KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Kansas City Royals’ clubhouse mood was somber after a 6-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins.
Eric Hosmer will be going on the disabled list after an X-ray revealed a displaced fracture of the third finger of his right hand.
“Very frustrating, bad timing,” Hosmer said. “The good thing is I can still get back for that last month and make that last push. They said as quick as three weeks and long as six. Obviously, I’m going to be shooting for the three to four weeks.”
Hosmer was hit by a pitch from Jon Lester on July 20 and was held out of the lineup for six of the next seven games. He returned to the lineup Tuesday and aggravated it on a check swing in the fourth inning.
Alcides Escobar hit a two-run triple and Yordano Ventura pitched seven effective innings as the Royals completed a 5-2 homestand.
“It was a great pitch to hit, a fastball right down the middle,” Escobar said. “I didn’t want to miss it.”
Escobar’s triple highlighted a four-run seventh. The inning also included Jarrod Dyson’s run-scoring single. Dyson stole second and third and scored on catcher Eric Fryer’s throwing error.
Ventura (8-8) limited the Twins to two runs, one earned, on five hits, while striking out seven.
Danny Santana led off the game with a home run. Mike Moustakas committed two throwing errors in the third to gift the Twins with an unearned run.
Caleb Thielbar (2-1) retired only one of three batters he faced for Minnesota.
Twins right-hander Kevin Correia, who had yielded 11 runs on 17 hits and five walks in eight innings in losing his previous two starts, left after six innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on five hits. His 13 losses top the American League.
“I was able to go out there get ahead of some guys,” Correia said. “I was throwing strikes and able to mix stuff up late.”
Kurt Suzuki hit a pinch RBI-double in the eighth off Wade Davis, the first extra-base the Royals right-hander allowed in 46 innings and 44 appearances.
“I’ve never seen anything like it, never,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.
Greg Holland worked a flawless ninth for his 29th save in 31 opportunities.
The Twins stranded 11 runners, leaving the bases loaded in the fourth and eighth and stranding two runners in two other innings.
“We’re leaving way too many runners on early in the game,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We’re not coming up with a big hit and coming up with those extra runs that you need. They show up late.”
Royals stand pat at deadline
Stuck in limbo between contending and conceding, the perennially building Kansas City Royals opted to stand pat as baseball’s non-waiver trade deadline passed Thursday.
Even as several other teams in the same mix pulled off some splashy moves.
The Tigers, who led the Royals by 4 1/2 games in the AL Central at the start of the day, landed arguably the biggest coup in left-hander David Price. The Mariners and Yankees, neck-and-neck with Kansas City in the wild-card hunt, also were involved in a series of trades.
Meanwhile, Royals general manager Dayton Moore said “at the end of the day, there weren’t any players we could get our hands on that would be upgrades over what we have.”
“We were prepared to make moves with prospects. There was nothing presented to us that made us uncomfortable,” Moore said shortly before the Royals wrapped up a series with Minnesota. “We were prepared to be as aggressive as we possibly could.”
The Royals were in a similar position a year ago, making only minor moves down the stretch, and wound up finishing 86-76 — their best record since the strike-shortened 1994 season, but still only good enough for third place in the division. That led many to speculate that the Royals would finally trade for the big bat that their popgun offense has been lacking the past two seasons.
Instead, the Royals watched from the dugout as Oakland sent power-hitting outfielder Yoenis Cespedes to the Red Sox for starter Jon Lester and outfielder Jonny Gomes.
“Truthfully it wasn’t an option for us,” Moore said of acquiring the Cuban defector, whose 17 homers would easily lead the Royals. “We didn’t have a pitcher of that caliber we were willing to trade to get a player like Cespedes back. We have to keep our pitching strong.”
Therein lays the rub: The Royals had the pitcher in James Shields, a durable former All-Star who is due to become a free agent after the season. They were simply unwilling to part with him unless it was for the right deal even though it’s a near-certainty the small-market club will be unable to come up with the cash to sign him to a new deal.
The Royals also had a potential trade chip in Wade Davis, who has been dominant as a setup man and could be targeted by teams in search of a closer down the stretch. Designated hitter Billy Butler was also trade bait, though several factors including his contract and his suspect ability to play in the field would have made it difficult to move him.
“You always get excited and it breaks down, and you get excited and it breaks down,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “In the end it was a lot of hard work that nothing happened.”
Moore insisted that it’s still possible that the Royals will execute a trade, but it becomes much more difficult. Players must now pass through waivers before a deal could happen.
The Royals have been searching for help in right field, where Nori Aoki has failed to live up to expectations, and third base, where Mike Moustakas began the day hitting just .194. But with a relative dearth of hitting available, the Royals started to investigate some pitching help.
The Phillies’ A.J. Burnett was linked to Kansas City prior to the deadline.
“You can only take advantage of what’s available to you,” Moore said, “and again, internally, we feel this group of players is very talented and able to produce and will produce.”
