Royals vs Tigers: Massacre At The “K”

To be honest folks, there isn’t much to write about for this game. Anyone who has played sports and watched them at all, know that games like the 16-2 whipping the Kansas City Royals’ (73-68) took at the hands of the Detroit Tigers (82-59) just happen. In fact, the Tigers lost 20-4 a few nights ago against the Boston Red Sox.

Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

There is no explanation; teams just shrug it off and move on.

On the Mound

This gem from Rany Jazayerli on twitter sums up the night perfectly:

Shields also surrendered 10 runs in his 3.2 innings. More on that later.

At the Plate

The Royals had 10 hits and 1 walk but could only push 2 runs across. The tone was set when Prince Fielder fielded a high bouncing ground ball off Eric Hosmer‘ bat and made a leaping throw across his body to get out Alex Gordon at home plate in the first inning. It is unlikely Fielder makes that exact play twice in ten opportunities.

This and That

To be frank, I blame Shields’ historically awful line on Ned Yost. Shields should never have been left out on the mound to accumulate those types of numbers. After allowing 5 runs and 7 hits in the first two innings, it was clear to everyone with a brain that Shields wasn’t fooling any Detroit hitters. Yost knew he needed Shields to go deep because the bullpen had been worked hard the past two nights.

Again – THIS WAS NED YOST’S FAULT. When Ervin Santana had to make an early exit on Wednesday, Yost only allowed Wade Davis to record 4 outs before removing him for no apparent reason. Yost stretched the bullpen out, using pitchers to get just one or two outs throughout that game and when Thursday’s game went 13, the bullpen, despite all of the extra arms out there, was worn out. If Yost would have left Davis in the game on Wednesday for 3 or 4 innings, or at least until Davis got himself in trouble, the bullpen would not have had so many tired arms.

Yost’s continually mismanagement of his pitchers is beyond me. He has no feel as to when he should pull starters and he often gets stuck in a rut with the bullpen. If for nothing else, he just be removed from his job as manager for his incompetence in handling his pitching staff.

Shields ERA went from 3.03 to 3.43, in less than 4 innings.

KC Kingdom Player of the Game

Nope!

Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

• James Shields – 12
• Alex Gordon – 15
• Wade Davis – 5
• Lorenzo Cain – 8
• Luis Mendoza – 3
• Billy Butler – 12
• Ervin Santana – 10
• Miguel Tejada – 5
• Jeremy Guthrie -6
• Eric Hosmer – 13
• Chris Getz – 3
• Mike Moustakas – 7
• Aaron Crow
• Jarrod Dyson – 3
• David Lough – 8
• Alcides Escobar – 5
• J.C. Gutierrez
• Jeff Francoeur
• Bruce Chen – 5
• Salvador Perez – 8
• Will Smith – 2
• George Kottaras
• Louis Coleman – 2
• Bruce Chen – 2
• Justin Maxwell – 2
• Greg Holland -2
• Danny Duffy – 2
  
• Luke Hochevar

The Tigers

Kansas native Andy Dirks and Omar Infante combined to go 10-10 with 6 runs scored and 7 RBI. Yes, Andy Dirks and Omar Infante were the two wreaking balls in this disaster.

Anibal Sanchez went 7 innings, giving up just 1 run on 7 hits.

Up Next

Danny Duffy (2-0, 1.35 ERA) will try to make everyone forget Friday’s debacle. He will face off against…oh, goody…Justin Verlander (12-10, 3.59 ERA).

AL Central Notes

Cleveland Indians (75-65): Nick Swisher hit an 8th inning grand slam in the Indians’ 8-1 route of the Mets. Scott Kazmir pitched 6 shutout innings, yielding 4 hits while striking out 12! He did not issue any walks.

Minnesota Twins (61-78): The Twins got home runs from Chris Colabello and Josmil Pinto, his 1st career dinger, but still lost 6-5 to Toronto.

Chicago White Sox (56-84): The Sox were blanked by the Orioles 4-0, scratching out only 5 hits in the game. Jeff Keppinger and Paul Konerko each had 2 or the five total hits.