Daily Clips
April 30, 2017
LOCAL
Rain postpones Saturday's Twins-Royals game
Game rescheduled for July 1 as nightcap of split doubleheader
April 30, 2017By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com
After rainout, Hammel seeks 1st win vs. Twins
April 30, 2017By Rhett Bollinger/MLB.com
Royals-Twins rained out Saturday night, game postponed to July 1
April 30, 2017By Rustin Dodd/KC Star
Cold weather and two curveballs that cost the Royals the ballgame
April 30, 2017By Lee Judge/KC Star
Preview: Twins at Royals
April 30, 2017Fox Sports Kansas City
MINORS
Saturday's Chasers-Dodgers Game Postponed
Twinbill set for Sunday at 2:05pm, gates opening at 1:00pm
April 30, 2017Omaha Storm Chasers
Seth Maness Activated from the Disabled List
Right-hander underwent "Primary Repair UCL Surgery" in August
April 30, 2017Omaha Storm Chasers
Blewett Strong as Offense Falters
Rocks Shutout for Third Time in Six Days
April 30, 2017By Cory Nidoh/Wilmington Blue Rocks
Hagerstown wins in 11 innings, 5-4
April 30, 2017Lexington Legends
NATIONAL
Royals offense desperately needs to snap season-long slump
April 30, 2017By Mark Townsend/Yahoo Sports
MLB TRANSACTIONS
April 30, 2017 •.CBSSports.com
LOCAL
Rain postpones Saturday's Twins-Royals game
Game rescheduled for July 1 as nightcap of split doubleheader
April 30, 2017By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com
The Royals' scheduled game on Saturday night with the Twins at Kauffman Stadium was postponed due to rain.
The game has been rescheduled for July 1 at 7:35 p.m. CT as the second game of a split doubleheader. The first game that day will start at 1:15 p.m., with the Kauffman Stadium parking lots cleared between games.
The Royals' series with the Twins will resume Sunday at 1:15 p.m. CT with Saturday's scheduled starters pitching. Royals right-hander Jason Hammel (0-2, 5.30 ERA) will be opposed by righty Phil Hughes (3-1, 4.71 ERA).
Tickets for Saturday's rainout will be honored in the rescheduled game. And the first 20,000 fans for the rescheduled game with get a Kelvin Herrera bobblehead -- that was Saturday's promotion.
For a complete ticket policy, please visit royals.com/weather. Fans do not have to exchange their original tickets if they elect to attend the rescheduled game.
After rainout, Hammel seeks 1st win vs. Twins
April 30, 2017By Rhett Bollinger/MLB.com
After Saturday's game was rained out, the Twins will look to continue their early-season success against the Royals on Sunday, when right-hander Phil Hughes starts opposite Kansas City right-hander Jason Hammel. Both starters were pushed back a day after the postponed game, which will be made up as part of a split doubleheader on July 1.
Hughes (3-1, 4.71 ERA) is coming off a solid start against the Rangers, limiting them to two runs over six innings. Hammel (0-2, 5.30 ERA) also faced Texas his last time out, but lasted just three innings, surrendering three runs on four hits and three walks.
The Twins swept the Royals in their first meeting of the year at Target Field, but went 1-9 at Kauffman Stadium last season, snapping a nine-game losing streak in Kansas City with a win on Sept. 29. But they've won four straight against the Royals this year, including Friday's 6-4 win that extended Kansas City's losing streak to eight games.
Things to know about the game
• Royals left fielder Alex Gordon has had success against Hughes, hitting .303 (10-for-33) against him, but has never homered off him. Mike Moustakas, Alcides Escobar and Brandon Moss each have one career homer against Hughes.
• Twins first baseman Joe Mauer has missed only seven of the 102 pitches he has swung at in 2017, for a 6.9 percent whiff rate that leads all MLB hitters who have swung at at least 100 pitches, entering Friday. Twins shortstop Jorge Polanco ranks second in the Majors with a 9.6 percent whiff rate.
• The Twins are still waiting to hear back from Major League Baseball on third baseman Miguel Sano's appeal of his one-game suspension. Sano has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball, leading the Majors in average exit velocity at 98.7 mph.
Royals-Twins rained out Saturday night, game postponed to July 1
April 30, 2017By Rustin Dodd/KC Star
The Royals, mired in an eight-game losing streak and searching for a spark, received a brief reprieve Saturday.
The team’s scheduled 6:15 p.m. home game against the Minnesota Twins was postponed because of rain. The Royals and Twins will make up the game as part of a split doubleheader on Saturday, July 1.
The first game will begin at 1:15 p.m., as originally scheduled. The second, rescheduled, game will start at 7:35 p.m.
The Royals will conclude a rain-shortened series against the Twins at 1:15 p.m. Sunday at Kauffman Stadium. Royals starter Jason Hammel, scheduled to pitch on Saturday, will face off against Twins starter Phil Hughes.
All tickets for Saturday’s game will honored for the rescheduled game, the Royals said. Fans can view a full ticket policy at royals.com/weather.
The Royals were also scheduled to hand out Kelvin Herrera bobbleheads to the first 20,000 fans on Saturday night. The giveaway will now take place before the second game of the doubleheader on July 1.
Cold weather and two curveballs that cost the Royals the ballgame
April 30, 2017By Lee Judge/KC Star
When the Royals-Twins game started Friday it was 56 degrees and it only got colder as the night went on. When it’s that cold, baseballs feel dry and slick and that affects a pitcher’s grip.
The curve is a touch and feel pitch, so it wasn’t surprising when Royals pitcher Ian Kennedy’s first curve of the night was up in the zone.
In the bottom of the first inning, Twins pitcher Kyle Gibson also had trouble with his curve: he threw three of them and all of them hung.
But starting pitchers can’t always abandon a pitch that isn’t working — they might need it later in the game — so Kennedy and Gibson kept throwing curves with mixed success.
In the second inning Kennedy, hung a couple curves to Robbie Grossman, but got away with it when Grossman lined out to Whit Merrifield.
In the bottom of the second Gibson tried a couple more curves, but couldn’t throw them for strikes.
By the third inning Kennedy seemed to get a feel for the curve and threw some good ones. Gibson appeared to say the heck with it and pretty much stopped throwing curves; he only threw two of them after the second inning.
The middle relievers also scuffled with the curve
Buddy Bosher replaced Gibson and threw some good curves; Ryan Pressly replaced Bosher and hung three of the four curves he threw.
Craig Breslow replaced Pressly and couldn’t control his curve either.
Matt Belisle pitched the eighth and also had trouble getting his curve down in the zone.
Taylor Rogers threw one curve and hung it badly.
On the Royals side Peter Moylan replaced Ian Kennedy, but did not struggle with the curveball, mainly because Moylan doesn’t throw one.
Matt Strahm threw one curve, hung it well above the zone and never threw it again.
If you’re not sensing a pattern, have another cup of coffee and go back and read this thing from the beginning.
Joakim Soria, C.B. Bucknor, a long delay and two hanging curves
If it’s dawning on you that it was a cold night and just about every pitcher that stepped on the mound had trouble controlling his curve, I’ve done my job.
Going into the eighth inning the Royals had a 4-2 lead and set-up man Joakim Soria came in to pitch. Soria didn’t have much luck with his curve, either.
Soria’s first curve hung up in the zone, but Eddie Rosario swung and missed.
Eventually, Rosario singled, Byron Buxton walked, Brian Dozier struck out and Max Kepler reached on an error when a line drive went off the heel of Jorge Bonifacio’s glove.
The bases were loaded, Miguel Sano was at the plate and Soria started him with a fastball.
As luck would have it, Sano fouled the ball straight back, right into home plate umpire C.B. Bucknor’s facemask. Bucknor had to leave the game and that meant second-base umpire FieldinCulbreth had to leave the field to go put on his gear so he could finish the game behind the plate.
That meant everyone had to stand around in the cold, waiting for Culbreth to reappear. After a long delay, Soria took a few warmup pitches and, with the count 0-1 on Sano, the game was ready to resume.
So what pitch do you call?
I’ve been dropping clues all over the place, but just in case you’re still uncertain, here’s another one:
Soria threw that hung curve to Rosario and then threw 16 pitches without throwing another curve. Soria then had a very long wait in the cold before he got to throw another pitch to Sano.
Now here’s one final clue:
Kurt Suzuki — considered one of the smartest catchers in the game — once told me that when in doubt, throw a fastball down-and-away.
If the hitter stays back and hits it to the opposite field, it will probably be limited to a single unless it goes right down the foul line. If the hitter gets out in front and hooks the ball, it will probably be a grounder to the pull side of the field. And a fastball is the easiest pitch to control.
Soria was 0-1 and could take at least two shots at down-and-away before he had to come back into the zone.
So what did Soria and Perez decide to throw?
A curve; the pitch everyone had been struggling with all night.
Soria was supposed to bounce it, but as you probably already know, he hung it instead. Sano hit it off the top of the wall for a double and if he’d hit it in almost any other park it would have been a grand slam.
That curve didn’t work, so let’s throw another one
After that hung curve the score was tied 4-4, Sano was at second base, Kepler was at third, Joe Mauer was at the plate, Robbie Grossman was on deck and first base was open.
Look up Mauer’s numbers against Soria and he’s now hitting .563 and slugging .688. Look up Grossman’s numbers against Soria and he’s now hitting .200 and slugging .200. And Mauer has been hot over the last week, hitting .333, while Grossman has been cold over the same time period, hitting .133.
So pitching to Mauer does not seem like a good idea and throwing Mauer a curve seems like a worse one.
Soria hung it, Mauer doubled, the Twins took a 6-4 lead and there’s your ballgame.
A golden opportunity gets wasted
What makes Friday’s loss so discouraging is this was the kind of game the Royals have won so often in the past; grab a lead and give the ball to a killer bullpen.
On Friday the Royals defense let them down — Whit Merrifield said he should have made the play on Rosario and Jorge Bonfacio made an error — but both guys were at least trying to make plays and failed.
The pitch calling falls into another category.
When it’s obvious every pitcher is having trouble controlling their curves on a cold night, expecting Joakim Soria to stand around for ten minutes and then throw a good one to Miguel Sano seems foolish.
And then to throw yet another curve to Joe Mauer to lose the game seems inexplicable.
The Royals have gotten off to a rough start and can’t afford to let golden opportunities slip through their fingers, no matter how cold and stiff those fingers happen to be.
Preview: Twins at Royals
April 30, 2017Fox Sports Kansas City
The Kansas City Royals did not get a chance to snap their eight-game losing streak on Saturday night.
Their game against the Minnesota Twins was rained out at Kauffman Stadium. It started raining during the night and continued all day, with the forecast calling for several more hours of non-stop rain.
The game will be rescheduled as a split doubleheader on July 1. The first game is scheduled for a 1:15 p.m. CDT start. The makeup will begin at 7:35 p.m. The stadium will be cleared after the first game. The gates will reopen at 6 p.m. for the second game.
The Saturday probables — Phil Hughes for the Twins and Jason Hammel for the Royals — will be moved back a day and start Sunday.
That means the Royals will miss Twins ace Ervin Santana, who has been shifted from a Sunday start to Tuesday with an day off Monday.
Santana is 4-0 with a microscopic 0.77 ERA. He will be working on six days of rest when he starts against the Oakland Athletics at Target Field.
The Royals’ offense will be happy not to see Santana. The Royals have made even ordinary pitchers look like Cy Young candidates this season.
Kansas City has only three innings this year when they have scored more than two runs.
Royals manager Ned Yost hopes the offensive “outburst” Friday — four runs and eight hits — will continue into Sunday. It was only the second time in the last 11 games the Royals have scored more than three runs.
“I thought we swung the bats much, much better (Friday),” Yost said. “Salvy (Perez) just misses a second home run. We hit probably four or five balls right on the nose right to their defenders, so that’s encouraging.
“Hoz (Eric Hosmer) and (Brandon) Moss, too, had some really good at-bats, so things are looking up for us offensively.”
They could not look down. The Royals are already at the bottom, hitting .205 with 58 runs in 22 games, 14 of them losses.
The Twins trailed 4-2 entering the eighth when they scored four runs. It was the first time in 11 games this season the Twins won when trailing after seven innings.
“I think in today’s game, generally it’s tough to come back,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “Teams that do well protect leads late. It’s challenging. You’ve just got to hang in there. We got a misplay and took advantage.”
The misplay was Royals right fielder Jorge Bonifacio dropping Max Kepler’s line drive in the four-run eighth.
Miguel Sano has been salsa hot for the Twins with seven hits in his last 11 at-bats, including a home run and two-run double to tie it in the eighth.
“He hung the pitch — a cookie,” Sano said of Joakim Soria’s hanging curveball in the eighth.
It was Sano’s third career game with at least four RBIs.
“Miggy was pretty locked in throughout the night,” Molitor said.
Few Twins have seen much of Hammel, who pitched most of the last three years with the Chicago Cubs.
Joe Mauer has faced Hammel 15 times with five hits, including a home run and double. He has an .898 OPS against Hammel.
Juan Castro is 2-for-9 and Brian Dozier 2-for-8 with a home run off Hammel. Sano is 1-for-2 with a walk.
Hammel, a 34-year-old right-hander, is 2-1 with a 3.98 ERA in his career against the Twins. Hammel got a no-decision in an April 6 start at Minnesota, allowing three runs, six hits and four walks in five innings. He threw 95 pitches, 55 for strikes.
Hughes is 7-5 with a 4.91 ERA in 13 starts and one relief appearance against the Royals.
Alex Gordon has a .303 average (10-for-33) with four RBIs against Hughes. Brandon Moss is batting .263 with a home run and four RBIs against Hughes.
MINORS
Saturday's Chasers-Dodgers Game Postponed
Twinbill set for Sunday at 2:05pm, gates opening at 1:00pm
April 30, 2017Omaha Storm Chasers
Saturday evening's scheduled contest between the Omaha Storm Chasers and Oklahoma City Dodgers has been postponed due to inclement weather. The game is slated to be made up as part of a doubleheader on Sunday, April 30.
As a result of the postponement, Saturday evening's scheduled Salvy Splash Bobblehead Giveaway has been rescheduled for the Storm Chasers' Salute to Kansas City Royals Night presented by Werner Enterprises on Saturday, May 20. The first 1,500 fans through the gates that evening will receive the giveaway thanks to Fairfield Inn and Suites Papillion.
Gates will open for Sunday's doubleheader at 1:00pm, with the first matchup starting at 2:05 p.m. The second game will follow approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first tilt. Both games are scheduled to last seven innings in regulation. Tickets for Sunday's regularly scheduled game will be good for admission to both contests.
Fans who purchased tickets to Saturday's scheduled game may exchange them for a ticket of equal value to any remaining Storm Chasers game, excluding July 3, as well as August 11 and August 12. Tickets must be exchanged at the Werner Park Ticket Office.