Royals Recap: Maxwell Wins Game in 12th With Home Run

Dayton Moore’s only deadline acquisition is already paying dividends. Justin Maxwell, in just his 3rd game for the Kansas City Royals (55-52), propelled his new team to a 4-3 victory over the New York Mets (49-59) with a home run in the 12th inning on Saturday.

Aug 1, 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Kansas City Royals right fielder Justin Maxwell (27) hits a RBI single in the second inning against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

On the Mound

Bruce Chen turned in yet another tremendous effort as a starter. Chen went 6 innings, giving up just one run on 4 hits. He walked none and struck out 8 on the day. It was his 4th straight strong performance as he lower his ERA to 2.03.

Five relievers pitched a total of 6 innings and only  Aaron Crow allowed any runs. He allowed 2, one of which was unearned. Kelvin Herrera was a man on Saturday, giving a 3 inning effort without allowing any runs. Herrera got the win and Greg Holland nailed down his 29th save.

At the Plate

Maxwell wasn’t the only Royal to homer. George Kottaras hit one of his own solo shot to lead off the 3rd inning. Eric Hosmer had 2 more hits and Miguel Tejada went 3-4. Beyond these players, only 2 Royals got hits and one was pitcher Bruce Chen. Again, Kansas City was stagnant offensively, and were lucky a couple of big hits won the game for them.

Mike Moustakas and Alcides Escobar combined to go 0-10. The former is batting .222 and the latter is sporting a .230 average.

This and That

Check out Chen’s numbers as a starter this season – 24 innings, 4 runs on 11 hits and 3 walks. He has struck out 21. His ERA is 1.50 and his WHIP is .583 in the 4 games. These numbers are as beautiful as they can be, but they are driven by an incredibly unsustainable BABIP in of .138, which means he has been extremely lucky. Some of that is not luck though because he is getting a lot of pop ups during all of his starts. Just don’t be shocked when these numbers start to regress because it will be ugly when they do.

It was great to see the Royals bounce back with another win after their 9-game streak ended. Unfortunately, both the Indians and Tigers won as well.

Expect some moves from both teams today to bolster their bullpens after the first game went 11 frames and yesterday they played 12. Both bullpens have to be blown out a bit.

Maxwell has started of 3 for 5 with the Royals and has 2 RBI.

KC Kingdom Player of the Game

A big shout goes out to Chen for his continued success as a starter and Kelvin Herrera’s performance would have earned him the POG in any number of games this season. We are going with the new guy today though.  Justin Maxwell gets his first POG as a Royal with his game winning home run.

• James Shields – 9
• Alex Gordon – 12
  
• Wade Davis – 5
• Lorenzo Cain – 8
• Luis Mendoza – 3
• Billy Butler – 8
• Ervin Santana – 7
• Miguel Tejada – 5
  
• Jeremy Guthrie -4
• Eric Hosmer – 10
  
• Chris Getz
• Mike Moustakas – 5
  
• Aaron Crow
• Jarrod Dyson – 3
  
• David Lough – 8
• Alcides Escobar – 5
• J.C. Gutierrez
• Jeff Francoeur
• Bruce Chen – 2
• Salvador Perez – 4
• Will Smith
• George Kottaras
• Louis Coleman – 2
  
• Bruce Chen
• Justin Maxwell

The Mets

The Mets held the Royals screrless for 8 innings, from the 3rd, when they scored 3 of their runs, until Maxwell’s homer in the 12. The bullpen pitched 5 of those innings.

Daniel Murphy‘s home run and Josh Satin‘s 2 RBI were the extent of the Mets offense against the Royals on Saturday.

Up Next

Ervin Santana ((7-6, 3.03 ERA) will try to bring the Royals home with a victory. Rookie Zack Wheeler (4-1, 3.55 ERA) will go for the Mets at 12:10.

AL Central Notes

Detroit Tigers (63-45): Max Scherzer raised his record to 16-1 and helped extend the Tigers’ winning streak to 7 games with 7.2 innings of scoreless 3-hit ball. The Tigers shutout the White Sox 3-0. Torii Hunter, Jhonny Peralta, and newcomer Jose Iglesias all had solo shots to account for the wins.

Cleveland Indians (61-49): Jason Kipnis went 3-4 with 3 RBI as the Indians beat the Marlins 4-3. Zack McAllister, who is working his way back from his DL stint, allowed 2 runs in 5.2 innings.

Minnesota Twins (47-60): Ryan Doumit, Brian Dozier, Oswaldo Arcia each contributed 2 hits in the 6-4 win over the Astros. Starter Kyle Gibson didn’t help much, going just 3 innings and giving up 4 runs on 9 hits.

Chicago White Sox (40-68): The shut out at the hands of the Tigers was the 9th straight loss for the White Sox. How long can Robon Ventura hang onto his job?