Daily Clips
June 22, 2017
LOCAL
Sal-vation! Late Perez slam puts KC over Sox
June 22, 2017 By Wilson Alexander and Ian Browne/MLB.com
Royals roar into hunt thanks to a Tiger?
Salvy hits first career slam with Miggy's bat
June 21, 2017By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com
MLB, MLBPA donate $1M to NLB Museum
June 21, 2017By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com
Legacy of Negro Leagues forever profound
Joint gift by MLB, MLBPA assures important history will continue to be told
June 21, 2017By Joe Posnanski/MLB.com
Junis eyes rebound start vs. Blue Jays
June 21, 2017By Wilson Alexander/MLB.com
Salvador Perez’s grand slam lifts the Royals in 6-4 victory over Red Sox
June 21, 2017By Rustin Dodd/KC Star
Vahe Gregorian: Power of imagination stokes surging Royals
June 21, 2017By Vahe Gregorian/KC Star
Royals taking advantage of Whit Merrifield’s versatility
June 21, 2017By Alec McChesney/KC Star
MLB, finally, provides real support to the Negro Leagues museum. That’s great. Let’s see more.
June 21, 2017By Sam Mellinger/KC Star
MINORS
Caughel, Bullpen Lead Travs to 1-0 Win
Shutout is the third of the season for Arkansas
June 21, 2017By Arkansas Travelers
MLB TRANSACTIONS
June 22, 2017 •.CBSSports.com
LOCAL
Sal-vation! Late Perez slam puts KC over Sox
June 22, 2017 By Wilson Alexander and Ian Browne/MLB.com
Royals catcher Salvador Perez hit his first career grand slam in the eighth inning and Kelvin Herrera recorded his 17th save as the Royals came back to beat the Red Sox, 6-4, on Wednesday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium.
With the win, the Royals won their fourth straight series and have won eight of their last 10 games. After the Yankees beat the Angels, 8-4, Wednesday night, Boston slipped to second place, a half-game back of the Yanks in the American League East.
With the bases loaded and nobody out, Perez sent a towering fly ball 412 feet, as projected by Statcast™, which landed over the Royals' bullpen in left field to clear the bases and give the Royals their first lead since the fourth inning. The home run was Perez's 15th of the season and came on a 3-2 pitch from Red Sox left-hander Robby Scott.
"The couple pitches before that one he kept throwing in the corner," said Perez, who fouled off three pitches in the at-bat. "When they made some pitches I had to hit it."
Scott and right-hander Matt Barnes walked three straight batters to start the inning before Perez's home run. The bullpen meltdown came in relief of starter Drew Pomeranz, who pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowing two runs and striking out five. The Red Sox had been 29-0 this season when leading after seven innings.
"It's certainly not a trend," said Red Sox manager John Farrell. "That isn't something we have dealt with very often, if at all. Particularly three consecutive walks to load the bases. That's not who this pitching staff has shown to be. On a day when you've got just a little bit of a two-run breather, it ends up looming large."
After Royals right-hander Ian Kennedy gave up four runs -- two unearned -- in 4 2/3 innings, Mike Minor and Joakim Soria, who got the win, pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings to set up Herrera for the save.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Back-to-back blasts: After being no-hit through three innings, Red Sox left fielder Andrew Benintendi and shortstop XanderBogaerts hit back-to-back home runs to tie the game at 2. It was the fourth time this season Boston has hit back-to-back home runs. Benintendi's shot came on a 1-2 fastball and traveled a projected 454 feet, according to Statcast™, into the waterfall in right-center. Bogaerts followed with his fifth home run of the year, which sailed a projected 404 feet, according to Statcast™, to left-center.
Royals manager Ned Yost said Kennedy normally pitches effectively up in the strike zone, but didn't elevate either pitch enough.
"I'm just trying to hit it hard," said Benintendi. "I know he likes to elevate his fastball, so I was trying to look up in the zone and was fortunate enough to get that one."
Setting up the slam: The Royals nearly came back in the seventh, loading the bases with two outs in the inning. Though Red Sox reliever Joe Kelly induced a lineout from Royals left fielder Whit Merrifield to prevent the Royals from scoring, the inning's length positioned the Royals with the heart of their order due up in the eighth.
QUOTABLE
"I was thinking about [having never hit a grand slam] two pitches before. Seriously, I swear to God. It's unbelievable. I don't know where it's coming from in my mind." -- Perez
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
This was just the second time the Red Sox have lost this season in a game they hit two or more home runs. They are 13-2 on those occasions, and the only other defeat was against the Cubs on April 29.
WHAT'S NEXT
Red Sox: Following a day off on Thursday, the Red Sox open a homestand against the Angels on Friday night at Fenway Park. David Ortiz's Number 34 will be retired to the facade in right field prior to the game. Struggling right-hander Rick Porcello (3-9, 5.05 ERA) makes the start for Boston. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET.
Royals: Following an off-day on Thursday, right-hander Jake Junis (2-1, 5.56 ERA) heads to the mound in the series opener against Toronto on Friday at 7:15 p.m. CT. In his last outing, a loss to the Angels, Junis allowed five runs on eight hits, including two home runs, over 5 1/3 innings.
Royals roar into hunt thanks to a Tiger?
Salvy hits first career slam with Miggy's bat
June 21, 2017By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com
The bat that Royals catcher Salvador Perez used to hit his go-ahead grand slam in the Royals' 6-4 victory over the Red Sox on Wednesday wasn't even his.
The story starts when the Tigers were in town at the end of May. Royals backup catcher Drew Butera picked up Miguel Cabrera's bat after Cabrera hit a long foul ball and handed it back to him at the plate. But as Butera was handing the bat back, he kidded with Cabrera that he really liked the feel and the weight (32 ounces) of it.
"I like to use heavier bats in batting practice," Butera said. "The next day, he sent me over two of his bats, which was pretty nice."
Fast forward to Wednesday. Perez had just ended a 10-game hitting streak on Tuesday when he decided to try something different and asked Butera if he could use one of Cabrera's bats.
Out of the blue, Butera just happened to put one of the bats in Perez's locker before Wednesday's game.
"It was just in my locker," Perez said, smiling. "I like it. I think I'm going to use it Friday, too."
The next thing you know, Perez went 3-for-3 with the first grand slam of his career Wednesday, which wiped out a 4-2 Boston lead.
Afterward, Butera called the bat a "magic stick." Is Perez afraid he's going to break his new weapon?
"Oh, no, I don't want to break that one," Perez said. "I need to call Miggy and say, 'Hey, you got to send me some more bats, please.'"
Perez's slam came after the Red Sox bullpen had walked the bases loaded in the eighth with none out. The Royals' catcher came up against left-hander Robby Scott, who had just walked Eric Hosmer on four pitches.
"I was thinking I would take a pitch because he threw ball one to [Hosmer]," Perez said. "Or take a first strike."
Perez, a notorious free-swinger, did take a pitch, a fastball, for ball one. Scott then threw four more fastballs outside of the strike zone -- but Perez swung at two of them, loading the count.
Scott then threw his first fastball strike on pitch No. 6. Perez fouled it off. Pitch No. 7 was yet another fastball off the plate. Perez fouled it off.
That's when Perez had a strange thought: He suddenly remembered he had never hit a grand slam in the Majors.
"Seriously, I swear to God," Perez said. "It's unbelievable. I don't know where it's coming from in my mind -- 'I've never hit a grand slam.' It's unbelievable, huh?"
Pitch No. 8 was another fastball a foot off the plate. Perez fouled it off.
"If I see it close, I'm swinging," Perez said, smiling. "You guys know me, I like to swing."
Pitch No. 9 was again a fastball, this time almost middle-middle. Perez didn't miss, launching it 412 feet over the left-field bullpen, his first grand slam since he was at Triple-A Omaha in 2011.
"I was excited, you know?" Perez said. "I don't know why he didn't throw me a slider in the whole at-bat. He just threw me fastballs. He's a great pitcher, too. ... Thank you for throwing me fastballs."
MLB, MLBPA donate $1M to NLB Museum
June 21, 2017By Jeffrey Flanagan/MLB.com
Major League Baseball Commissioner Robert Manfred said he is fascinated with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, as well as the culture of hotels and restaurants that once flourished around Negro Leagues stadiums, such as those in the famous 18th and Vine District here.
MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark referred to his trips to the NLBM as an "evolution of my education."
And for years, MLB players from Derek Jeter to Adam Jones to Mookie Betts have visited the NLBM to soak in its great history and pay homage to the game's roots.
And now the preservation of that history will be further secured with Wednesday's announcement that MLB and the MLBPA have agreed to jointly donate $1 million to the NLBM.
"I'm really excited about the partnership between baseball, the Major League Baseball Players Association and the Negro League Museum," Manfred said. "I realized that whenever you try to rebuild something -- like rebuild African-American participation in our game -- you need a great foundation.
"That's always the starting point, and it occurred to me that the foundation of our effort with respect to African-American players had to be an effort to make young African-American players understand the Negro Leagues, understand the significance of the Negro Leagues to African-American history and to American history."
"I would not have had the opportunities that I had as a player had it not been for those that came before me," said Clark. "I would not have had the opportunity to be in the position I'm in now if it had not been for those that came before me.
"As we talk about growing and developing the game and engaging the next generation of fans and kids -- the Negro League Museum being a part of that story, baseball history being a bigger part of that story -- the level of engagement for the next generation was vital."
The announcement was made inside the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum on Wednesday morning with NLBM president Bob Kendrick emceeing the proceedings. Also on hand were Manfred, Clark, Royals owner David Glass, Hall of Famer Dave Winfield, Judy Pace Flood (widow of Curt Flood), former Royals star Willie Wilson and Kansas City Mayor Sly James.
"On behalf of the board and the staff of the Negro League Baseball Museum," Kendrick said, "I want to thank Major League Baseball and the Players Association for their generosity."
Later, the ceremonial check presentation occurred moments before the start of the Royals-Red Sox game a few miles away at Kauffman Stadium.
"I think it's a great way to honor our past and honor the great players who played the game before us," Royals catcher Drew Butera said. "I think it's everybody's duty between the front offices, Major League Baseball, us [players], to remember the great guys who set the tone before us. It's a great way to honor them, and a great way to remember the great things that they did."
The donation will be allocated from the Youth Development Foundation, which is run jointly by the MLBPA and MLB. Funds will help support NLBM's operations, museum services, expansion and educational and community programming.
"Because of the sacrifices and triumphs of the men and women of the Negro Leagues," Manfred said, "the Museum is an inspirational experience for fans of any age. We appreciate the Museum's contributions to baseball and the role it can play in encouraging young people to become a part of our game."
Some of the funds will help continue refurbishing the site at the Paseo YMCA, where the original Negro Leagues charter was signed in 1920. That site now has been renamed the Buck O'Neil Education and Research Center.
"The history of our great sport would be incomplete and inaccurate if the Negro Leagues Museum wasn't around to tell the story," Clark said.
The NLBM, founded in the early 1990s, is located in the famous 18th and Vine District and features multimedia computer stations, several film exhibits, hundreds of photographs, a replica field with 12 bronze sculptures and a growing collection of baseball artifacts.
"The history," Mayor James noted, "all comes through 18th and Vine."
In 1920, an organized league structure was formed under the guidance of Andrew "Rube" Foster -- a former player, manager, and owner with the Chicago American Giants. In a meeting held at the Paseo YMCA, Foster and a few other Midwestern team owners joined to form the Negro National League. Soon, rival leagues formed in eastern and southern states.
While Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier obviously was an historic event, it also prompted the decline of the Negro Leagues. Soon after Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, the best black players were recruited for the Major Leagues.
The last Negro Leagues teams folded in the early 1960s.
Their legacy lives on through the surviving players and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
"At some point, the last of the Negro Leagues players will pass on, unfortunately," Kendrick said. "But we cannot let the legacy die."
Legacy of Negro Leagues forever profound
Joint gift by MLB, MLBPA assures important history will continue to be told
June 21, 2017By Joe Posnanski/MLB.com
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum was, at first, a small, unmarked room in the Lincoln Building in Kansas City. If visitors ever came by, which they never did, there were only a few scraps of memorabilia to see -- a handful of black and white photographs, an autographed baseball or two, a baseball bat that may or may not have had any connection to the Negro Leagues. Most of these were kept in a drawer.
"Where is the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum?" a young volunteer named Bob Kendrick asked as he walked into the room.
"You're standing in it," the Museum's first executive director, Don Motley, said.
The rent was $200 a month. The few dreamers who believed in the idea -- Horace Peterson, Buck O'Neil, Motley, Alfrred "Slick" Surratt, Connie Johnson and a handful of others -- used to take turns paying the rent.
The key word there is "idea." That's all it was then -- an idea with a few hundred square feet of office space.
In 1990, Peterson wanted to create something to commemorate the Negro Leagues. Peterson had dedicated his life to preserving African-American history and fighting for civil rights. Peterson marched in Selma. He went to jail for the cause in Arkansas. He went up to O'Neil, who had played and managed in the Negro Leagues, and said, "We should start a Negro Leagues Baseball Hall of Fame."
"No," Buck said. "It should be a museum. We already HAVE a Hall of Fame."
I have always loved that part. He never wanted the Negro Leagues Museum to be separate from the rest of the game. From the very start, O'Neil understood that the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum should be a bridge and not a wall, that the Negro Leagues' story should be heard by everyone who loves this great game.
The bold audacity of early Negro Leaguers like Rube Foster, Oscar Charleston and Bullet Rogan created a league. The remarkable play of Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson and Cool Papa Bell and so many others opened eyes and minds across America. Jackie Robinson played in the Negro Leagues and then burst through in Brooklyn. Willie Mays and Henry Aaron began in the Negro Leagues.
This power and wonder of their story, Buck and those dreamers believed, still matters.
Few believed that then. The Negro Leagues were forgotten, ignored, maligned. When Buck tried to raise money to build a real museum in those early years, he heard again and again how those Negro Leaguers couldn't really play, and how that shameful time when dark-skinned men could not play in the Major Leagues would be better left behind. He refused to believe it. The dreamers kept going until a museum was built on the corner of 18th and Vine in Kansas City. They kept the thing going through good years and rough ones.