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Category: Professional

Cardinals take down Rockies to win series

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Albert Pujols hit the third-longest home run at Busch Stadium this season and the St. Louis Cardinals overcame an injury to starter Edwin Jackson with stellar bullpen work in a 6-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday night.

Yadier Molina had three hits, a walk and two RBIs for St. Louis, which took two of three from Colorado. The Cardinals remained five games behind NL Central-leading Milwaukee with 42 games to go, six of them against the Brewers.

Mark Ellis homered in the first for the Rockies, who have lost four of five. Esmil Rogers (6-2) issued a career-high seven walks, one intentional, in five innings. Colorado has lost six of its last seven in St. Louis and trails the all-time series 82-81.

Pujols passed teammate Lance Berkman on a three-hit game with his National League-leading 29th homer in the first, a two-run drive estimated at 435 feet by ESPN Research, that soared over the visitor’s bulllpen and cleared the left field bleachers. The homer sparked a four-run first that matched the Cardinals’ season best for that inning.

Jason Motte entered with a 3-0 count against Ty Wigginton and two men on with one out in the sixth after Jackson was hurt on the followthrough of his 98th pitch with what the team described late in the game as a cramp. Wigginton flied out on a full count and Chris Ianetta hit a comebacker to end the threat.

The Rockies loaded the bases with one out in the seventh against two pitchers and their 4-5 hitters coming up before being thwarted by Octavio Dotel, who struck out Troy Tulowitzki and caught Todd Helton looking on a curveball. The 37-year-old Dotel retired five in a row, four on strikeouts.

Molina and Skip Schumaker gave the Cardinals breathing room with run-scoring singles in the seventh off Edgar Gonzalez, making his first major league appearance since Sept. 27, 2009 when he was with Oakland.

Jackson (2-1) has a 4.62 ERA in four starts over 25 1-3 innings with six homers since coming to St. Louis in a deal that sent outfielder Colby Rasmus to the Blue Jays. The right-hander needed 37 pitches to get through the first inning but trailed only 2-0 after striking out Ianetta with the bases loaded, and allowed two runs in 5 1-3 innings.

The first four Cardinals to reach base scored against Rogers. But St. Louis left the bases loaded in the third when Rafael Furcal flied out on the first pitch after Rogers walked Jackson and stranded two in the fifth when Skip Schumaker grounded into a double play.

— Associated Press —

Royals lose rain delayed game at Chicago

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Paul Konerko hit a two-run homer and Tyler Flowers added his first home run in the majors to lead the Chicago White Sox to a 5-4 win over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night.

Konerko went deep in the third and Flowers added a solo shot in the fifth to help the White Sox snap a seven-game home losing streak. Flowers also had a single and a walk.

Juan Pierre had three singles and scored two runs for Chicago.

Jesse Crain (7-3) got the win in relief after pitching out of starter Jake Peavy’s jam in the seventh and his own in the eighth. Chris Sale got the last three outs, earning his fourth save.

Peavy allowed four runs and nine hits over 6 2-3 innings.

Luke Hochevar (8-9) took the loss, allowing eight hits and five runs in six innings.

— Associated Press —

St. Louis falls to Colorado Saturday, 6-1

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Carlos Gonzalez hit a three-run homer, Jason Hammel pitched into the seventh inning and the Colorado Rockies beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 on Saturday night.

Gonzalez also doubled in a run in the ninth to help the Rockies snap a three-game slide. Colorado also had dropped their last five games in St. Louis by a combined 22-3 score.

Left-hander Jaime Garcia had a rare off night at home as St. Louis fell five games behind first-place Milwaukee in the NL Central.

Gonzalez went deep in the third inning, sending an 0-2 pitch over the wall in right for his 18th homer. He also became the first lefty batter to connect against Garcia since Philadelphia slugger Ryan Howard accomplished the feat on July 21, 2010.

Gonzalez also homered in Friday night’s 6-1 loss and has three homers in his last six games. The Rockies have homered in their last six road games.

Garcia (10-6) gave up five runs and six hits in five innings, dropping to 6-3 with a 2.06 ERA in 11 home starts this season.

Hammel (7-11) allowed one run and five hits in 6 1/3 innings to earn his first win since July 29 at San Diego.

David Freese drove in Matt Holliday with a fielder’s choice and Yadier Molina singled to put runners on first and second before Hammel was replaced by Josh Roenicke.

Third baseman Chris Nelson then started an inning-ending double play with a diving catch on Ryan Theriot’s line drive.

Todd Helton hit a two-run double in the fifth inning to push Colorado’s lead to 5-0.

Garcia is 0-2 with a 17.28 ERA this season against the Rockies. He gave up a career-high 11 earned runs in a 15-4 loss at Colorado on May 28.

Albert Pujols, who entered the game 2 for 2 against Hammel, went 0 for 2 with a walk against the right-hander.

— Associated Press —

Chiefs get blanked by Tampa in preseason opener

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Raheem Morris stood at the podium deep inside Arrowhead Stadium, looked straight into the camera and let a slight smile creep across his face.

The third-year head coach was asked whether he could find something wrong with the performance that his Tampa Bay Buccaneers put in during their preseason opener Friday night, a 25-0 blitzing on the road against the defending AFC West champion Kansas City Chiefs.

Morris resigned himself to the fact he couldn’t, at least not yet.

“But I got to watch the tape,” he added. “I’ll find something.”

Better watch it in slow motion.

Josh Freeman put points on the board three of the four series he played, finishing 9 of 13 for 73 yards with a touchdown rushing. Backup quarterback Josh Johnson was just as efficient, going 7 of 12 for 108 yards and a touchdown while also running for 57 yards.

The Tampa Bay offense piled up 353 yards, while a young and rapidly improving defense held the explosive Kansas City offense to just 137 — 86 on the ground and 51 through the air.

“It’s our first chance, you know?” said veteran Tampa Bay cornerback Ronde Barber. “You get two weeks of training camp, you really don’t know what you got, so this is a good first game.”

It figured to be a sloppy game after the NFL lockout wiped away the offseason. Teams have only been together for about a dozen practices, and veteran free agents couldn’t even join their teammates until last Thursday because of new language in the collective bargaining agreement.

Kansas City had barely worked out in pads, and coach Todd Haley decided not to scrimmage during camp, wary that too much hitting too early might result in unnecessary injuries.

It wasn’t much surprise the Chiefs looked unprepared.

Quinten Lawrence made a poor decision to bring the opening kickoff out of the endzone, getting wrestled down at the 8. The Chiefs went three-and-out on their first possession, fumbled on their next two, and watched backup quarterback Tyler Palko get sacked for a safety on another.

“Turning the ball over was a problem, not protecting the quarterback’s a problem. We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Haley said. “We knew we had a lot of work to do coming into this game.”

Freeman needed only two plays to turn the first fumble into a touchdown, then led Tampa Bay on an eight-play drive that Connor Barth capped with a 25-yard field goal. Barth added another field goal later in the half before Palko’s safety made it 15-0 late in the second quarter.

Things didn’t improve for Kansas City in the second half.

Tampa Bay marched right down field against the Chiefs’ backups, putting together a nine-play, 55-yard drive that resulted in a 3-yard pass from Josh Johnson to Michael Spurlock and a 22-0 lead.

Backup kicker Jacob Rogers added a 46-yard field goal early in the fourth.

Freeman is trying to build on a breakout season in which he threw for 3,451 yards and 25 touchdowns. The tall, strong-armed quarterback has looked sharp all camp, and he certainly carried the momentum right into his first preseason game. Freeman checked off when warranted, eluded a feeble Kansas City pass rush when necessary, and deftly managed the offense when he was in the game.

Morris planned to play his starters about 20 plays, so Freeman was done early in the second quarter. Johnson took over and kept the offense moving down field.

“They throw a bad ball, they’re down on themselves,” said backup receiver Dezmon Briscoe, who caught four passes for 60 yards from the two quarterbacks. “But they rarely make bad mistakes.”

That sure wasn’t the case for Kansas City.

Not that the starters had much chance.

Cassel didn’t throw a pass. Running back Jamaal Charles didn’t have a carry. Wide receiver Dwayne Bowe didn’t make a catch — all for the most part by design.

Defensive end Tamba Hali, who signed to a five-year, $60 million deal in training camp, looked awfully good standing on the sideline. Receiver Steve Breaston, cornerback Brandon Flowers, defensive end Glenn Dorsey, tight end Tony Moeaki and linebacker Derrick Johnson also didn’t play.

Those who did left Haley wanting more.

“I don’t think you ever see that coming,” Haley said. “You don’t want to do that, especially on your home turf. But that being said, that’s the first one, not the last one. What’s important is that our guys recognized that they’ve got a lot of work ahead of them and a short time to do it.”

— Associated Press —

Royals win first game at Chicago

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Billy Butler and Melky Cabrera homered to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 5-1 win over the Chicago White on Friday night.

Bruce Chen continued his mastery of the White Sox, holding Chicago to one hit over six innings. Chen (7-5) is 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA in three starts against the White Sox this season.

Butler homered in the sixth and had an RBI single in the first. Cabrera broke the game open with a three-run homer in the ninth.

Alex Gordon singled, doubled, walked twice, scored a run, stole a base and reached on catcher’s interference for the Royals, who snapped a four-game losing streak.

Rookie Zach Stewart (1-2) pitched well in his home debut as a member of the White Sox. He held the Royals to two runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings.

Juan Pierre had an RBI single, driving in Chicago’s only run in the ninth, and walked twice.

Chicago’s Paul Konerko singled, extending his hitting streak to nine games, and walked twice. The White Sox had just three hits in the game but still managed to strand 10 runners.

The White Sox have lost seven straight at U.S. Cellular Field and 13 of their last 17. Chicago fell five games behind Detroit in the AL Central.

Butler’s two hits came on the heels of his 1-for-15 series at Tampa Bay. Butler has hit eight of his 14 home runs in the month since the All-Star break.

Chen walked three batters and hit two more combined in the first three innings.

Alex Rios ended both the first and third by flying out with the bases loaded. Rios, who entered the game hitting .170 in 94 at-bats with runners in scoring position, was loudly booed after each plate appearance.

After the White Sox were unable to take advantage of Chen’s early wildness, he recovered to retire the last seven batters he faced and 10 of the last 11.

Brent Morel was the only baserunner in that stretch, reaching on a double error in the fourth. Chen appeared to have struck out Morel with an 0-2 pitch was called for a quick pitch, an automatic ball.

— Associated Press —

Lohse, Pujols help Cardinals defeat Colorado

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Kyle Lohse responded to getting bumped in the rotation with a strong outing. He wasn’t about to criticize manager Tony La Russa’s decision.

“I’ve felt fine physically,” Lohse said after working into the seventh inning of the St. Louis Cardinals’ 6-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Friday night. “Tony’s going to set the matchups the way he wants, and I’m ready whenever he wants me to be ready.”

Albert Pujols followed up a 4-for-4 game with two hits and the go-ahead RBI and David Freese had two hits and three RBIs, two of them in a five-run sixth that chased Aaron Cook (2-7). Matt Holliday returned after missing two games with a lower-back injury and had an RBI double, while Lohse contributed his first Busch Stadium RBI in nearly two seasons.

Carlos Gonzalez hit his 17th home run for the Rockies, who have lost three in a row while mustering just four runs and are a season-worst 10 games below .500 (55-65). Colorado had only five hits for the second straight game and has scored only one run for Cook in his last three starts.

Cook made only his 12th start after being sidelined with a fractured finger, and manager Jim Tracy said he deserved better.

“He was aggressive, he was in the strike zone from the outside, he was throwing one ground ball after another,” Tracy said. “It’s unfortunate when you get down to it.”

The Cardinals have won five straight over the Rockies at home, outscoring them 22-3.

Lohse (10-7) matched his victory total from the previous two seasons, both of them injury-plagued, and addressed doubts about his current health and durability that in part prompted the Cardinals to give him two extra days of rest. The right-hander allowed a run on four hits in 6 1/3 innings and threw 91 pitches, 17 more than any of his three previous appearances.

Lohse was sent home for tests for inflammation in the middle finger of his pitching hand after his start on July 24 at Pittsburgh and allowed eight runs in eight innings in his previous two starts. He reached double figures in victories for the first time since 2008 when he was a 15-game winner.

Ace Chris Carpenter jumped ahead of Lohse with regular rest and had a strong eight-inning outing in a 5-2 victory over the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday night. The Brewers remained four games ahead of St. Louis.

Given the extra time, Lohse altered his delivery somewhat.

“I tweaked some things mechanically, dropped the arm slot a little bit just to see what happened,” Lohse said. “And I came out with some good results.”

Pujols singled in two of his first three at-bats and his one-hop smash that glanced off second baseman Mark Ellis’ glove made it 2-1 with none out in the sixth. Holliday bounced a double over the head of third baseman Chris Nelson on the next pitch for a two-run cushion and Freese’s two-run single made it 6-1.

Lohse had early success going after hitters, with first-pitch strikes to 11 of the first 12. That stretch was capped by Gonzalez’s homer to straightaway center leading off the fourth to tie it at 1, and the Rockies loaded the bases on two walks and Todd Helton’s double later in the inning before Cook popped out to shallow right.

Cook allowed a season-worst six runs in 5 2/3 innings and is 0-2 in August while surrendering 12 runs in 16 1/3 innings. He had no regrets about his work against the Cardinals.

“It’s very frustrating, but I’ve got to try to just laugh this one off and realize I know I made the pitches I wanted to make,” Cook said. “They were able to just find the holes to get the runs.”

Gonzalez is 3-for-19 with two homers during the Rockies’ trip.

— Associated Press —

Cardinals salvage series finale against Brewers

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Albert Pujols kicked off a 4-for-4 night with a solo homer and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-2 on Thursday to avoid a three-game sweep.

St. Louis pulled within four games of NL Central-leading Milwaukee, which has won 13 of 15. The Cardinals are the only team to beat the Brewers during their hot streak.

Pujols entered with just five hits in 42 at-bats against the Brewers. He ended the slide with a drive in the first against Yovani Gallardo (13-8), tying him with teammate Lance Berkman for the National League lead with 28 homers. Pujols added two singles against Gallardo, who lasted just five innings.

Chris Carpenter (8-8) gave up 10 hits in eight innings but shut down the Brewers after they scored twice in the first. Fernando Salas finished for his 22nd save in 25 opportunities.

Rafael Furcal got St. Louis off to a fast start with a leadoff drive to right in the first. After Gallardo fanned Jon Jay, Pujols hit a tying drive over the wall in center.

Mark Kotsay, subbing for All-Star slugger Ryan Braun, reached three times and had an RBI double for Milwaukee. Prince Fielder had a run-scoring single to give him 88 RBIs.

St. Louis took its first lead of the series in the third with some help from the Brewers. Second baseman Felipe Lopez booted Furcal’s ground ball leading off the inning, allowing him to reach first. Furcal was forced at second by Jay, but Pujols and Berkman followed with singles to plate Jay.

That same combination worked again in the fifth when Jay singled to right with two out, stole second and scored on Pujols’ single to center. Pujols moved to third on Berkman’s single to right and came home on a wild pitch to make it 5-2.

Gallardo gave up five runs, four earned, and seven hits.

— Associated Press —

Royals get swept by Tampa Bay

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Jeff Niemann won his sixth consecutive decision, Ben Zobrist had a two-run triple and the Tampa Bay Rays completed a four-game sweep with a 4-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday.

Niemann (7-4) allowed one run and nine hits over 6 1/3 innings. The right-hander is 6-0 in nine starts since returning from a strained lower back.

The Rays’ first four-game home sweep since July 28-31, 2005 — also against Kansas City — included an 8-7 win Wednesday night in which Tampa Bay scored five times in the ninth.

Kansas City rookie left-hander Danny Duffy (3-6) gave up three runs and five hits over seven innings.

Tampa Bay starts a key six-game road trip against New York and Boston on Friday night at Yankee Stadium. The Rays started the day 8½ games behind the AL wild-card leading Yankees and trail AL East-leading Boston by 9½ games.

Rays left-hander David Price (9-10) will face Yankees’ ace CC Sabathia (16-6) in a matchup of AL All-Stars in the opener of a three-game series.

After Joel Peralta threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings for Tampa Bay, Kyle Farnsworth pitched the ninth for his 21st save.

Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead when Zobrist drove in two runs on a third-inning triple. Desmond Jennings tripled and scored to make it 3-1 on Evan Longoria’s fifth-inning sacrifice fly.

Sean Rodriguez extended the advantage to 4-1 on an eighth-inning RBI single.

The Royals had runners on second and third with no outs in the first, but scored just one run on Eric Hosmer’s grounder. Kansas City was hitless in five at-bats with runners in scoring position through two innings.

Hosmer was retired on a grounder with two on and two outs in the fifth. Niemann struck out Alex Gordon with two outs and the bases loaded one inning later.

Niemann retired 10 in a row after Alcides Escobar had an infield single with one out in the second. He is 4-0 in six games, including five starts, against Kansas City.

Rays designated hitter Johnny Damon singled during the first and moved past George Davis into 65th place on the all-time hits list with 2,684.

— Associated Press —

Junior Training Camp & Chiefs send-off set for Sunday at MWSU

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Missouri Western State University invites the community to the Junior Training Camp and Chiefs Camp Send-off on Sunday, Aug. 14, part of the 2011 Kansas City Chiefs Training Camp presented by Heartland Health. The event will include appearances by the Kansas City Chiefs Cheerleaders and mascot KC Wolf and the chance to win Chiefs game tickets and autographed merchandise. There will be no admission charge. Western will charge $5 per vehicle for parking.

“Sunday afternoon will be the last weekend practice of this year’s Chiefs camp, and we wanted to make it special,” said Dan Nicoson, vice president for university advancement and interim director of athletics. “We invite the community to load up their car with family and friends and come out for this event to expresses their appreciation to the Chiefs for making St. Joseph their summer home.”

The Junior Training Camp begins at 2:15 p.m. on the playing field at Spratt Memorial Stadium. The Missouri Western football team will lead boys and girls ages 8-14 through a series of stations designed to teach football-related skills in a non-contact environment with a focus on fun and safety. There is no charge. Parents must sign a consent form on site. Registration will begin at 1:30 p.m. inside Spratt Stadium.

The Chiefs will practice at 3 p.m. on the grass practice fields. Fans can purchase raffle tickets for the chance to win Chiefs tickets and autographed merchandise, which will be awarded at the end of practice. Tickets are $5 each and will be sold inside the camp gates.

Sunday’s practice is the first scheduled practice after the Chiefs preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Friday night. Practices are also scheduled Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before the Chiefs break camp and return to Kansas City for the remainder of their preseason preparations. The practice schedule is subject to change. Fans should consult www.kcchiefs.com for the latest schedule information.

— MWSU Release —

Kansas City signs unrestricted free agent T Jared Gaither

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The Kansas City Chiefs announced on Thursday that the team has signed unrestricted free agent T Jared Gaither.

Gaither (6-9, 340) has played in 33 regular season games (28 starts) and has started five postseason contests with Baltimore (2007-10). He originally entered the league in the fifth round of the 2007 NFL Supplemental Draft. He saw action in 23 games (17 starts) in two seasons at Maryland. Gaither played one season at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va.

— Chiefs Public Relations —

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