Listen to Kansas City Chiefs head coach Romeo Crennel address the media Friday at training camp in St. Joseph at Missouri Western State University.
Category: Professional
Royals lose second straight at Seattle
John Jaso drove in four runs and Blake Beavan pitched into the seventh inning to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 6-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.
Beavan (6-6) pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing four hits, one walk and a run. Over his last two starts, Beavan has thrown 14 2/3 innings, struck out 11, walked one and has a 1.29 ERA. He is 3-0 since being recalled from Triple-A Tacoma July 17.
Kansas City starter Jeremy Guthrie (0-2) remained winless with Kansas City and is 3-11 on the season between Colorado and the Royals. He threw 5 2/3 innings Friday night, allowing six runs and 11 hits. He struck out four and walked none.
Mike Carp, who is 5-for-8 in the last two games against Kansas City, hit his fifth homer in the sixth inning to put Seattle up 6-1. Brendan Ryan singled two batters later to knock out Guthrie.
— Associated Press —
St. Louis rolls past Cubs in series opener
The Cards almost had five of a kind.
Matt Holliday, Yadier Molina and Lance Berkman started a power show by the St. Louis Cardinals, who became the first team in eight years to hit a home run in each of the first five innings and went on to beat the Chicago Cubs 9-6 Friday.
Matt Carpenter and Allen Craig also connected off Travis Wood (4-6), whose five homers allowed matched the Cubs record.
Molina hit a two-run homer in the second, with the rest solo shots.
“The flags were blowing in, but the ball was still carrying,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “There were just a lot of hard hit balls. “Whenever you can mix five home runs in five innings, that’s pretty impressive.”
Carpenter put St. Louis ahead 7-6 when he homered on the first pitch of the fourth, and Craig homered into the left-field bleachers in the fifth. The previous team to homer in each of the first five innings was Houston against Colorado on Oct. 2, 2004, according to STATS LLC.
“All those balls were crushed,” Holliday said. “None of those were cheap home runs. If the wind was blowing out, those would have been a lot more impressive.”
Lance Lynn (13-4) tied the Mets’ R.A. Dickey and Washington’s Gio Gonzalez for the NL lead in wins despite allowing six runs and eight hits in five innings. Jason Motte completed four shutout innings for the Cardinals’ bullpen, getting three outs for his 23rd save in 27 chances as St. Louis won for the seventh time in eight games.
“The offense carried me, and the bullpen came in and did what they do,” Lynn said. “It was one of those days — a team win.”
Lynn allowed one run in 19 innings during his first three July starts, but the Cubs’ first three batters scored. Lynn also gave up three runs in the third as the Cubs rallied to tie 6-6 and ended a streak of 21 straight games in which the St. Louis starter pitched at least six innings — the club’s longest stretch since 2004.
“It was hit or miss it seems like,” said Lynn, who threw six scoreless innings in his previous start. “The time before I was able to make pitches and get out of innings with runners on. Today when they got the runner on they scored.”
Rookie Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run homer for the Cubs, his sixth in 25 games since he was brought up from Triple-A Iowa.
“It’s a good feeling to be in that kind of mindset at the plate,” Rizzo said. “I just want to stick to it right now and keep going.”
Berkman’s third-inning homer gave him 1,200 career RBIs and was just his second home run this season. Berkman has reached base in 37 straight games dating to last July 31, the longest streak in the majors, but he has missed 68 games this year because of lower body injuries.
Holliday’s solo homer in the first landed just to the left of the camera booth in center field. He added an RBI single in the seventh and singled in the ninth, leaving him with a .434 average, eight homers and 31 RBIs over his last 34 games. He’s homered five times in 12 games against the Cubs this season.
Starlin Castro had three hits for the Cubs, including an RBI single in the first and a leadoff triple to center in the third.
Rizzo added an RBI single in the third and scored on Alfonso Soriano’s double into the left-field corner, tying the game at 6-all. Rizzo’s 28 hits in July are the most among NL rookies.
Wood gave up eight runs and seven hits in five innings and has allowed 22 earned runs in 15 2/3 innings since the All-Star break.
“He does have to keep the ball down,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said. “You’re going to get away with that a little more against some other teams. This team, there’s a reason why those left-handed numbers are what they are. If you make a mistake, they don’t miss them.”
The prior Cubs starter to give up five homers in a game was Carlos Zambrano, in his final start for Chicago last Aug. 12.
“Things didn’t go as planned,” Wood said. “I missed some pitches, and they didn’t miss the pitches that I missed.”
Chicago put two runners on in the eighth, bringing the potential tying run to the plate with one out, but Reed Johnson and Geovany Soto hit long flyouts off Marc Rzepczynski.
“I was real happy and impressed with the bullpen,” Matheny said.
— Associated Press —
Royals lose opener at Seattle, 4-1
Seattle starter Jason Vargas allowed one hit in eight innings to win his career-high 11th game, and Mike Carp had three hits to help the Mariners beat the Kansas City Royals 4-1 Thursday night.
Vargas (11-7) allowed just a fourth-inning double during his eight innings, while striking out five and walking three.
He retired the first 11 batters he faced before Billy Butler’s 200th career double drove in Lorenzo Cain in the fourth. Vargas had walked Cain, then fell behind 3-0 before Butler drilled a fastball to the gap in left-center.
Kansas City did not get a runner to second base against Vargas after the fourth. He’s taken the mound following a Mariners loss in 14 of his 22 starts this season and has a 10-2 record with a 2.78 ERA in those games. He’s 4-0 with a 1.46 ERA in five July starts.
Kansas City starter Luis Mendoza (4-7) pitched five innings, allowing nine hits and four earned runs with three walks and a hit batter.
Tom Wilhelmsen pitched the ninth for his 12th save in 14 opportunities.
Consecutive sixth-inning doubles from Miguel Olivo and Carlos Peguero pushed Seattle in front 4-1. After getting ahead of Brendan Ryan 0-2, Mendoza walked Ryan on four consecutive breaking balls in the dirt, one of which was a wild pitch that moved Peguero to third. That ended Mendoza’s night and put the Mariners in business with first and third and none out.
But, left-hander Jose Mijares came in to strikeout Dustin Ackley and Michael Saunders, before getting a ground ball from Casper Wells to get out of the jam.
Mendoza found trouble early when the Mariners piled three hits and a hit batter together for two runs in the first. Carp’s single up the middle with the bases loaded scored Ackley and John Jaso for a 2-0 lead.
It also continued a trend of the Mariners jumping on teams early. Seattle has scored in the first inning in six of its last seven games.
Carp snapped an 0-for-7 streak with his first hit since his July 24 return from Triple-A Tacoma.
Ackley’s hard single to start the game snapped his 0-for-20 streak. He finished the night 2 for 3 with two walks and a run scored.
The two hits were a season-low for Kansas City.
— Associated Press —
Chiefs sign first-round pick Poe on eve of training camp
The Kansas City Chiefs announced on Thursday that the club has signed first-round draft pick (11th overall) defensive tackle Dontari Poe.
Poe (6-3, 346) played in 35 games (30 starts) at Memphis from 2009-11. The first of eight defensive linemen taken in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft, Poe tallied 101 tackles (57 solo), 5.0 sacks (-23.0 yards), 21.5 tackles for loss, eight pressures, four forced fumbles and four passes defensed for the Tigers.
He earned All-Conference USA recognition for three seasons and achieved All-America status in 2011. The Memphis, Tenn., native attended Wooddale High School, where he was an all-state selection in football and a two-time 3A state champion throwing the shot put for the track and field team.
— Chiefs Media Relations —
Cardinals rally past Los Angeles to win series
Thus far, Hanley Ramirez hasn’t helped the Los Angeles Dodgers gain any wins.
St. Louis had a season-high 18 hits, including three apiece from David Freese and Matt Carpenter, and beat the Dodgers for the second straight game since the Ramirez trade, 7-4 Thursday.
“He definitely makes their lineup that much tougher,” Jake Westbrook said. “So, it’s good to get a couple wins with him in there It says a lot about our team, how we came back after losing the first one and winning three straight.”
Obtained a day earlier from Miami, Ramirez started at third base and batted fifth for the second straight game. He had an infield hit, two walks and a steal, and grounded into a double play. The 2009 NL batting champion is 2 for 6 with three walks and an RBI with his new team, which has lost three in a row overall after a five-game winning streak.
Before dropping the last three, the Dodgers had won eight in a row in the series. They head to San Francisco for a three-game series against the Giants, with a callup to be determined opposing All-Star game starter Matt Cain on Friday night.
“It seems like the momentum we had kind of shifted the other way on us,” catcher Matt Treanor said. “I think we’re looking forward to leaving town and get fired up for the Giants.”
Freese and Carpenter had three hits each and Matt Holliday hit his 17th homer, his third on a 6-1 homestand.
St. Louis fell behind 4-2 by allowing four runs in the fifth and then scored four in the bottom half. Allen Craig and Tony Cruz each had two hits and an RBI for the Cardinals, who entered six games back in the NL Central.
All week, manager Mike Matheny said he didn’t care about the standings. Only about the way the Cardinals played.
Freese left the game with cramping in his right calf for a pinch hitter in the sixth, an inning after getting a bit of medical attention following a two-run single for the go-ahead hit. He was 11 for 20 on the homestand.
Matt Kemp had an infield hit and was 2 for 16 with seven strikeouts and no RBIs in the series. Manager Don Mattingly believed it was simply a matter of tough matchups for his No. 3 hitter.
Though he faced Westbrook for the first time, Kemp is 2 for 17 against Adam Wainwright and 4 for 17 against Kyle Lohse, but with a homer and five RBIs.
“Well, I mean there’s other guys in the lineup,” Mattingly said. “Obviously, you like your chances better if Matt’s going 8 for 16 with five homers or something, but Matt’s going to have his troubles.”
Westbrook (9-8) allowed four runs — three earned — and seven hits in seven inning with six strikeouts. The right-hander, who pitched at least seven innings for the third straight start, responded from the Dodgers’ four-run fifth, allowing a hit and walk his last two innings.
“I felt really I only made one bad pitch, but it kind of snowballed on me there quick,” Westbrook said. “I was able to settle down and our offense came right back.”
Mitchell Boggs allowed a hit in the eighth to give him 14 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings, a season best for the team and Jason Motte struck out the side against three pinch hitters in the ninth for his 22nd save in 26 chances.
In his last nine appearances Motte hasn’t allowed a run with seven saves, 12 strikeouts and no walks in 10 1/3 innings.
“When these guys are hitting, which we all know they can do, and our pitchers are going out there and executing our pitches, this what we’re capable of doing,” Motte said. “It’s fun to watch.”
Chris Capuano (10-6) gave up six runs and 11 hits in 4 1/3 innings, dropping to 0-4 with a 7.90 ERA at 7-year-old Busch Stadium. He gave up two hits the first three innings but retired only three of his last 12 batters.
“Coming out in the fifth I was trying to tell myself ‘Hey, this is a big inning here, try to shut them down,'” Capuano said. “Especially after we scored for that runs. I just for whatever reason got a little sloppy with my location.”
Given a 2-0 lead, Westbrook had thrown 11 consecutive scoreless innings and had struck out four in a row before the Dodgers opened the fifth with four singles in five pitches, taking the lead on RBI hits by Juan Rivera and Cruz.
A third run scored on Treanor’s infield hit when second baseman Daniel Descalso relayed to third after cutting off the ball, and Freese made an error with wild throw to the plate in an attempt to catch Rivera.
Capuano contributed his third RBI of the year with a sacrifice fly that made it 4-2 with two outs.
St. Louis went ahead in the bottom half on Freese’s hit and RBI singles by Craig and Luis Cruz. Holliday homered to straightaway center off Javy Guerra in the sixth.
— Associated Press —
Kansas City signs free agent tackle Tony Ugoh
The Kansas City Chiefs announced on Thursday that the club has signed free agent offensive lineman Tony Ugoh.
Ugoh (6-5, 301) has played in 40 games (28 starts) in five NFL seasons. He joins Kansas City after spending last season with the New York Giants where he appeared in three games (one start) at left tackle. Prior to his stint with the Giants, Ugoh spent a portion of 2010 with the Detroit Lions and his first three NFL campaigns with the Indianapolis Colts (2007-09). He originally entered the NFL as a second-round draft choice (42nd overall) of the Colts in 2007.
The Houston, Texas, native earned All-America honors at the University of Arkansas where he also participated in track and field. He prepped at Westfield High School in Houston.
— Chiefs Media Relations —
Kansas City gets pounded by Angels in series finale
Five innings on a muggy afternoon were enough this time for Jered Weaver.
Weaver won his seventh straight start to tie a career best and Torii Hunter, Mike Trout and Bobby Wilson homered for the Los Angeles Angels in an 11-6 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday.
”Anytime your team gives you eight runs to work with, the last thing you want to do is go out there and throw only five innings,” Weaver said. ”It was a rough one. But we came out on top, which was the most important thing.”
The Angels won minus slugger Albert Pujols, who was out because of a bruised right elbow.
Weaver (13-1) threw 101 pitches, allowing two runs and three hits. His AL-leading ERA rose from 2.20 to 2.27 because of Billy Butler’s two-run homer in the fifth.
”If you can get two runs off of Weaver and get him out after the fifth inning, you’ve done a real good job. We did both of those things, but the score was lopsided by then,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.
”We did exactly what we wanted to do with Weaver. He’s a guy who’s got great command, never gives in, throws the ball off the corners trying to get you to swing at it, but we did a good job of taking those pitches,” he said.
Weaver’s only loss was at Texas on May 13, when he pitched 3 1-3 innings and gave up eight runs. The All-Star right-hander is 16-2 with a 1.53 ERA in 24 starts at Angel Stadium since the beginning of last season and has yielded only six earned runs over 58 2-3 innings at home this year.
Los Angeles staked Weaver to an 8-0 lead before Butler hit his 20th homer. Jeff Francoeur added a three-run shot in the eighth against Scott Downs to snap an 0 for 15 drought and slice the Angels’ lead to 8-5.
But Trout and Hunter homered back-to-back in the bottom half against Luis Coleman. Trout’s homer was his 16th, Hunter’s his 11th.
Hunter had four hits and drove in three runs.
Weaver, who had hit only one batter in 110 2-3 innings this season coming into the game, plunked Lorenzo Cain his first two times up. Cain, who homered Tuesday night in Kansas City’s 4-1 win, hadn’t been hit in his previous 217 plate appearances since Aug. 12, 2010, when he was with Milwaukee.
”I’m not one to go out there and hit people, obviously,” Weaver said. ”I think I hit one or two guys a year. The command was just not there today. I don’t know what my first-pitch strike (ratio) was, but I know it wasn’t very good.”
”It was just one of those days where I couldn’t find the release point and was a little erratic,” he said.
Royals starter Luke Hochevar (6-9) was ejected in the fourth inning by plate umpire Bob Davidson after hitting Trout – immediately after Wilson’s leadoff homer gave the Angels an 8-0 lead.
”He thought I hit Trout because I gave up the home run, but I’m not that type of player. And I’m not going to just start drilling guys out of frustration,” Hochevar said. ”I don’t do that. I’m pitching the guy in, and one gets away and hits him. But he made his call, and it is what it is.”
Hochevar was charged with eight runs – six earned – and nine hits in his three-plus innings, along with two wild pitches. He was 3-1 with a 2.50 ERA over his previous six starts.
”It was just poor execution. My breaking stuff was up and hanging, and they put some good swings on it,” Hochevar said. ”My whole focus is executing quality pitches. And when you don’t execute, this is what happens. I’ve just got to make better pitches. That’s the bottom line.”
Hochevar gave up singles to his first three batters, all of whom scored. Trout, whose franchise-record run-scoring streak ended at 15 games on Tuesday, came home on a wild pitch to Mark Trumbo. Hunter scored on a groundout by Kendrys Morales, and former Royal Alberto Callaspo delivered Trumbo with the first of his two doubles.
The Angels parlayed two Kansas City errors into three more runs in the second inning despite getting only one ball out of the infield.
”We don’t play sloppy very often, but we did today in the first two innings. That’s for sure,” Yost said. ”It was a day where Hoch didn’t have his good stuff, and they were on him the whole time. Over the course of 162 games, you’re bound to have a few of these. At least we rebounded after the second inning and played pretty decent baseball from that point on.”
— Associated Press —
Furcal, Cardinals outlast Dodgers in 12 innings
The Cardinals look for leadoff man Rafael Furcal to get on base. He’s also done a pretty good job of driving in runs from the top of the order.
Furcal came through again Wednesday night, as his two-out, RBI single off Jamey Wright in the 12th inning gave the St. Louis Cardinals a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The RBI was No. 42 for Furcal, tops in the National League for leadoff hitters.
“It was something right there middle in,” Furcal said of his game-winning hit. “I tried to get good contact.”
Lance Berkman, who left the lineup a day earlier with a bruised right knee after being hit by a pitch, drew a one-out walk as a pinch-hitter in the 12th from Wright (4-3). Matt Carpenter singled with two outs and Furcal drove home pinch-runner Joe Kelly.
Kelly made things more difficult by falling down on Carpenter’s hit, forcing him to go back to second base. He was able to score without a play when Tony Gwynn Jr., bobbled the ball in left field.
“I saw the hit and I knew the outfielder was kind of deep,” Kelly said. “I didn’t take a good round and lost my footing. When I saw (Furcal’s) base hit, I just wanted to make sure to touch third.”
Fernando Salas (1-3) pitched two scoreless innings to pick up his first victory since July 9, 2011, against Arizona.
Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse went seven innings and allowed two runs and seven hits with no walks and four strikeouts. He drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.
“Salas did a terrific job,” St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. “You can’t ask for anything more than that.”
The loss spoiled the otherwise successful Dodgers debut of Hanley Ramirez. Acquired in a trade earlier Wednesday with the Miami Marlins, Ramirez tripled on the first pitch he saw with his new team. The three-time All-Star infielder went 2-for-4 with a walk. He scored once and hit an RBI single in sixth that made it 2-all.
“I feel comfortable,” Ramirez said. “Great group of guys here; you just go out there and have fun. I’m happy to be here.”
Aaron Harang was sharp for the Dodgers, giving up just two hits and two runs in 7 1/3 innings.
Ramirez helped the Dodgers to a 1-0 lead in the second when he tripled off the wall in center and scored on James Loney `s sacrifice fly.
After St. Louis grabbed a 2-1 lead on Lohse’s sacrifice fly in the fifth, Ramirez tied it with a two-out single in the sixth.
Ramirez played third base, the spot he moved to with the Marlins to make room for new shortstop Jose Reyes. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said he plans to put Ramirez at shortstop when the former NL batting champion is comfortable with the switch back to his old position.
Mattingly was ejected by home plate umpire Jeff Kellogg for arguing balls and strikes while on the mound during a 10th-inning pitching change. The ejection was the fifth this season for Mattingly.
— Associated Press —
Smith, Cain help Royals shutdown Angels
Will Smith pitched two-hit ball over seven innings in the longest of his five major league starts, Lorenzo Cain hit a two-run homer in the first, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-1 on Tuesday night.
Smith (2-3) allowed a run, struck out four and walked four against the club that drafted him in 2007 and traded him to Kansas City in 2010. The only hits against the 23-year-old left-hander came in the first inning — a line-drive single through the box by Torii Hunter and an RBI single by Mark Trumbo that followed a walk to Albert Pujols.
Jonathan Broxton allowed two singles during a scoreless ninth for his 23rd save in 27 chances.
Garrett Richards (3-2) gave up four runs, five hits and three walks in five innings. The 24-year-old right-hander is trying to secure the fifth spot in the Angels’ rotation.
— Associated Press —