Kansas City Royals Prevail with late Three-Run Rally

For the third straight game, the Kansas City Royals found themselves trailing the St. Louis Cardinals. For the 3rd straight night, the Royals pulled a late rally. This time their 3-run 6th inning carried them to a 3-2 win at Kauffman Stadium Thursday night.

In match-up of dominant young fireball pitchers, Yordano Ventura emerged as the victor over Michael Wacha. Ventura is now 3-5 on the year with a 3.41 ERA.

The victory pulls the Royals back to within 2 games under .500 at 29-31. Kansas City remains in 4th place, 4 games behind slumping Detroit in the American League Central.

On the Mound

Yordano Ventura made his comeback after missing a start with elbows problems. Ventura pitched 6.0 innings, allowing 7 hits, 2 walks, and 2 runs. Ventura had good velocity but recorded only 1 strikeout.

The recently-recalled Francisley Bueno relieved Ventura in the 7th with a clean inning and 1 strikeout.

Dominant set-up man Wade Davis pitched another clean inning in the 8th.

Greg Holland finished off the 9th with his American League leading 17th save despite giving up Oscar Taveras‘ infield single to leadoff the inning.

At the Plate

Overall, the Royals only managed 7 hits and 2 walks against Cardinal pitching, but bunched 2 doubles and 3 singles in the 6th inning to plate 3 runs.

No Royal had more than one hit on the evening, with Alex Gordon the only hitter to reach base twice going 1-2 with a walk.

Mike Moustakas and Omar Infante were the only starters to fail to get hits, though both were robbed by nice plays on hard liners in the infield.

Alcides Escobar and Nori Aoki led off the 6th inning with consecutive doubles to score the Royals first run.

Salvador Perez drove in the go-ahead run with a solid single that scored Eric Hosmer from 2nd base.

This and That

Alex Gordon had a whale of a defensive game on Thursday. He made a diving catch in left to open the game, and nailed Yadier Molina at second base while trying to stretch a single into a double to finish the 5th inning. He also made a nice running catch of a foul ball in the 4th.

Norichika Aoki continued his slapstick reel by getting hit in the head by Yadier Molina while attempting to throw the ball back to Michael Wacha. You can see the video here:

Video courtesy of MLB.com

Aoki did stay in the game to hit an RBI double in the 6th and score a run.

The Royals completed their annual Show-Me-State series with 3 wins in 4 games.

KC Kingdom Player of the Game

Our nod goes to Alex Gordon for his three outstanding defensive plays, and his single to continue the game-winning rally in the 6th. Gordon’s recent power surge and his continued excellence in the field has made him the team’s most consistent player on the season.

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• Billy Butler – 2
• Lorenzo Cain – 3
• Johnny Giavotella
• Wade Davis
• Norichika Aoki
• Salvador Perez – 2
• Jeremy Guthrie  – 5
• Jason Vargas – 5
• Alex Gordon – 7
• Bruce Chen
• James Shields – 5
• Yordano Ventura – 3
• Mike Moustakas
• Danny Duffy – 4
• Omar Infante – 2
• Mike Moustakas – 3
• Alcidese Escobar – 3
• Eric Hosmer – 6
• Michael Mariot
• Casey Coleman
• Danny Valencia
• Tim Collins

The Cardinals

The Royals 6th inning rally made a hard-luck loser out of starter Michael Wacha. Wacha finished 6 innings, allowing 8 hits, 2 walks, and 3 runs. He held the Royals scoreless through 5 before their 6th inning breakthrough, and looked poised to win his 5th game of the season. Instead, his record fell to 4-4 with a 2.61 ERA on the season.

Up Next

The Yankees come to Kansas City for a three game series on Derek Jeter‘s farewell tour. The Royals will send Jeremy Guthrie (2-5, 4.00 ERA) to the mound against 24-year-old righty Chase Whitley (0-0, 2.37 ERA). Game time is 7:10 CST at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

Box

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

2B: M Holliday (14, off Y Ventura).
3B: P Bourjos (3, off Y Ventura).
TB: P Bourjos 3; M Holliday 2; J Jay 2; Y Molina; O Taveras; M Carpenter; A Craig.
RBI: M Carpenter (21); P Bourjos (9).
2-out RBI: P Bourjos; M Carpenter.
Team LOB: 7.
With RISP: 1 for 8.
Fielding
DP: 2. O Taveras-J Peralta; A Craig.
Outfield Assists: O Taveras (M Moustakas at 2nd base).

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

2B: B Butler (10, off M Wacha); A Escobar (16, off M Wacha); N Aoki (9, off M Wacha).
SH: A Escobar (5, off C Martinez).
TB: A Escobar 2; B Butler 2; N Aoki 2; S Perez; A Gordon; E Hosmer; L Cain.
RBI: E Hosmer (25); N Aoki (13); S Perez (16).
2-out RBI: S Perez.
Team LOB: 4.
With RISP: 3 for 9.
Fielding
Outfield Assists: A Gordon (Y Molina at 2nd base).

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

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

Balks: None.
WP: G Holland (4).
HBP: None.
IBB: None.
Pickoffs: None.