Jeremy Guthrie Shuts Down Red Sox

Jeremy Guthrie gave the struggling Kansas City Royals exactly what they needed, pitching 8 strong innings in a 7-1 KC win over the Red Sox on Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium.

Kansas City came into the game having lost 4 out of their last 5 games, in addition to the A.L. Central lead.

Saturday’s win put Kansas City 15 games over .500 at 81-66. The victory allowed Kansas City to remain 1/2 game behind the Tigers in the Central, after Detroit rallied in the 8th inning to take a 5-4 victory over Cleveland.

On the Mound

Jeremy Guthrie gave the Royals just what they needed in a 8.0 inning start, allowing 3 hits, 1 walk, and 1 run (0 earned) with 2 strikeouts. Guthrie evened his season record at 11-11 with Saturday’s win. Guthrie left with the Royals leading 5-1.

Brandon Finnegan pitched a scoreless 9th with 2 strikeouts to nail down the win.

At the Plate

The Royals offense broke out of their slump by banging out 12 hits, drawing 1 walk, and scoring 7 runs. Kansas City slammed 4 doubles among their 12 hits.

Nori Aoki‘s aggressive baserunning helped get the Royals going the the first inning. After an RBI single that drove in Alcides Escobar after his leadoff double, Aoki advanced to 2nd on the throw home. Aoki took 3rd on Lorenzo Cain‘s ground out, and scored on a throwing error to third to give Kansas City a 2-0 1st inning lead.

Kansas City then broke open the game in 4th by scoring 3 runs. KC opened the inning with two doubles sandwiched around a single to score their 3rd run. Omar Infante picked up an RBI on a groundout that scored Alex Gordon from 3rd. Then Salvador Perez scored the inning’s final run on Jorge De La Rosa‘s balk for 5-0 Royals lead.

Royals hitters added 2 more runs in the bottom of the 8th on an RBI double from Alex Gordon and single from Omar Infante.

Omar Infante swung the big bat, going 3 for 4 with 3 singles and 3 RBI’s on the day.

Alex Gordon, Nori Aoki, and Alcides Escobar all went 2 for 4 on the day.

This and That

The Royals allowed an unearned run for the 3rd game in a row, despite having what many pundits—and numerous defensive metrics—consider the best defense in MLB.

Kansas City has committed 16 errors in 12 games in September. No matter how you slice it, that’s not good. Despite the sloppy defense, Kansas City is 7-5 in their last 12 games.

KC Kingdom Player of the Game

Jeremy Guthrie is our KC Kingdom Player of the Game for his outstanding 8 inning start while allowing only 1 unearned run. Guthrie’s dominance was exactly what the Royals needs after falling out of first place with 2 straight losses to Boston.