Billy Butler homers as Kansas City Royals rout Baltimore Orioles 8-2 – MLB Update
Kansas City Royals displayed some top quality baseball skills to annihilate Baltimore Orioles 8-2 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland on Thursday, August 9 in the opening game of their four match series.
Manager Ned Yost will be extremely pleased with the kind of start Kansas City made to the series on Thursday evening. Considering their poor 48-63 win-loss record, the Royals have a serious need for improvement in their game-play. However, after dominating
the O’s in series opener, Yost and company will be feeling a lot more confident about themselves.
"That was a great game," manager Ned Yost said. "We tacked on runs on three or four different occasions. (Alcides) Escobar was spectacular at shortstop. Great defense. We hit homers. We hit doubles. We played very, very well."
Although Royals’ chances of lifting this year’s World Series trophy are very slim, they can certainly cheer up the fans by ending the season on a bright note.
Alex Gordon’s home-run to right in the first inning provided Royals with a very confident start and they capitalised on it to establish complete control over the contest.
Home Run Derby selection Billy Butler connected for a three run home-run to left in the first inning to extend the lead to 4-0.
Mike Moustakas and Jeff Francoeur combined to add two more runs to the total in the third and catcher Salvador Perez hit a sacrifice fly to centre in the fifth to take the lead beyond Orioles’ reach at 7-0.
"Butler's one of the top five right-handed hitters in baseball," Orioles’ manager Buck Showalter said. "This guy is solid. You look at his track record. I try not to feel like he's picking on us. We made some good pitches on him the last couple at-bats,
but we made some mistakes on him and good hitters are going to pounce on those."
Credit should be given to Royals’ starting pitcher Will Smith who played a key role in deciding the outcome of the clash, giving up just six hits and two runs in seven solid innings to improve to 3-4. Closer Jeremy Jeffress pitched a perfect ninth to complete
an impressive Royals’ victory.
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