Kansas City Royals prospects Wil Myers, Jake Odorizzi and Yordano Ventura today were named to the rosters for the 14th annual SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game.  The game, which will match Myers, Odorizzi and the U.S. squad against Ventura and the World roster, will begin at 4 p.m. CDT on Sunday, July 8 from Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.  The Royals are the only organization in baseball to place three players in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game.

The game will be televised live on ESPN2, ESPN2 HD and MLB.TV and is also available on the radio at MLB Network Radio (XM channel 89).  Tickets are still available for purchase for the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game and Taco Bell All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game by visiting www.allstargame.com, calling 1-888-326-3378 or visiting the Royals box office at Kauffman Stadium.

Myers, 21, will be making his second-straight appearance at the XM All-Star Futures Game, also appearing last July at Chase Field in Phoenix, Ariz.  The 6-foot-3, 206-pound outfielder is currently tied with 31-year-old Brad Eldred for the minor league baseball lead with 24 home runs.  Myers opened the season with Northwest Arkansas (AA) before being promoted to Omaha (AAA) in mid-May.  He has combined to hit .336 (86-for-256) with 18 doubles, three triples, 24 home runs, 62 RBI and 60 runs scored in 68 games, posting a .416 on-base pct. and .711 slugging mark.  He is the Royals third-round selection from the 2009 June Free Agent Draft.

The 22-year-old Odorizzi, like Myers, opened 2012 with Northwest Arkansas before a promotion to Omaha.  The 6-foot-2 right-hander has compiled an 8-2 record with a 2.89 ERA in 13 games (12 starts), recording 81 strikeouts in 71.2 innings while holding opponents to a .219 average.  Odorizzi was acquired along with shortstop Alcides Escobar, outfielder Lorenzo Cain and pitcher Jeremy Jeffress from the Milwaukee Brewers on December 19, 2010 in exchange for pitcher Zack Greinke and infielder Yuniesky Betancourt.

Ventura, 21, worked a scoreless inning with a walk and a strikeout at the Carolina-California League All-Star Game on Tuesday.  The 5-foot-11 right-hander is 3-5 with a 3.10 ERA in 13 starts for High-A Wilmington, posting 78 strikeouts in 61.0 innings.  Born and raised in Samana, Dominican Republic, Ventura was signed by the Royals as a non-drafted free agent on October 8, 2008.

Major League Baseball, in conjunction with the Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau, MLB.com, Baseball America and the 30 MLB teams selected the 25-man rosters for each club.

— Royals Media Relations —

The Kansas City Royals figure their offense will come around sooner or later. Until then, they’re happy to rely on a bullpen that keeps helping them eke out close wins.

Bruce Chen pitched into the sixth inning on three days’ rest and the Royals used four relievers to close out a 2-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Wednesday.

Alex Gordon tripled and scored for Kansas City, which took two of three from the Astros and has won seven of nine overall. Thirteen of Kansas City’s last 14 games have been decided by two or fewer runs, including six one-run games.

Manager Ned Yost smiled when asked what all these close games are doing to him.

”I’m fine. Piece of cake. We had them all the way,” he said.

Chen (6-6) struck out six in 5 2-3 innings and was charged with one run and five hits. Pitching on three days’ rest for the sixth time in his career, Chen bounced back from his last outing when he yielded six runs and seven hits in just 1 2-3 innings against St. Louis, but still received a no-decision in the Royals’ 10-7 loss.

Houston put runners on the corners with one out in the ninth, but Jonathan Broxton struck out Brian Bixler and retired Jordan Schafer to earn his 18th save in 21 chances.

”They’ve been doing it all year and once again they came up big today,” Gordon said of the bullpen. ”A 2-1 win, it feels like we’ve been doing that all year. I swear one of these days our offense is going to get rolling and we’re going to start giving the bullpen a rest. Hopefully it will come soon.”

Yost was impressed with Broxton’s poise in the ninth.

”The thing about him is he doesn’t panic,” Yost said. ”He stays calm and continues to make pitches.”

Kansas City’s pitchers have been particularly good late in games, posting a major league-best 1.31 ERA in the ninth inning or later. That performance has helped make up for an offense that has scored the second-fewest runs in the American League.

”We’ll start putting some big numbers up, but these wins are important, too,” third baseman Mike Moustakas said. ”These 2-1 wins, these nail-biters give us a lot of momentum going home.”

Houston starter Jordan Lyles (1-4) gave up two runs and three hits in seven innings. He has bounced around between the Astros and Triple-A Oklahoma City this season.

”I’ve been looking for an outing where I can just turn that corner,” Lyles said. ”Hopefully, this was it and that’s what I’m striving for. It is big because I know I can pitch up here and get outs.”

The Astros had eight hits, compared to just four for Kansas City, but they went 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position.

”It’s the key situations where we’re just not able to find the holes,” Houston manager Brad Mills said. ”There’s a lot of things we can point to like guys trying too hard, putting a little too much pressure on themselves. When you start to struggle in those situations, it starts to mount.”

The Royals grabbed a 1-0 lead in the fifth. Moustakas hit a leadoff double, moved up on Alcides Escobar’s grounder and scored on Brayan Pena’s infield out.

Gordon tripled with one out in the sixth and scored when Yuniesky Betancourt reached on an error by shortstop Jed Lowrie. Billy Butler then bounced into a double play to end the inning.

Houston got on the board in the bottom half, but lost out on a chance for a bigger rally.

Schafer and Carlos Lee opened the inning with consecutive walks, and Schafer moved to third when J.D. Martinez grounded into a double play. Lowrie drove in Schafer with an infield hit and Chris Johnson chased Chen with a single to left, but Kelvin Herrera struck out Chris Snyder to end the inning.

The Astros also had a chance to take the lead in the eighth. Lee hit a one-out single into right field, barely beating Jeff Francoeur’s throw to first. Martinez then walked before Greg Holland struck out Lowrie and Johnson.

Chen got into a jam in the fourth when Martinez doubled with one out and Lowrie was hit by a pitch. But he struck out Johnson and Snyder to end the threat.

Lyles got off to a great start, retiring 12 of his first 13 batters, including the first six.

— Associated Press —

Kansas City’s Luke Hochevar endured some good-natured ribbing from his teammates after pitching one of his best games of the season.

They found it funny that he was so happy about getting his first major league hit.

Hochevar pitched into the eighth inning, two relievers completed the shutout, and Billy Butler hit a solo home run to lead the Royals to a 2-0 win over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.

One player yelled at reporters from the shower area in the clubhouse to make sure to ask him about his second-inning single. Jeff Francoeur and Butler continued to joke about it when asked about his pitching.

“Who cares about his outing, he got his first hit,” they both said one after another while chuckling.

Hochevar entered the game with nine strikeouts in 13 at-bats since 2008.

“It’s been a long time coming,” he said. “It hasn’t been pretty at all.”

Hochevar earned his first victory since May 12. He had four losses and two no-decisions since his previous win.

Kansas City manager Ned Yost raved about his work on the mound.

“That was a tremendous ball game by Luke Hochevar,” Yost said. “He’s getting back to who he is. His three core pitches, four-seam fastball, curveball, changeup are very effective together in combination.”

Hochevar (4-7) pitched no-hit ball into the fifth inning and allowed five hits and struck out six in a season-high 7 2/3 innings.

“I wish we could have got him through it,” Yost said of the eighth inning. “But I can’t live with myself if he gives up the lead in the eighth inning with our pen.”

Hochevar said he’s made some adjustments since the beginning of the season that are starting to come together for him.

“I think it helps more changing speeds, and I’m not so one-dimensional,” he said. “Changing speeds more has helped a lot.”

Aaron Crow and closer Jonathan Broxton combined to allow no hits in the last 1 1/3 innings to complete Kansas City’s seventh shutout this season. Broxton earned his 17th save.

Houston starter Wandy Rodriguez (6-5) yielded six hits and two runs in seven innings.

Butler put Kansas City up 1-0 with his two-out homer to the Crawford Boxes in left field in the first inning.

Yuniesky Betancourt singled to start the third, and scored on Alcides Escobar’s two-out single that rolled between Jed Lowrie and Jose Altuve and into the outfield to make it 2-0.

Rodriguez settled down after the first three innings and allowed just one hit in the next four innings. He was helped by his defense in the sixth when Justin Maxwell made a leaping catch at the wall in left field to rob Escobar of a hit.

“We need to find that rhythm right away,” Houston manager Brad Mills said of Rodriguez. “He couldn’t get in that rhythm (early on). When he got it, you saw how good he was.”

Rodriguez was replaced by Brandon Lyon, who allowed two hits in 1 1/3 innings.

Lowrie walked with two outs in the eighth inning before a single by Carlos Lee chased Hochevar. Lowrie reached third on the hit, which bounced off the wall in left field, and Lee advanced to second on an error by Alex Gordon.

Crow replaced Hochevar and struck out Justin Maxwell to end the inning.

Hochevar didn’t allow a hit until Chris Johnson’s one-out single in the fifth inning, which broke an 0-for-13 skid by the third baseman. Hochevar walked Lee and plunked Brian Bogusevic in the second before walking Rodriguez in the third.

“The breaking ball that Hochevar had, it was pretty good,” Mills said. “We had trouble making adjustments, as you obviously saw.”

Jason Castro singled after Johnson’s single before Rodriguez was out when Mike Moustakas dived to catch his pop bunt. Hochevar retired Jordan Schafer to end Houston’s threat.

Lowrie drew a walk with one out in the sixth, and Lee doubled down the right field line, but Hochevar escaped trouble again when he struck out Maxwell and Bogusevic.

— Associated Press —

It was a big moment for Houston’s Brian Bixler when he hit his first career home run in the first inning on Monday night.

Perhaps more important than that shot, though, was his two-run double in the eighth inning that helped pad Houston’s lead and allowed the Astros to hold on for a 9-7 win after a late rally by Kansas City.

Bixler drove in a career-high three runs on three hits and Justin Maxwell and Brian Bogusevic also homered for the Astros.

“It was a good way to start the day off,” Bixler said of his homer. “I was happy to continue that and put it together for the whole day. So it worked out well.”

J.A. Happ (5-7) yielded four hits and two runs in 6-plus innings to break a four-game losing streak. It was his first start since allowing 11 hits and eight runs — both career highs — in Houston’s 10-0 loss to San Francisco in which Matt Cain threw a perfect game.

Maxwell hit a two-run homer after Bogusevic’s solo shot in Houston’s five-run eighth inning.

Jonathan Sanchez (1-3) allowed six hits and four runs in six innings in his second start since a month-long stint on the disabled list with tendinitis in his left biceps.

Things got dicey for the Astros in the ninth with a tough outing by closer Brett Myers, who allowed four consecutive singles with one out to make it 9-3. The Royals got another run on a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Mitch Maier and Yuniesky Betancourt’s bases-loaded single scored two more.

Billy Butler had an RBI single to get Kansas City within 9-7 and bring loud boos from the crowd. The eighth hit of the inning, a single by Jeff Francoeur, chased Myers, bringing in Xavier Cedeno, who retired Mike Moustakas to get his first career save.

“It paid off today,” Bixler said of adding runs late. “It just kind of showed you that especially at this level, guys don’t give in and things happen. I’m glad we were able to do that in the eighth and hold onto it for J.A. Happ.”

Houston manager Brad Mills took the blame for Myers’ struggles.

“We’d like to get him out there a little more often so he could be a little crisper,” he said of Myers, who last pitched Thursday. “In his defense he’s been great all year, he’s going to continue to be great, it was just a situation where he hadn’t been out there in a while and that’s my fault.”

Bixler’s solo homer came on a shot to the Crawford Boxes in left field that tied it 1-1 in the first. Maxwell walked and later scored from first on an error by Sanchez when he badly missed a throw to first base on a pickoff attempt to make it 2-1.

Sanchez plunked Chris Johnson to start Houston’s fourth inning. Sanchez’s second botched pickoff attempt of the game allowed Johnson to advance to third, and he scored on a one-out single by Chris Snyder to make it 3-1.

After Johnson scored in the fourth, Jose Altuve was hit by a pitch with two outs before a single by Bixler loaded the bases. Maxwell walked to make it 4-1, but Sanchez retired Carlos Lee.

“Sanchez did all right,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. “He kept us in the game. The two pickoff throws hurt him. The two-out walk with the bases loaded hurt him.”

Betancourt tripled with one out in the first and scored on a two-out single by Francoeur to put Kansas City up 1-0.

Happ retired 13 of the next 14 batters before Alex Gordon doubled to start the sixth. Gordon advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout by Butler to cut the lead to 4-2.

“He rebounded after the first inning, starting throwing some strikes and making pitches a little bit better,” Mills said of Happ. “It was sure nice to see him work as late as he did into the game.”

Bogusevic’s first-pitch homer in the eighth inning came off reliever Louis Coleman, who was recalled from Triple-A Omaha on Monday to help reinforce a bullpen that pitched nine innings in a 15-inning win over St. Louis on Sunday.

“We were strapped in the ‘pen,” Yost said. “We didn’t have the ability to match up tonight. We had to go as far as we could with Sanchez.”

Snyder walked and Altuve singled before Bixler sent them both home on a double to make it 7-2. Maxwell’s eighth homer of the season wrapped up Houston’s scoring.

— Associated Press —