Mike Moustakas drives in Four Runs in Royals Win

Mike Moustakas drove in 4 runs to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 4-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix Wednesday night.

Moustakas opened the scoring with a 2-run home run (14) in the 2nd inning, and then drove in Alex Gordon from second with a single in the 4th inning to take a 3-2 lead. Finally, Moustakas ground out to second in the 8th inning to score Billy Butler with KC’s 4th run.

Moustakas’ offensive heroics made a winner of rookie Yordano Ventura (9-8).

The Royals are now 6 games above .500 at 59-53. Kansas City gained a game on Detroit to pull within 3.5 games of the American League Central lead. The Royals remain .5 games behind Toronto for the 2nd A.L. Wild Card spot.

On the Mound

Yordano Ventura pitched 6.0 innings, allowing 8 hits, 1 walk, 2 earned runs with 8 strikeouts. Ventura earned his 9th win of the season while lowering his ERA to 3.47.

Kelvin Herrera pitched a scoreless 7th inning, allowing 1 walk with 1 strikeout.

Wade Davis sputtered through the 8th, but did not allow a run despite giving up 2 hits.

Greg Holland earned his 32nd save even though he gave up 1 run on 2 hits with 1 strikeout.

At the Plate

Mike Moustakas was the man on Wednesday night, driving in all 4 of KC’s runs while going 2-4, a home run (14), single, 1 run scored, and 4 RBI’s. Way to go Moose.

Moose’s timely hitting allowed the Royals to maximize the output from only 5 hits and 2 walks. Moustakas was the only Royal to get more than 1 hit Wednesday night.

Lorenzo Cain did manage to get on base twice, going 1-3 with a single, 1 walk, and 1 run scored.

This and That

The Royals are now 2-0 since S. Korean fan Sung Woo Lee came to Kansas City. If the team continues to win, Royals management might not let him go home.

If Kansas City pulls off the sweep in Arizona, the Royals will tie their season-high of 7 games over .500 set on June 18 (last day of KC’s season-long 10-game winning streak).

Moustakas’ RBI in the 8th inning came on a lined shot to second that was initially ruled an inning-ending double play until KC manager Ned Yost successfully challenged the call. Moose managed to beat the throw by hustling down the line.

The Royals are 32-26 on the road and .500 at home.

KC Kingdom Player of the Game

Not only did Moustakas pile up 2 clutch hits and drove in all 4 of KC’s runs, he also pulled out an RBI by diving into first to beat what appeared to be a successful relay throw from 2nd for a double-play.

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• Billy Butler – 6
• 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  – 2
• 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 DIamondbacks

Aaron Hill had a big game for the Diamondbacks, going 2-4 with 2 singles, 1 walk, 1 run scored, and 1 RBI. Hill also made an outstanding stop on Moustakas’ screaming grounder and almost turned an inning-ending double play.

Up Next

The Royals will attempt to finish off the sweep of their 3-game set with Arizona on Thursday. The Royals will send Jeremy Guthrie (7-9, 4.50 ERA) to the mound against Vidal Nuno (2-7, 4.78 ERA) for the Diamondbacks. Game time is 8:40 PM CST at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Box

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

2B: B Butler (23, off M Stites).
HR: M Moustakas (14, off J Collmenter, 2nd inn, 1 on, 2 outs to Deep RF).
HBP: A Gordon (7, by M Stites).
TB: M Moustakas 5; B Butler 2; L Cain; A Escobar.
RBI: M Moustakas 4 (46).
2-out RBI: M Moustakas 3.
Team LOB: 4.
With RISP: 1 for 4.

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

B: M Montero (18, off Y Ventura).
3B: E Inciarte (1, off Y Ventura).
SF: M Trumbo (2, off G Holland).
TB: M Montero 4; E Inciarte 3; D Peralta 2; A Hill 2; C Pennington 2; R Kieschnick; M Trumbo.
RBI: A Hill (51); M Trumbo (25); D Peralta (23).
2-out RBI: D Peralta.
Team LOB: 11.
With RISP: 2 for 14.

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

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

Balks: None.
WP: Y Ventura (9).
HBP: M Stites (1; A Gordon).
IBB: None.
Pickoffs: None.