Daily Clips
June 3, 2017
LOCAL
Vargas silences Tribe in 1st shutout since '14
June 3, 2017By Jeffrey Flanagan and Brian Falkoff/MLB.com
Royals' replay win changes tide against Tribe
Out call at first base overturned to yield game's first run in 6th
June 3, 2017By Wilson Alexander/MLB.com
Moss feels swing is getting close to form
June 3, 2017By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com
Carrasco eyes continued success against Hammel, KC
June 3, 2017By Wilson Alexander/MLB.com
Jason Vargas dazzles in Royals’ 4-0 victory over Indians
June 3, 2017By Blair Kerkoff/KC Star
MINORS
Redbirds Fly Past Omaha Late, 12-2
Memphis send Chasers to 2nd defeat in 8 games
June 3, 2017Omaha Storm Chasers
'Hounds rally from seven down for epic 10-9 win
Trailing 9-2 after six, RockHounds score five in seventh and three in ninth
June 3, 2017By Bob Hards/Midland RockHounds
Rocks, DeVito Cycle Through the Dash in Win
Chris DeVito Hits for Cycle in Victory
June 3, 2017Wilmington Blue Rocks
DeVito posts Blue Rocks' first cycle in 18 years
Royals prospect hits first career triple, homers to complete feat
June 3, 2017By Michael Avallone/MiLB.com
Legends rally for 2-1 win
June 3, 2017Lexington Legends
MLB TRANSACTIONS
June 3, 2017 •.CBSSports.com
LOCAL
Vargas silences Tribe in 1st shutout since '14
June 3, 2017By Jeffrey Flanagan and Brian Falkoff/MLB.com
Left-hander Jason Vargas fired a complete game, scattering seven hits, and the Royals' offense came alive late in a 4-0 victory over the Indians on Friday night at Kauffman Stadium.
Vargas, who threw 103 pitches, walked one and struck out three in pitching his first complete game and first shutout since Aug. 13, 2014, a 3-0 win over the A's.
"You always want a chance to finish it off," Vargas said. "It doesn't happen very often."
Royals catcher Salvador Perez said Vargas was on his game all night.
"He kept the ball down and sometimes out of the zone," Perez said. "Just a great game."
Indians right-hander Josh Tomlin, who had beaten the Royals twice this season, went 7 1/3 innings and gave up seven hits and three runs, while striking out five.
"[Tomlin] and Vargas looked like mirror images of each other, just left-handed and right-handed," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "We could get on, but then we got big [swings] for rollover ground-ball outs."
Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield extended his hitting streak to 17 games -- longest active one in the Major Leagues -- with an RBI double in the seventh. Mike Moustakas hit his 14th home run in the eighth inning.
"That was a big moment in the game," Merrifield said of his double. "Got that extra run home. ... And a nice bonus [extending his hitting streak]."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The big replay: With two out in the the sixth inning, Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain was initially ruled out on a throw from Tomlin to first base. After a review, the call was overturned as replay officials determined Cain's foot hit the bag before the ball struck first baseman Carlos Santana's glove. In the process, Alcides Escobar scored from third base and the Royals took a 1-0 lead.
"I thought he was safe with the naked eye," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "But you still need to check [with replay specialist Bill Duplissea] to be sure. I've thought plays were safe before and been wrong."
Double trouble all night: The Royals turned four double plays behind Vargas, perhaps none bigger than the one he got in the first inning. With one out, Francisco Lindor singled and then took third on Michael Brantley's single to right. But Vargas then got Carlos Santana to roll a grounder to Merrifield behind second base -- Merrifield stepped on the bag and threw to first for an easy double play.
"That guy [Vargas] has been a tough customer," Tomlin said. "He's been doing it against the whole league. I got outpitched by him tonight."
Vargas said the double plays were huge.
"Any time you can get two outs with one pitch," Vargas said, "that helps everyone. It helps the defense, helps the pitcher."
WHAT'S NEXT
Indians: Right-hander Carlos Carrasco (5-2, 2.89 ERA) will try to continue his road mastery on Saturday in the middle game of the series at 2:15 p.m. ET. Carrasco is 4-0 with a 2.18 ERA through five road starts this year.
Royals: Right-hander Jason Hammel (1-6, 6.18) will take the mound against the Indians on Saturday at 1:15 p.m CT. Hammel gave up four runs in 4 1/3 innings on Monday in a 10-7 loss to Detroit.
Royals' replay win changes tide against Tribe
Out call at first base overturned to yield game's first run in 6th
June 3, 2017By Wilson Alexander/MLB.com
At the end of the night, the scoreboard read 4-0 Royals, but that score in no way is indicative of how close this game was for six innings on Friday, before one play -- decided by just a matter of inches, if that -- tilted the contest in favor of Kansas City.
With a runner on third and two out in a scoreless game, Lorenzo Cain hit a dribbler to the left of the pitcher's mound. As Alcides Escobar raced home from third base, Indians right-hander Josh Tomlin pounced on the ball, pivoted and threw a bullet to first, seemingly nabbing the swift Cain for the third out of the inning.
The Indians raced off the field in jubilation, but Royals manager Ned Yost challenged the play, which was then overturned, giving Kansas City a 1-0 lead that starter Jason Vargas made hold up with his first shutout since Aug. 13, 2014.
"It looked like we weren't going to score there in the [sixth] inning," Yost said. "But luckily for instant replay, we got that call reversed and gave us that one run."
Tomlin said if he had gotten to the ball quicker, he knew Cain, who finished the game 2-for-4, would have been out and the run wouldn't have scored.
"I know it was a close play," Tomlin said. "Then I saw it on the board and it looked like he clearly beat it. It was just a tough play."
Perhaps lost in the moment was the heads-up baserunning of Escobar. After singling with one out, he advanced to second on Tomlin's first wild pitch of the season and then took third when Mike Moustakas grounded out to Tomlin, which put Esocbar in position to score on Cain's dribbler.
Tomlin regrouped and retired Eric Hosmer to close out the sixth, but then he surrendered a run in the seventh on an RBI double by Whit Merrifield and was lifted after a solo home run by Moustakas in the eighth en route to falling to 3-7.
But it all started with a bang-bang play at first, the result of Escobar's exemplary baserunning and Cain's hustle down the line.
"He was safe," Escobar said of Cain. "Of course."
Moss feels swing is getting close to form
June 3, 2017By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com
With all the talk about how Alex Gordon (.175 average) and Alcides Escobar (.186) -- entering Friday's series opener -- are struggling, somewhat overlooked is another Royals hitter who is off to a rough start in 2017: Designated hitter Brandon Moss.
Moss was hitting .185 with a .258 on-base percentage entering Friday, numbers that are unacceptable to him.
Moss' one saving grace is he has hit for power with nine home runs.
"I try to find positives out of everything," Moss said. "I'm on the same pace for home runs as I did last year. And I think I was hitting .210 about this time last year.
"So, the power is there but I'm just not consistent [overall]."
Moss' average and OBP have been steadily trending down since his breakout seasons with the A's in 2012-14. In 94 games with the Indians in '15, he hit .217 with a .288 OBP before being traded to the Cardinals at the non-waiver Trade Deadline.
Last year with the Cards, Moss belted 28 home runs, but he hit .225 with a .300 OBP.
"When you know you're capable of being better, it wears on you," Moss said. "But I've got time to turn it around. I've got [119] at-bats, it's not a short sample, but there's plenty of at-bats to get it turned around or get hot. I've done that before.
"You just stay with it and one day you'll show up, and it'll all be there."
Moss believes he's made some adjustments to his swing path that he finds encouraging.
"I'm more happy with it than I was," Moss said. "I've got less of a loop to it, and I feel I have more bat speed. I'm just not happy with the results."
Moss wants to be more than an all-or-nothing hitter. He wants to get on base more. He has only 10 singles and 12 walks this season.
"I find myself too much leaning toward the home run instead of dialing it back a bit," Moss said. "On days when I don't have [the power swing], I'm trying to do too much just to contribute or change a game with a home run. That's not good.
"When you're not hitting singles, you feel like you can't hit singles. If every once in a while you're hitting home runs, you start to think, 'Why even try to hit singles? Just keep doing what you're doing.'
But that's when you get an inverse effect.
"So yes, I'm happier with my swing lately, but it's still not there. Just waiting for it to one day show up."
Carrasco eyes continued success against Hammel, KC
June 3, 2017By Wilson Alexander/MLB.com
Royals right-hander Jason Hammel has time to turn around his season. Indians righty Carlos Carrasco, on the other hand, wants to continue his early-season success when they square off in the middle game of the series on Saturday at Kauffman Stadium.
Hammel's struggles this season aren't difficult to pinpoint. Batters have hit .306 against him, and he's on pace to allow a career-high 69 walks. Though Hammel (1-7, 6.18 ERA), whose strikeout numbers are also down, knows he has to cut down the walk, he's also concerned about his performance when he's ahead of hitters in the count.
"The problem with the strikeouts this year is when I get to two strikes, which I've been able to do, is the execution," Hammel said. "I'm giving up way too many hits in counts where I was ahead of the hitter."
While Hammel has struggled, Carrasco (5-2, 2.89) has the fourth-lowest road ERA in the American League at 2.18. Royals designated hitter Brandon Moss said his club will have to be patient against Carrasco because it is difficult to string hits together against him.
Things to know about this game
• Indians designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion has hit four home runs in 21 at-bats against Hammel in his career. Encarnacion has been hot at the plate of late -- .366 (15-for-41) with three home runs and eight RBIs during an 11-game hitting streak.
• Royals outfielder Alex Gordon hasn't hit a home run this season and hasn't logged an extra base hit since May 3. Since then, he's batting .145 (10-for-69), and he hasn't had a multi-hit game since May 16. On Friday, Gordon went 0-for-3.
• Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis has seen his average skyrocket since being moved to the top of the batting order. In his first 18 games in the leadoff spot, Kipnis hit .297 with six home runs. In 19 games before the lineup change, Kipnis' slsahed .155/.176/.183 with no home runs.
Jason Vargas dazzles in Royals’ 4-0 victory over Indians
June 3, 2017By Blair Kerkoff/KC Star
As the Royals pushed across runs late, the prospect of Jason Vargas finishing the game increased.
Two insurance runs in the eighth inning clinched it. Vargas headed out for the ninth to a loud ovation from the Kauffman Stadium crowd, and he awarded them by completing the task.
Vargas and the Royals prevailed over the Indians 4-0 on Friday, with Vargas turning in the team’s first complete game this season and his first shutout since 2014.
“I don’t know if I felt stronger as the game went on,” Vargas said. “I felt pretty good from the start of the game.”
In improving to 7-3 and dropping his ERA to 2.08, Vargas got plenty of assistance from an infield that turned four double plays in the first six innings.
“They say that a double play is a pitcher’s best friend, and Vargy and the double play were snuggled up tight tonight,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.
They also helped the game breeze along in 2 hours, 19 minutes, the fastest game played by the Royals this season.
The pitching was superb on both sides with Royals’ nemesis Josh Tomlin looking to add to his string of success. He carried a four-game winning streak against the Royals into Friday, the most recent triumph a complete game of his own last Sunday in Cleveland.
Vargas and Tomlin matched zeroes through five innings, when the Royals scratched a run on the strength of Lorenzo Cain’s legs and team replay official Bill Duplissea.
With one out in the sixth, Alcides Escobar roped a single up the middle, the Royals’ first hit and base runner since the second inning.
Escobar took second when Tomlin was charged with a wild pitch on a ball in the dirt and took third when Mike Moustakas hit a come-backer that Tomlin knocked down.
Cain took a big cut but toppled the ball a few feet on the grass. Tomlin bounced and fired a strike with first base umpire Ed Hickox raising his arm. Out!
But Duplissea immediately went to work, and the Royals issued a challenge. The call was overturned and the Royals had a 1-0 lead.
The Royals stretched the lead one inning later. Jorge Bonifacio, who hit a long home run off Tomlin last weekend in Cleveland, appeared to have another one.
But this one hit the padding atop the left-field wall and bounced up and back into the field. Bonifacio had a one-out double. He moved to third on Brandon Moss’ deep fly to right-center, and that brought up Whit Merrifield, who had been hitless in his first two plate appearances while trying to extend his 16-game hitting streak.
Merrifield did just that. He belted a double, scoring Bonifacio, and his 17-game streak is the longest active in baseball.
“Big spot in the game,” Merrifield said. “That was a big run for us. Gave Vargy a little bit of cushion.”
The eighth provided even more insurance when Moustakas hammered his 14th home run of the season with one out in the eighth, a solo shot to right-center. That was Tomlin’s final pitch. But the Royals weren’t finished.
Cain continued the eighth with a single and scored from first when Eric Hosmer belted a double off the wall in left.
Now, Vargas would finish the game. His defense helped game him there, especially the fourth-inning double play started by Escobar, who picked Carlos’ Santana’s hard one-hopper.
“The double plays were huge,” Vargas said. “They were the only reason I was able to stay in the game. It really sets the tone when you’re able to put two guys away with one ball in play.”
Vargas struck out three and walked one. His seventh career shutout since 2011 trails only Clayton Kershaw (14) and Adam Wainwright (eight) in baseball. The Royals had their first shutout since Johnny Cueto in 2015.
MINORS
Redbirds Fly Past Omaha Late, 12-2
Memphis send Chasers to 2nd defeat in 8 games
June 3, 2017Omaha Storm Chasers
The Redbirds scored 11 runs over their final two at-bats on Friday night, as they defeated Omaha 12-2 in the 2nd game of their 4-game series at AutoZone Park.
The Storm Chasers opened the scoring in the top of the 1st on a 2-out double by Ramon Torres and an RBI single by Hunter Dozier .
The Redbirds tied the score in the 3rd inning; Rangel Ravelo doubled, and Alberto Rosario singled him home to make it 1-1.
Frank Schwindel gave Omaha a 2-1 advantage in the top of the 5th by hitting his first Triple-A home run, lasering a Jack Flaherty pitch over the left field wall.
Flaherty, who was making his Triple-A debut, pitched well otherwise, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits over 6 innings, with 5 strikeouts and 2 walks.
Luke Farrell battled his command, but was able to pitch out of trouble over 6 frames, limiting Memphis to 1 run, 4 hits, and 4 walks, while striking out 3.
But after the Chasers took a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the 7th, things came unraveled. Brian Flynn , making a rehab appearance, was tagged for 5 runs on 6 hits. Wilfredo Tovar began the rally with a single, Todd Cunningham walked, and Nick Martini, Rangel Ravelo, Alberto Rosario, Luke Voit, and Harrison Bader followed with consecutive hits to give Memphis a 6-2 lead.
The Redbirds struck for 6 more in the bottom of the 8th against OnelkiGarcia . Tovar again began the rally with a single, Cunningham again walked, and after an intentional walk to Ravelo, Rosario walked to force in a run. Voit followed with a 2-run double, Harrison Bader singled home 2 more, Patrick Wisdom doubled, and Breyvic Valera knocked home the final run of the night with a sacrifice fly, making it 12-2.