James Shields tosses Complete Game Shutout at Giants

The Kansas City Royals won their 6th straight game with a 5-0 victory over the Giants at Kauffman Stadium on Saturday night. James Shields pitched a complete game shutout while allowing only 4 hits and striking out 5 to notch his 11th victory.

The Royals broke open the game with a 4-run 7th inning that gave the Royals a 5-0 bulge in what had been a tight 1-0 ballgame. The Royals piled up 6 hits in the inning, including 3 straight 2-out hits after the Giants pulled off a double play.

The win put the Royals a season-high 9 games over .500 at 62-53. Kansas City also gained a game on Detroit to pull within 1.5 games of the A.L Central lead. The Royals also gained on their wild card competitors. The Royals now hold a 1.5 game lead over Seattle, New York, and Toronto for the 2nd wild card.

On the Mound

James Shields pitched his 1st complete game shutout of the season, going 9.0 innings while allowing only 4 hits and 0 earned runs with 5 strikeouts. Shields is now 11-6 on the season.

At the Plate

The Royals broke up a 1-0 pitching duel with their 4 run 7th, that started with 3 consecutive hits, a double play, then 3 more hits. Overall, the Royals piled up 9 hits, 0 walks, and 5 earned runs.

Alex Gordon opened the scoring with a solo shot off Tim Hudson in the 5th inning. Gordon finished 2-4 with the home run, a single, 2 runs scored, and 1 RBI on the evening.  He was the only Royal with more than 1 hit.

Billy Butler opened the 7th inning with a double off Tim Hudson, followed by two singles to score a 2nd run off the Giants starter. Jeremy Affeldt then relieved Hudson and promtly enticed Raul Ibanez to ground into a double play. The Royals then scored 3 consecutive runs on 3 straight 2-out hits by Mike Moustakas (double), Alcides Escobar, and Jarrod Dyson.

Mike Moustakas pulled himself over the Mendoza line at .202 by going 1-3 with a double, 1 run scored, and 1 RBI.

This and That

The Royals are 5-0 with South Korean super-fan Sung Woo Lee in Kansas City. Sung Woo is attending the Giants series after watching the Royals sweep the DIamondbacks on TV with fans in KC.

Billy Butler’s double on Saturday ran his hitting streak to 6 straight games, raising his batting average from .269 to .278. Butler has 4 doubles, 2 home runs and 6 RBI’s during the string.

The Royals were watching in the clubhouse as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Tigers in the 10th inning with ex-Royal Danny Valencia scoring the winning run. Jarrod Dyson cheered, “Go Danny, Go” as Valencia came around 3rd to score.

Saturday night was Nebraska Night at the K, with Cornhusker fans getting to see Lincoln native, and former Nebraska All-American Alex Gordon, hit his 11th home run.

With their win Saturday night, the Royals guaranteed themselves their 6th straight series win.

KC Kingdom Player of the Game

It can’t be anyone else than James Shields. 4-hit, complete-game shutouts tend to make a pitcher the “player of the game” when they happen .

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• Billy Butler – 8
• Jason Frasor
• Francisley Bueno
• Danny Valencia
• Christian Colon
• Raul Ibanez
• Jarrod Dyson – 2
• Lorenzo Cain – 6
• Johnny Giavotella
• Wade Davis
• Norichika Aoki  – 3
• Salvador Perez – 6
• Jeremy Guthrie  – 3
• Jason Vargas – 6
• Alex Gordon – 10
• Bruce Chen   – 5
• James Shields – 10
• Yordano Ventura – 5
• Danny Duffy – 7
• Omar Infante – 4
• Mike Moustakas – 9
• Alcides Escobar – 5
• Eric Hosmer – 12
• Michael Mariot

The Giants

After racing out to 21-games over .500 in mid June, the Giants are 20-34 in their last 54 games. The 2nd place Giants are fading fast in the N.L. West.  S.F. now trails the Dodgers by 3.5 games for the division lead after enjoying a huge early bulge. After looking like a threat to win their 3rd World Series since 2010, they now would seem lucky to make the playoffs.

Up Next

The Royals finish their 3-game set with the Giants on Sunday, going for their 2nd straight series sweep. The Royals will send Danny Duffy (6-10, 2.39 ERA)  to the mound against 2-time Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum (9–7, 4.22 ERA). Game time is 1:10 PM CST at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

Box

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table.

2B: J Panik (4, off J Shields).
TB: J Panik 2; A Pagan; P Sandoval; G Blanco.
GIDP: M Morse (17).
Team LOB: 4.
With RISP: 0 for 4.
Fielding
DP: 1. J Panik-M Duffy-T Ishikawa.

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table.

2B: B Butler (25, off T Hudson); M Moustakas (16, off J Affeldt).
HR: A Gordon (11, off T Hudson, 5th inn, 0 on, 0 outs to Deep RF).
TB: A Gordon 5; B Butler 2; M Moustakas 2; S Perez; N Aoki; L Cain; J Dyson; A Escobar.
GIDP: R Ibanez (2).
RBI: M Moustakas (47); L Cain (39); A Gordon (51); A Escobar (34); J Dyson (16).
2-out RBI: M Moustakas; J Dyson; A Escobar.
Team LOB: 3.
With RISP: 5 for 8.
Fielding
DP: 1. M Moustakas-O Infante-B Butler.
Baserunning
SB: J Dyson (23, 2nd base off J Machi/B Posey).

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table.

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table.

Balks: None.
WP: J Shields (7).
HBP: None.
IBB: None.
Pickoffs: None.