the Los Angeles Dodgers after pushing

Preminiem Geregistreerd op: 17 Okt 2019 Berichten: 210

KANSAS CITY, Mo. Johnny Davis Rays Jersey . -- Royals manager Ned Yost admitted that he often manages an entire game around getting the ball to reliever Wade Davis in the eighth inning and closer Greg Holland in the ninth. The fact that Yordano Ventura gave him six solid innings made things even easier. Ventura returned from a sore elbow to keep the St. Louis Cardinals off balance, and Kansas City rallied for three runs in the sixth inning before the bullpen closed out a 3-2 win Thursday night that ended a string of eight straight home losses to its cross-state rivals. "The bullpen was fantastic tonight," Yost said. Of course, so was Ventura. The hard-throwing right-hander was skipped his previous time through the rotation because of the ailment, but looked sharp in his return. Ventura (3-5) pitched to contact and took advantage of some sharp defence, which helped him to limit the damage whenever he ran into trouble. "Everything was good," Ventura said through a translator. "I wasnt nervous. I was very anxious. I wanted to pitch well to help the team win." He wasnt in line for the win until the Royals rallied for three runs off Michael Wacha (4-4) in the sixth inning, and Francisley Bueno and Davis each pitched a perfect inning in relief. Holland made things interesting in the ninth. Oscar Taveras led off with a grounder toward second base that Omar Infante fielded deep in the hole and threw awkwardly to first base. Umpire Dan Iassogna initially ruled the throw beat Taveras to the bag, but a video review showed that he was clearly safe. Holland proceeded to strike out Jhonny Peralta, but a wild pitch sent pinch runner Randal Grichuk to second base. Holland then struck out Jon Jay and Peter Bourjos to end the game. The Royals took the first two games of the four-game, two-city series at Busch Stadium, and then lost 5-2 in 11 innings on Wednesday night before taking the series finale. Kansas City improved to 6-2 against National League clubs this season, while its slumping cross-state rivals lost for the seventh time in their past eight games. The game was expected to be a showdown between two of the games bright young pitchers in Ventura, with his 100 mph fastball, and Wacha, who emerged for St. Louis last season. Neither of them disappointed. Ventura left two runners aboard in the first inning and a runner on third base in each of the next three innings. Alex Gordon then helped him out of the fifth, when he threw out Yadier Molina trying to stretch a single into a double with a strong throw from left field. The call was confirmed after a review that lasted 3 minutes, 30 seconds. Wacha only allowed two hits through the first five innings before Alcides Escobar started the Royals rally with a double in the sixth. Nori Aoki followed with an RBI double and Eric Hosmer guided a single through a drawn-in infield to knot the game 2-all. Salvador Perez, who had been in a 2-for-24 slump at home, followed with a go-ahead single. "Wacha was real good up the point of the sixth inning and thats consecutive starts where weve had starters come out and be real good and just hit a wall," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "We just werent able to get enough offence back after that." The fact that Aoki had a part in the Royals sixth-inning rally was perhaps fitting. The outfielder was leading off in the first inning when he took a pitch low and inside. He was still leaning slightly over the plate when Molina tried to return the ball to Wacha, and the throw instead ricocheted hard off Aokis helmet and toward the third-base dugout. Aoki crumpled into a heap and lay in the dirt for several minutes before resuming his at-bat. He later grounded out, but hurt the Cardinals with his double during the Royals decisive rally. "Yadi was real apologetic," Yost said. "Nori was just like, OK, OK." NOTES: Cardinals 2B Kolten Wong left in the fifth inning with soreness in his left shoulder, which he hurt diving for a ball Tuesday night in St. Louis. Daniel Descalso replaced him. ... Royals RHP Jeremy Guthrie starts a four-game series against the Yankees on Friday night. Cardinals RHP Lance Lynn will start for St. Louis to open its three-game set in Toronto. Evan Longoria Jersey . Each day, TSN.ca provides the latest rumours, reports and speculation from around the NHL beat. Defensive Depth TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun is reporting the Toronto Maple Leafs have considerable interest in unrestricted free-agent defenceman Dan Boyle. Tommy Pham Jersey .com) - It may just be the right place and the right opponent for the Detroit Red Wings to snap their longest losing streak of the season.SEATTLE -- Working both sides of the plate and mixing in his changeup, Indians starter Josh Tomlin had little trouble keeping the Seattle Mariners at bay Saturday night. Tomlin threw the second complete game of his career, throwing a one-hitter with a career-high 11 strikeouts in Clevelands 5-0 victory over Seattle . Tomlin (5-5) didnt walk a batter and a leadoff single by Kyle Seager in the fifth inning was the only blemish on his evening. It was the second complete game of Tomlins career and the first one-hitter by a Cleveland pitcher since Billy Traber did it against the Yankees on July 8, 2003. "He commanded so well," manager Terry Francona said. He was expanding (the strike zone). He showed in to keep them honest and then hed go away. A little farther. A little farther, just leading guys to pitches. "That was just a tremendous outing." Its only the third time since 2002 that a pitcher has recorded a one-hit shutout with at least 11 strikeouts and no walks. St. Louis Shelby Miller struck out 13 in a 3-0 victory over Colorado on May 10, 2013. San Franciscos Matt Cain equaled Tomlin with 11 strikeouts in a 5-0 win over Pittsburgh on April 13, 2012. "I felt good and I knew I was commanding the ball well to both sides of the plate," Tomlin said. "I had to have a good changeup today to get them off everything else." The Indians jumped on Mariners starter Roenis Elias (7-6) for a pair of runs in the first inning. Asdrubal Cabrera doubled and scored on a single from Michael Brantley. Brantley advanced to second on the throw home and scored on a double by Carlos Santana to give the Indians a 2-0 lead. Mike Aviles singled with one out in the fifth and came around to score on Michael Bourns double. A balk by Elias moved Bourn to third and Cabreras sacrifice fly scored Bourn to givee the Indians a 4-0 lead. Eric Sogard Jersey. Meanwhile, the Mariners couldnt solve Tomlin. He retired the first 12 batters he faced with some help from right fielder Ryan Raburn. He tracked down a deep line drive from Seager with a diving grab on the warning track in the second inning. "Great catch," Francona said. "Im glad it doesnt get lost two hours later because that was a really nice play." Seager singled to lead off the fifth and took second on a wild pitch and advanced to third when the throw from catcher Yan Gomes sailed into centre field. He was stranded when Tomlin struck out Michael Saunders to end the inning. "Our at-bats were not at-bats we want to talk about," Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon said. "We want to forget about them. It was one of those nights." Gomes homered off Elias in the sixth inning to extend Clevelands lead to 5-0. NOTES: Tomlin is 4-1 with a 3.41 ERA in five career starts against Seattle and 3-0 with a 2.12 ERA at Safeco Field. ... Indians RHP Justin Masterson is on track to start Tuesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers after pushing his scheduled spot in the rotation back two days due to a sore knee. ... It was the second time this season that Seattle had been held to just one hit. Garrett Richards, Joe Smith and Ernesto Frieri of the Los Angeles Angels combined to one-hit Seattle on April 9. ... LHP TJ House (0-1, 4.88 ERA) will be activated to start Sundays series finale with Seattle. He will face Mariners ace RHP Felix Hernandez (9-2, 2.24 ERA). ... McClendon said after the game the team is expected to call up RHP Taijuan Walker from Triple-A Tacoma to start Monday against the Houston Astros. ... The Mariners are 43-38 at the halfway point of their season. Its the first time the team has been over .500 through 81 games since 2009 (42-39). ' ' '