The Kansas City recently signed quarterback Alex Tanney, a record-setting skipper from Monmouth College. Alex is now the All Time – ALL Division Leader in TD’s Thrown (157) and the Division Three All Time Leader in passing yards with 14,249 yards.
He’s a master of the trick shot as well.
With a left-hander on the mound, the Kansas City Royals didn’t want to throw Andrew McCutchen a strike.
“We didn’t care if we walked him,” manager Ned Yost said.
Sound strategy, poor execution.
McCutchen homered and drove in three runs, A.J. Burnett won his fifth consecutive start and the Pittsburgh Pirates finished their first sweep of an AL team in more than a decade by beating the Royals 3-2 Sunday.
McCutchen hit an RBI double in the first inning and hit a two-run homer in the third. That gave Burnett (6-2) and three relievers enough support for the Pirates to win their fourth in a row despite having only three hits from all their other players.
“The fact that McCutchen was the one who hurt us, that’s the fact I’m very concerned about,” Kansas City catcher Brayan Pena said.
McCutchen has feasted on left-handers, improving his average to .463 against them after two hits in his first two at-bats against Bruce Chen.
Alex Gordon and Alcides Escobar each had two hits for the Royals, who have lost four in a row and six of eight.
This was the 50th interleague series the Pirates had played since taking three in a row from the Cleveland Indians on June 15-17, 2001.
Since May 25, the Pirates have the best record in the majors at 12-3.
“This weekend was outstanding,” Burnett said. “We are playing good ball now and we are hitting on a couple of cylinders and it’s fun to watch.”
Burnett allowed two runs on five hits and two walks with six strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings. Pittsburgh has won his past seven starts.
Burnett had a no-hitter through 5 1/3 innings until Gordon singled with one out in the sixth. He did not allow a baserunner until Eric Hosmer drew a two-out walk in the fourth or a run until Escobar’s two-out double scored Pena in the seventh.
That snapped a streak of 20 consecutive innings without an earned run at PNC Park for Burnett. He is 4-0 with a 1.27 ERA at home this season.
“He had good tempo and good rhythm today on a hot day, and he was really efficient with things,” Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. “It was a very, very solid performance all across the board for A.J. today.”
Tony Watson came on with runners at first and third and one out in the eighth, allowing Gordon to score on a Hosmer fielder’s choice.
Juan Cruz walked the bases loaded but struck out Mitch Maier for the final out of the eighth.
With closer Joel Hanrahan unavailable because he had appeared in the past three games, Jason Grilli worked around trouble in the ninth for his fourth career save and first of the season. With two on and no outs, Grilli stuck out Gordon and Johnny Giavotella to end the game.
Pittsburgh improved to 17-10 in one-run games.
McCutchen entered the game with 15 hits in his past 27 at-bats against left-handers. Despite going hitless over the first two games of the series, he made it 17 for 29 over the course of the first three innings.
“I hadn’t been feeling that great the past few days, but after a few times out in the cage, I was able to put a show forth today,” McCutchen said.
His first-inning double to right drove in Alex Presley, who led off the inning with a single. With Neil Walker on and two outs in the third, McCutchen lifted a 1-2 pitch from Chen into the left-field bleachers for his 11th homer of the season.
“He’s leading everybody hitting left-handers,” Yost said. “We really tried, even in the first inning, we didn’t want to throw him a strike.”
Chen (5-6) allowed three runs on four hits and a walk with five strikeouts in five innings. He came into the game with five wins in his past six starts but fell to 0-4 in his career at PNC Park.
The Royals have lost 24 of their past 33 games against NL teams.
— Associated Press —
Chris Perez insisted it was no big deal that his 20th consecutive save came against his old team. The body language begged to differ.
The Cleveland Indians closer finished off a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday while battling an upset stomach that left him spitting up fluid between pitches. After getting Adron Chambers on a popup with a man on first for the final out, Perez went down to one knee.
“I drank some warm water and I ran out there, and it just didn’t settle well,” Perez said. “What am I going to do, call timeout and run into the dugout?
“If you remember, a couple years ago in spring training it was the same situation. So I need to stay away from warm water.”
Cleveland’s Jason Kipnis hit a tiebreaking three-run homer off closer Jason Motte in the ninth inning after the Cardinals left the bases loaded in the eighth. Vinnie Pestano (3-0) walked three straight batters with one out in the eighth but recovered to strike out No. 3 hitter Yadier Molina and cleanup man Allen Craig.
“That’s the game right there,” Kipnis said. “I thought both starting pitchers did a great job, and it just came down to who can execute late.”
Carlos Beltran homered for the second straight day to increase his National League-leading total to 18, and Joe Kelly allowed one run in five-plus innings in his major league debut for the Cardinals. St. Louis is the only major league team that has not won a series over the Indians, who are 14-6 overall and 8-4 on the road against the Cardinals.
“It’s a little bit of everything right now,” Beltran said. “We’ve been battling injuries and things like that, but at the same time we just need to find a way to play better. There’s no excuses.”
The Cardinals have lost eight of 12 and totaled just five runs in the series. They went the last two without cleanup hitter Matt Holliday, who could return from mid-back spasms on Tuesday after the team’s off day Monday.
“Guys are grinding. They’re fighting, and I’m going to continue to stay optimistic because that’s what I believe,” manager Mike Matheny said. “It’s not a facade — it’s only a matter of time before we take off.
“When we take off, it’s going to be a good run.”
Michael Brantley extended his hitting streak to 18 games and Ubaldo Jimenez had a season-best seven strikeouts in seven strong innings for Cleveland.
The Indians had scored just one run in 19 innings before the ninth, when pinch hitter Johnny Damon hit a leadoff single and Asdrubal Cabrera walked with one out. Kipnis hit his 10th homer on a 2-2 fastball from Motte (3-3).
On Saturday, Motte got Kipnis to fly out to right on a pitch that he thought had a slightly better location.
“It’s just one of those things,” Motte said. “He got the barrel on it. It happens.”
The Indians won despite going 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position and 2 for 18 with men on base. Perez, who once competed with Motte for the St. Louis closer spot, has been flawless since blowing a save on opening day.
“I enjoyed pitching out there today, beating my former team, but at the end of the day I was just trying to get the save,” Perez said. “If I go out there too amped up and trying to do too much, I wouldn’t have had a good outing.”
Jimenez had his first walk-free game of the season, after coming in with 43 walks in 62 2/3 innings. The right-hander has walked just one in his last two starts covering 13 2/3 innings and faced only three three-ball counts against the Cardinals. The first came in the first inning against Beltran, who belted a 3-1 pitch an estimated 428 feet to right-center.
Jimenez then retired 13 in a row, including five strikeouts in a span of eight at-bats.
Kelly, who replaced the injured Jaime Garcia in the rotation, left to a standing ovation after Brantley singled to start the sixth and kept his hit streak alive.
“It felt like another start,” said Kelly, who began last season at the Class A level. “I didn’t think I was going to sleep last night and I got great sleep.
“I was relaxed. It was good to go.”
Brantley is batting .357 (25 for 70) during his hit streak, the longest current run in the majors and two shy of the season’s longest by Adam Jones of Baltimore that ended May 30. Brantley can match his career best, set in 2010, at Cincinnati on Tuesday.
— Associated Press —
Neil Walker drove in the go-ahead run with a groundout during a wacky fourth inning, and the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied to beat the Kansas City Royals 5-3 on Saturday night.
The Pirates have won three straight and are 11-3 since May 25, the best record in the major leagues in that span. Pittsburgh, which hasn’t had a winning season since 1992, also moved four games over .500 at 31-27.
Clint Barmes drove in Pedro Alvarez with an infield hit as the Pirates scored five times in the fourth on three singles, only one of which made it to the outfield. Barmes eventually came around to score on Walker’s bouncer, lifting Pittsburgh to a 4-3 lead.
Jared Hughes (2-0) pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings to get the win, and Joel Hanrahan got three outs for his 17th save in 19 opportunities.
Yuniesky Betancourt hit a two-run homer and Eric Hosmer had two doubles for Kansas City, which has dropped three straight. Vin Mazzaro (2-1) gave up four runs (three earned) and three hits in three-plus innings.
Betancourt hit his third homer in the third inning and Mazzaro singled in Hosmer in the fourth, collecting his first major league hit and giving the Royals a 3-0 advantage.
The Royals responded in the bottom half. Alvarez sparked the rally with a leadoff walk and advanced to second when Jose Tabata was hit by a pitch. Rod Barajas singled to right and Barmes brought home the first run with his grounder off the glove of diving shortstop Alcides Escobar.
Kelvin Herrera then came on to face pinch-hitter Matt Hague, who lifted a popup to right. Hosmer, normally Kansas City’s first baseman, let the ball drop in front of him but grabbed it with his bare hand and threw a strike to catcher Brayan Pena, who juggled the ball and Tabata was ruled safe.
Hosmer was playing right field to make room for Billy Butler at first. Butler is the Royals’ usual designated hitter, but Saturday night’s game was in a National League park.
— Associated Press —
Carlos Beltran would prefer to hit in one spot every day. No matter where he lands on the lineup card, there’s no arguing the results.
Primarily the St. Louis Cardinals’ cleanup man, Beltran provided some pop batting second in a 2-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Saturday night. Beltran hit his National League-leading 17th home run in support of Kyle Lohse, who allowed three hits in 7 2/3 innings to outduel Justin Masterson.
“I felt in control, I felt like I was getting pretty quick outs,” Lohse said. “If I’m doing those things, keeping the ball on the ground, that’s my plan.”
Beltran has batted cleanup 31 times, third three times and second 18 times. Manager Mike Matheny resisted the temptation to shift Beltran back to cleanup after Matt Holliday was scratched just before the first pitch with mid-back spasms.
Beltran, who has homered nine times batting second, also leads the Cardinals with 45 RBIs.
“For me, honestly this year has been more difficult than any year,” Beltran said. “As a player I like to come to the ballpark and just know I’m going to hit in one spot and just be there.”
Michael Brantley had two singles to extend his hitting streak to 17 games for Cleveland. But the Indians had only three runners in scoring position against Lohse (6-1), who ended a string of five starts with no-decisions and a 5.16 ERA, and two relievers.
Beltran homered with two outs in the third and had three of the seven hits for St. Louis, which has won three of four. Shane Robinson doubled to start the eighth and scored on Rafael Furcal’s one-out sacrifice fly against Jeremy Accardo.
The game took just 2 hours, 14 minutes, the fastest of the season for both teams. It was the first time the Indians were shut out, leaving only the Tigers who have yet to be blanked.
Manager Manny Acta put his thumbs up in celebration.
“Step in the right direction, that’s great,” Acta said. “It took over two-something months for us to get shut out. They’ve been battling. It had to happen.”
Masterson (2-6) struck out six with no walks in seven innings, while giving up five hits, but fell to 1-4 in his last seven starts. He retired the side in order in three of his last four innings and walked none.
Indians pitchers totaled one walk, an intentional pass from Accardo to Yadier Molina in the eighth that also represented the lone three-ball count against a St. Louis hitter.
“We were right there,” Masterson said. “A little slider that was just hanging up to Beltran. Besides that I was happy with the way things went.”
Lohse moved a game above .500 at 108-107 in his career with his first win over the Indians since 2004, when he worked an inning of relief in a 12-inning game. The outing was his longest of the season, one out longer than on Opening Day when he won at Miami. He also threw 105 pitches for his first time in triple digits this season.
In his last two starts, Lohse has allowed one run on five hits in 13 2/3 innings.
“It’s about as sharp we’ve seen him,” Matheny said. “He was locating everything. It was a great display of pitching.”
Molina threw out Asdrubal Cabrera attempting to steal, ending the eighth on reliever Marc Rzepczynski’s only pitch, and Jason Motte finished for his 11th save in 14 chances.
Brantley is 24 for 65 (.369) during the longest current streak in the majors.
Molina reached a pair of firsts for St. Louis, batting third the first time in his career and getting caught stealing for the first time in six attempts on a nice throw by catcher Carlos Santana to end the sixth. The slow-footed Molina usually catches foes napping.
Matheny said Holliday told him he couldn’t go “about two minutes before we exchanged lineup cards.” He didn’t think Holliday, who underwent treatment throughout the game, would be out long.
“There was some mad rushing going on to get everybody in place, I think he did a smart thing and pulled up,” Matheny said. “He probably could have pushed through it.”
— Associated Press —
Rod Barajas went to his “dance moves.” Pedro Alvarez deftly waited out the perfect moment to take off in a sprint. Both scored on plays that should have been outs.
Talk about a lift for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who rank last in the majors in runs but just keep winning anyway.
Erik Bedard pitched seven solid innings, Neil Walker had three hits, and Pittsburgh beat the Kansas City Royals 4-2 on Friday night for its 10th victory in the past 13 games.
The 250-pound Barajas scored the Pirates’ second run when he used a nifty slide to avoid the tag from Humberto Quintero following Clint Barmes’ single in the second. Alvarez made it 4-2 an inning later when he took off from third after Jose Tabata was picked off first but got into a rundown.
“These are the small things we have to do to win ballgames as a team that’s not going to go out and hit three-run homers every night,” Walker said.
Bedard (4-6) allowed two runs and five hits as Pittsburgh captured the opening game of a series for the sixth consecutive time. The Pirates (30-27) also moved three games over .500 for the first time this season and trail NL Central-leading Cincinnati by two games after taking two of three from the Reds in their previous set.
“Dance moves, I think,” is how the 36-year-old Barajas described his dive to the inside of home, roll over and lunge to extend his finger tips to the plate.
“Unbelievable,” Walker deadpanned. “Everyone knows he’s one of the fastest guys on the team, but when you slide like that, you’re not going to get thrown out too many times at home.”
Pirates players laughed in the dugout. These are heady times for a team that has endured a major North American sports-record 19 consecutive losing seasons.
Alvarez waited to take off for home until Royals first baseman Billy Butler was running toward second and about to release a throw to get Tabata.
“I think if both teams had it to do over, we’d both like to perform it better,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said of the caught stealing and rundown. “But we were able to steal a run right there.”
Bedard struck out five and walked three before Jason Grilli worked a perfect eighth, and Joel Hanrahan retired the side in order in the ninth for his 16th save in 18 opportunities.
Yuniesky Betancourt drove in a run and scored for the Royals, who have lost four of six.
Playing its first interleague road game, Kansas City had three players out of position. Butler, the regular designated hitter who leads the team with 11 homers, made his third start at first. First baseman Eric Hosmer was in right field. And Jeff Francoeur moved from right to center.
Francoeur had three prior innings of experience in center, and Hosmer never had played right in the majors. All that shuffling had an effect on the game, too.
Hosmer misplayed Barajas’ leadoff single in the second, allowing him to move up a base. Butler was prominent in the botched rundown.
“It’s going to take them a game or two to get acclimated because they’re playing out of position,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Those plays hurt us early, and we couldn’t get much offense going after that.”
Garrett Jones doubled in Walker in the first, and Walker’s infield hit drove in Barmes to make it 3-0 in the second.
Betancourt hit an RBI double in the third and scored on Mike Moustakas’ base hit to get the Royals within one.
Luke Hochevar (3-7) remained winless in his past six outings, allowing four runs and nine hits in six innings.
“Even though I gave up some runs early, I was able to keep my pitch count down and keep us in the game,” Hochevar said.
— Associated Press —
Josh Tomlin wanted to talk about his hitting, not his pitching.
Tomlin scattered eight hits over seven innings, Johnny Damon hit a two-run homer and the Cleveland Indians beat St. Louis 6-2 Friday night to send the Cardinals to their seventh loss in 10 games.
In Tomlin’s view, his sixth-inning single was more significant. He improved to 3 for 5 at the plate in his big league career.
“Being in the AL, we don’t get to do this kind of stuff,” he said. “I like being a part of the game both on the offensive and defensive side.”
Tomlin has three of the four hits by Indians pitchers since the start of the 2011 season.
“If you’re going to have to hit you might as well be a complete baseball player,” Tomlin said. “You don’t want to go out there and just give away at bats. You want to do as much as you can to help your team win in a situation like that.”
Tomlin (3-3) pitched shutout ball into the seventh, when he allowed a two-run single to pinch-hitter Matt Adams. He threw just 76 pitches, improving to 4-0 in interleague play.
Tomlin was coming off his poorest outing this season, when he allowed five earned runs over six innings in a 7-4 loss to Minnesota on June 2.
“He was aggressive, attacking the zone early,” Cleveland manager Manny Acta said. “He had a good curveball with depth and that helped him keep those guys off balance.”
St. Louis managed just five hits over the first six innings.
“This is the first time I’ve faced him and he pitched well, he used every pitch,” the Cardinals’ Carlos Beltran said. “He did a good job.”
Tomlin was pitching on five days’ rest.
“The biggest key for me was being able to throw four different pitches for strikes,” he said. “I tried to establish the inside of the plate and keep them off balance the best that I could.”
Former Indians pitcher Jake Westbrook (4-6) gave up four runs — three earned — and eight hits in six innings. He struck out seven and walked one.
“They jumped on everything Jake left up in the zone and made him pay,” St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. “Then we were in a rut, in a hole.”
Michael Brantley extended his hitting streak to 16 games as the Indians won for the third time in their last four games.
Cleveland went ahead for good in the first when Asdrubal Cabrera and Jason Kipnis hit one-out singles, Carlos Santana followed with an RBI double off the left-field wall and Brantley hit an RBI groundout.
Casey Kotchman hit a run-scoring groundout in the fourth, and Kipnis singled in a run in the fifth to make it 4-0. Damon homered in the seventh off Maikel Cleto, Damon’s second this season.
“It was a slider that was up,” Damon said. “I was surprised that I hit it that far.”
— Associated Press —
David Freese hit a grand slam and a two-run homer and rookie Lance Lynn struck out a career-high 11 in earning his ninth win as the St. Louis Cardinals cruised past the Houston Astros 14-2 on Thursday night.
Freese’s slam in the seventh inning was the third homer of the game for St. Louis. He added a two-run shots in the ninth as the Cardinals scored a season-high.
Carlos Beltran connected on his National League-leading 16th homer in the fifth and Shane Robinson added a two-run shot in the seventh to help the Cardinals take the series.
Lynn’s nine victories are tied with R.A. Dickey of the Mets for most in the NL.
Lynn (9-2) allowed six hits and two runs to continue his mastery of the NL Central. He is 7-0 with 60 strikeouts in 15 career appearances in the division.
Houston starter J.A. Happ (4-6) allowed five hits and four runs with five walks in 4 2/3 innings.
The Cardinals were up 5-2 before piling on seven runs in the seventh. St. Louis batted around in that inning with 11 Cardinals coming to the plate.
Rafael Furcal singled with two outs in the seventh before consecutive walks to Beltran and Matt Holliday. Allen Craig hit an RBI single before Freese’s shot to the Crawford Boxes in left field cleared the bases.
Jed Lowrie gave Houston a 1-0 lead with a homer to the first row of the Crawford Boxes in the first inning.
Brett Wallace doubled in the second on a ball that sailed over a leaping Craig and into the far corner of right field. Chris Johnson followed with an RBI double down the right field line to make it 2-0.
Chris Snyder hit a one-out single and Jordan Schafer drew a walk to load the bases with two outs. Lynn limited the damage by striking out Jose Altuve to end the inning.
The Astros couldn’t get much going offensively after that while the Cardinals heated up.
Tyler Greene got the Cardinals’ first hit with a single to start the third inning. Happ then battled Robinson to a 12-pitch at-bat before walking him. Greene and Robinson both advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Lynn before Greene scored on a bunt by Furcal to cut the lead to 2-1.
A sacrifice fly by Beltran tied it at 2-2, before Holliday walked. Craig’s broken-bat RBI single to shallow right put St. Louis up 3-2. Happ finally got out of the inning when he struck out Freese on his 40th pitch of the frame.
Beltran’s first-pitch homer to left center came with one out in the fifth to push the lead to 4-2.
Robinson singled in the sixth and scored on a single by Furcal with one out.
Houston manager Brad Mills made some strange changes in the ninth inning when he put outfielder Brian Bogusevic in to pitch and moved Johnson, the third baseman, to right field. Bogusevic was drafted as a pitcher, but had never pitched in a major league game and it was Johnson’s first career appearance in the outfield.
Bogusevic allowed three hits and the home run to Freese in one inning.
— Associated Press —
The Kansas City Royals announced Thursday the club has signed first-round draft choice Kyle Zimmer, the fifth overall selection in the 2012 First-Year Player Draft. Consistent with team policy, terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
The 20-year-old Zimmer, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound right-handed starter, went 5-3 with a 2.85 ERA in 13 starts, including three complete games, for the Dons in 2012. In 88.1 innings, he allowed 76 hits, 28 earned runs and 17 walks, while striking out 104. Zimmer led the West Coast Conference in shutouts (2), strikeouts and strikeouts per nine innings (10.6). Baseball America rated Zimmer as having the best fastball among all collegiate prospects and his curveball as the third-best in the collegiate ranks. He was named a preseason second-team All-American by Baseball America entering 2012 and to the 2012 Midseason USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Watch List last month. Zimmer was also a member of the 2012 WCC All-Academic team, posting a 3.72 GPA.
Born in San Francisco, Calif., he attended La Jolla (Calif.) High School in the San Diego area where he played four years of baseball, mostly as a third baseman, while also competing in water polo and basketball. Serving mostly as a position player, he pitched a total of 21.1 innings during his high school career. Zimmer converted to pitcher his freshman season at USF, but only made five appearances that year. He then posted a 6-5 record with a 3.73 ERA last season, including outdueling 2011 first-overall selection Gerrit Cole and the UCLA Bruins, 3-0, in a four-hit complete-game shutout with 11 strikeouts in a NCAA regional game on June 3, 2011.
Zimmer is the 23rd pitcher to be selected by the Royals in the first round and the first since 2011 All-Star Aaron Crow in 2009.
— Royals Media Relations —
Bruce Chen will never overpower with a blazing fastball. He’ll never step onto the mound and strike fear into the hearts of opposing hitters.
He’s awfully adept at getting them out anyway.
The veteran left-hander kept Minnesota off balance all night, outdueling Francisco Liriano and making a lone run scored in the second inning stand up to give the Kansas City Royals a 1-0 victory over the Twins on Tuesday night.
“He did a great job from the first inning on. He’d speed their bats up and slow them down,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He had good tempo and he was banging strikes.”
Chen (5-5) allowed four hits without a walk to win for the fifth time in six starts, which came on the heels of a miserable start to the season that made some question whether the two-year deal he was given by Kansas City was really worth it.
Well, he’s proving just how valuable he is to a patchwork rotation.
“Pitching is contagious. You say, `You know what? Let’s keep it going,” said Chen, who added to a pair of shutouts logged by Kansas City already on this six-game homestand.
“This whole pitching staff is pushing each other.”
Chen was pushing Liriano, too.
The Twins’ left-hander 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.
“You’re just out there trying to compete,” said Broxton, who got some help from a couple of nifty plays by his defense. “You have to bear down and let your defense work.”
Chen retired the first six batters he faced, and then helped himself after Brian Dozier singled to lead off the third by catching him trying to steal. The only other hits Chen allowed were a double by Dozier and singles by Darin Mastroianni and Jamey Carroll.
“He changed speeds well. He kept us off balance,” said the Twins’ Denard Span, who went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts. “He threw a lot of different arm angles. He threw over the top, three quarters and a couple of times a sidearm with two strikes. He mixed it up.
“He’s the type of pitcher when he’s on, he can do what he did tonight.”
Liriano, who had just snapped a personal six-game skid, kept Minnesota in the game.
He struck out eight while yielding only one walk in six sharp innings, even matching a major league record when he struck out four batters in the fourth — Jeff Francoeur swung and missed at a pitch in the dirt, allowing him to reach base with the strikeout.
It was the third time this season that a pitcher has fanned four in an inning.
“My confidence has been there,” he said. “It’s all about location.”
The only blemish against Liriano — the only real blemish in the game — came in the second inning, when Francoeur singled and Eric Hosmer chopped a pitch back at Liriano.
He whirled around and threw to Dozier covering second base, but his throw to Justin Morneau at first was not in time to get Hosmer hustling down the line. The double play would have ended the inning, but instead, Hosmer promptly stole second base to get into scoring position.
That’s when Pena slipped a grounder between third base and shortstop for an RBI single.
With Chen on the mound and one of the American League’s best bullpens ready to work, that lone run proved to be enough for Kansas City.
“The bullpen has been tremendous for us,” Chen said. “Liriano did a real good job. He had great stuff. But we were able to scramble a run.”
— Associated Press —
