor outing from Mike Montgomery, who allowed five runs on seven hits and four walks over just 3.1 innings. He only struck out two.

The NW Arkansas Naturals took a 9-7 win over Corpus Christi, as they pounded out 14 hits. After a tough start by Justin Marks (4+IP, 6H, 7R, 6ER, 4BB, 4K), the Naturals bullpen pitched five shutout innings (Kendal Volz and Blaine Hardy). Volz did allow two of Marks’ runs to score.

With the game tied at 7-7, Christian Colon hit a solo homerun in the bottom of the 6th inning to give the Naturals the lead. Colon went 2-for-4. Wil Myers hit a three-run homerun in the first inning en route to a five RBI performance (a career-high). He also went 4-for-5.

The Wilmington Blue Rocks attempted another 9th inning comeback, but fell to the visiting Frederick Keys, 3-2. Brett Eibner tripled to lead off the inning. After a strikeout, Geulin Beltre singled him home. However, that was all the Blue Rocks would get.

The Blue Rocks scored in the very first inning and had a chance to blow the game open, but Beltre grounded out with the bases loaded to end the bottom of the first inning.

Yordano Ventura took the loss, as he allowed two runs on three hits and three walks over three innings. He struck out six. Ryan Dennick followed (4IP, 4H, 1R, 1BB, 5K). Ventura actually got into the 4th inning and Dennick allowed one of his inherited runners to score. Nick Rogers pitched two perfect innings of relief.

The Blue Rocks had more hits than the Keys (8-7), but were just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and they struck out nine times. Eibner and Whit Merrifield each had two hits.

The Kane County Cougars scored five runs over the first two innings and received a stellar starting performance from Santiago Garrido, as they defeated the Burlington Bees 6-2. Garrido allowed just one run on one hit and two walks over five innings. He struck out four.

The Cougars pounded out 11 hits, but only Lane Adams (2-for-5) and Henry Moreno (3-for-4) collected multi-hit games. Moreno had three RBIs.