KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Bruce Chen outdueled Francisco Liriano to make a lone run scored in the second inning stand up Tuesday night, giving the Kansas City Royals a 1-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins. Chen (5-5) allowed four hits without a walk to win for the fifth time in six starts. The 34-year-old left-hander relied on some veteran guile to strike out five without allowing a runner past second. Liriano (1-6) allowed only four hits in six innings, but three of them came in the second when the Twins’ failure to turn a double play proved costly. It allowed Brayan Pena to send an RBI single rolling through the left side of the infield for the game’s only run. Greg Holland worked around an error in the eighth for Kansas City, and Jonathan Broxton left runners on first and second in the ninth for his 14th save of the season.
Category: Sports
Larks Come from Behind in 10-7 win Over Liberal
The Hays Larks ran their winning streak to five last night in a come from behind win over the Liberal Bee Jays. The Larks got on the board first, taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Liberal scored two in the second and five in the third to take a 7-1 lead off starter Michael Freeman. Freeman allowed seven runs, three earned on four hits over 2 1/3 innings. The Larks tied the game at seven with six runs in the top of the fourth inning and they took the lead with one in the seventh and added two more in the ninth on their way to a 10-7 win. Austin Cox picked up the win in relief, Cox didn’t allow a run in 3 2/3 innings. Seven Larks tallied at least one RBI; Joe Betcher was 4-5 with a pair of RBI, Austin Darby and Zair Koeiman also drove in two in the win. The Larks are now 5-0 and 2-0 in the Jayhawk league and they will take on El Dorado on Friday.
Royals pick San Francisco’s Zimmer in MLB draft
Morneau powers Twins to 10-7 win over Royals
Larks make it Four Straight
Hays Eagles down Salina 14-4
The Hays Sr. Legion Eagles improved to 7-2 last night with a 14-4 win over the Salina Falcons. Hays wasted no time getting runs on the board plating nine in the first inning. Dan Bittle was three-for-five in the game and drove in four runs. Hayden Hutchinson, Taylor Renz and Clayton Basgall each drove in a pair of runs, while Josh Heifner earned the win allowing four runs, just two of them earned in eight innings. The Eagles will next play at Dodge City on Wednesday.
Royals Blank A’s
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Vin Mazzaro pitched six stellar innings and the Kansas City Royals beat punchless Oakland 2-0 Sunday, handing the Athletics their third shutout in four games. Eric Hosmer homered as the Royals sent the A’s to their 10th loss in 11 games. Mazzaro (2-0), who pitched for the A’s in 2009-10 before being traded to the Royals, allowed four singles, walked three and struck out three. Mazzaro escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first after giving up singles to Collin Cowgill and Josh Reddick and walking Kila Ka’aihue. Brandon Inge grounded out to end the inning. Relievers Kelvin Herrera, Greg Holland and Jonathan Broxton each gave up one hit in one inning, completing the Royals’ fifth shutout of the year. Broxton got his 13th save in 15 opportunities.
Hays Eagles Finish 2nd in Manhattan
The Hays Sr. Legion Eagles suffered their first two losses of the season over the weekend on their way to a second place finish at the Manhattan Tournament of Champions. In the finale game yesterday the Eagles fell 3-2 to the Salina Falcons. With the score tied at one in the fifth inning Salina scored two runs off Hays’ Austin Unrein, who allowed three runs in five innings. Taylor Renz was 2-for-3 and scored two runs.
Larks Rally To Win Season Opener
Aaron Cornell drove in the tying run then knocked in the go-ahead run two innings later as the Hays Larks rallied for a 5-3 win over the Denver Cougars in their season opener on a cool Friday night at Larks Park.
Cornell, who will be a junior at Oklahoma State and was last season’s Jayhawk League Player of the Year, drove in UNC-Charlotte’s Brett Lang with a two-out double to tie the game at three in the sixth inning. His triple in the eighth also drove in Lang who doubled to start the inning. Cornell later scored on a wild pitch for a 5-3 lead.
Northwood University’s Jason Heflin came in to pitch in the ninth and loaded the bases after an error, hit batter and walk. He worked out of the jam with a popup and grounder back to the mound for a game-ending double play.
Heflin gets the save. Fort Hays State senior Shawn Lewick picks up the win after three innings of scoreless relief, striking out four and walking two.
Lang went 3-for-3 with two runs scored. Cornell finished 2-for-5 with two RBI’s.
NOTES: The Larks are back at home Saturday night for game two of the series beginning at 7pm… Admission is free thanks to McDonald’s and Farm Bureau Insurance. It’s also McKid’s Day and First Responders Appreciation Night with all first responders from the Ellis County Emergency Services, Hays Fire Department and Hays Police Department in attendance honored before the game.
Paulino Shuts Down A’s as Royals Win 2-0
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Felipe Paulino kept the scuffling Athletics at bay for six innings Friday night, and the Kansas City Royals’ bullpen handled the rest in a 2-0 victory that gave Oakland its season-worst ninth straight loss.
Yuniesky Betancourt came off the disabled list to provide an RBI double in the first, and Mike Moustakas added an RBI blooper to left later in the inning, helping Kansas City win for only the sixth time in 23 games at Kauffman Stadium this season.
Paulino (3-1) has emerged as the ace of the Royals’ haphazard starting rotation, holding the opposition off the scoreboard through six innings for the fourth time in six starts.
He allowed three hits against Oakland while striking out five and walking three.
Both of the Royals’ runs were charged to Bartolo Colon (4-6), who recovered from a sloppy start to last seven innings — an encouraging outing after going 1-3 with a 7.92 ERA in May.
Jonathan Broxton worked a perfect ninth for his 12th save.
The A’s have been shut out six times in their last 16 games, and have been outscored 39-12 during their current losing streak. They came into the night ranked last in the majors in batting average (.210) and slugging percentage (.338), and second-to-last in on-base percentage and runs.
The Royals nearly added to their first-inning cushion, but Alcides Escobar grounded out to leave two runners aboard in the first. Kansas City also left a runner in scoring position in the second inning before failing twice to plate a run with the bases loaded in the third.
Colon was brilliant over the next four innings, allowing only a two-out single by Escobar in the sixth and a leadoff single by Humberto Quintero in the seventh.
The problem for Oakland was that Paulino was just as good.
The right-hander wasn’t particularly efficient, burning through 94 pitches in six innings, yet he managed to keep a struggling Oakland lineup off balance all night.
Jemile Weeks led off the game with a groundball double that just skipped past Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer, but Paulino came back to retire the next eight in order.
He also helped himself by cutting down a couple of Oakland base runners.
The first came with two outs in the third inning, when Weeks took off early attempting to steal third. Paulino whirled around and threw to Moustakas covering the bag.
The second out on the base paths came in the fourth, when Yoenis Cespedes was caught drifting too far off first. Paulino picked him off for the second out of the inning.
He set the A’s down in order in the fifth and sixth before turning it over to the Kansas City bullpen, which has been stellar most of the season. Kelvin Herrera worked a perfect seventh and Greg Holland worked around a one-out walk before handing the game to Broxton in the ninth.
Notes: Cespedes (strained left hand) came off the DL to go 0 for 4. … Betancourt (right ankle sprain) went 1 for 4 in his return from the DL. INF Irving Falu was optioned to Triple-A Omaha to clear space for him. … Royals LHP Everett Teaford (lower abdominal strain) said he felt good after throwing BP. He plans to throw a bullpen session Monday before a rehab assignment. … Brandon McCarthy will start for Oakland on Saturday against the Royals’ Luke Hochevar.
– Associated Press –
Hays Eagles Blow Out St. Joe, Move To 2-0 In Manhattan Tourney
The Hays Eagles Senior American Legion baseball sent 15 batters to the plate in an 11-run seventh inning and blow out St. Joe (Mo.) 18-3 at the Manhattan Tournament of Champions Friday afternoon.
The Eagles raced out to a 7-0 lead after 5 1/2 innings as they move to 2-0 in the tournament and 4-0 on the season.
Hayden Hutchison allowed three runs (two earned) on eight hits over seven innings for his first win of the season. Hutchison struck out four and walked one.
The Eagles grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on a Casey Sedbrook triple and Riley Kaus RBI single. Austin Unrein led off the third with a home run to make it 2-0. Sedbrook’s RBI single in the fourth put Hays up 3-0.
The Eagles added two in the fifth Trevor Henningson’s 2-run triple and then two more in the sixth for a 7-0 lead.
St. Joe scored all three of their runs on four hits in the bottom of the sixth.
Casey Sedbrook and Jarrett Sanders both had four hits. Sanders doubled and tripled and drove in three runs. Riley Kaus and Trevor Henningson both had three hits and four RBI’s.
Hays Eagles Blank Manhattan
Austin Unrein throws a complete game one-hitter helping the Hays Eagles Senior American Legion to a 9-0 win over Manhattan Thursday on the first day of the Tournament of Champions in Manhattan.
Unrein struck out four and walked three for his second win of the season.
The Eagles jumped out early, scoring four in the first on RBI singles from Jarrett Sanders and Trevor Henningson and a Taylor Renz two-run triple.
Hays tacked on single runs in the fifth and sixth then blew it open with three in the seventh.
The Eagles improve to 3-0. They play St. Joe Friday at noon then face the Kansas Crush Friday night at 6:30pm.
Board of Directors Confirms Big 12 Happy at 10
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Oklahoma State president Burns Hargis says the Big 12 is satisfied at 10 teams, though he acknowledged that if Notre Dame was interested in joining the league, “that’s something we would have to pursue.”
Hargis, who chairs the league’s board of directors, spoke Thursday during the Big 12’s annual meetings at the InterContinental Hotel in Kansas City.
He said that Big 12 administrators are all “very satisfied” with 10 teams, but nobody in the conference is willing to shut the door provided the right opportunity arises.
That could mean a school such as Florida State, which has expressed interest in the conference, or even Notre Dame, a traditional independent in football that might need to join a conference depending on how a college football playoff shakes out.
– Associated Press –