James Shields Shuts Down Yankees
By John Viril

James Shields dominated the Yankees, pitching 8.1 shutout innings to propel the Kansas City Royals to 1-0 win at Yankee Stadium Friday night.
The Royals prevailed in an old-fashioned pitchers duel between Shields and Yankee starter Michael Pineda. The Royals won on an unearned run in the 3rd inning when Chase Headley could not handle Alcides Escobar‘s hard grounder to 3rd.
Escobar aggressively took second, which allowed him to score on Nori Aoki‘s single.
Lorenzo Cain also made a game-saving play in the 6th inning by reaching over the right-field wall to rob Brett Gardner of a game-tying home run.
The win puts Kansas City 17 games over .500 for the first time this season at 78-61. The Royals will likely gain at least a 1/2 game over the Tigers, who trail the S.F. Giants 6-0 with the game in a long-rain delay in the 3rd inning.
On the Mound
James Shields had a terrific change up on Friday night. Shields went 8.1 innings, allowing 3 hits, 0 walks, 0 earned runs with 6 strikeouts. Shields came out of the game after giving up a single to Derek Jeter with 1 out in the 9th.
Wade Davis, oddly, entered in the 9th to nail down the save instead of Greg Holland. Wade Davis struck out the last two hitters, despite allowing pinch runner Antoan Richardson to steal second. It was Davis’ first save of the season.
At the Plate
The Royals scored an unearned run in the 3rd inning when Alcides Escobar hit hard grounder to Yankee 3B Chase Headley, who missed the ball. It ended up being a 2 base error when Escobar aggressively took 2nd base. Escobar’s baserunning proved important when he then scored on Nori Aoki’s single to put the Royals up 1-0.
The only Royal to get more than one hit was C Salvador Perez who went 2 for 3 with 2 singles.
Overall, the Royals won despite only getting 3 hits and 0 walks.
This and That
James Shields opened the game retiring the first 11 Yankees hitters before giving up a hit with 2 outs in the
Yankee first baseman Mark Teixeira came into the game 6 for 48 with 15 strikeouts vs. Royals starter James Shields for his career. Teixeira went 0 for 3 with 3 strikeouts vs. Shields on Friday.
The Royals earned their first 1-0 victory over New York at Yankee Stadium in franchise history.
Friday’s save was the first of Wade Davis’ major-league career.
KC Kingdom Player of the Game
James Shields is the obvious choice, shutting out the Yankees over 8.1 innings with 6 strikeouts. Shields earned the win to go 13-7 on the season, with big assists from Alcides Escobar’s aggressive baserunning and Lorenzo Cain’s stellar defense.
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- Liam Hendriks
- Josh Willingham – 2
- 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 – 6
- Salvador Perez – 8
- Jeremy Guthrie – 4
- Jason Vargas – 8
- Alex Gordon – 14
- Bruce Chen – 5
- James Shields – 11
- Yordano Ventura – 6
- Danny Duffy – 7
- Omar Infante – 5
- Mike Moustakas – 10
- Alcides Escobar – 7
- Eric Hosmer – 12
- Michael Mariot
- Erik Kratz
The Yankees
Michael Pineda was a tough-luck loser Friday night, going 7.0 innings while allowing only 3 hits and 1 unearned run. Pineda was charged with his 4th loss of the season (3-4).
Up Next
The Royals and Yankees play the second game of their series Saturday afternoon. Kansas City will send Danny Duffy (8-11, 2.42 ERA) to the mound against Brandon McCarthy (8-14, 4.19 ERA) for the Yankees. Game time is 3:05 PM CST at Yankee Stadium in New York.