Bruce Chen glows as Kansas City Royals defeat Minnesota Twins 4-0 - MLB Update
Kansas City Royals’ starting pitcher, Bruce Chen had a tremendous day with the ball as he pitched eight shut-out innings with an ERA of 4.04 in the Royals’ 4-0 win against the Minnesota Twins at Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City on September 13.
In the first inning, Ben Revere hit a single-run shot towards left-field but Trevor Plouffe fouled out to third base, Joe Mauer flied out and Michael Cuddyer fouled out to first base without adding any run for the Twins. Similarly, Alex Gordon singled off
left-centre and Billy Butler singled to centre-field but Melky Cabrera struck-out and Eric Hosmer ground out without any contribution at the bottom of the first inning.
Royals started particularly well in their second inning and took a 1-0 lead when Mike Moustakas hit a solo homer (420 feet) towards centre-field. At the bottom of third inning, Royals advanced their lead 3-0 by blasting two quick runs. Gordon struck a one-run
homer (435 feet) to centre-field and Cabrera added a single run when Hosmer hit a grounder into fielder’s choice to short-stop position. Later on, Butler got out to second base at the end of third inning.
During the fourth inning, Royals’ batters again scored one run to get a 4-0 lead. Salvador Perez contributed the final run for Royals when Gordon hit a single-run shot towards right-field. The rest of the five innings went score-less as the batters showed
their unsteady performance. Johnny Giavotella walked during the eighth inning but Moustakas and Perez both struck-out swinging while Gordon struck-out looking.
Chen gave away just two hits including one walk on his 119 pitches and had eight strike-outs. He said, “My teammates played real good defense behind me and Salvador called a real good game. I threw all my pitches and I was commanding the baseball. I have
to make sure I have a lot of deception and use a lot of pitches. I just want to pound the strike zone.”
Moustakas said, “It's tough to put balls in play solidly against him when he's on and he was on tonight.”
Twins were unable to get off the mark as in the ninth inning, Mauer reached to third base on an infield single but Cuddyer flied out, Plouffe struck-out and Revere ground out without taking their first run.
However, Royals led off the two-game series 1-0 after defeating Twins comfortably.
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