Clayton Richard sparks as San Diego Padres defeat Kansas City Royals 4-2 – MLB Update
San Diego Padres’ starter, Clayton Richard was energetic right through the game as he pitched seven dominant innings with an ERA of 4.09 in the Padres’ 4-2 win over the Kansas City Royals at Petco Park, San Diego on June 28.
The Padres sealed the three-game series 2-0 at San Diego.
Ryan Ludwick gave the Padres an excellent start as he singled to centre-field and Jason Bartlett put the first run of the game to end the first inning 1-0. At the top of the second inning, the Royals added one run to tie the game for a moment as Matt Treanor
singled to left-field and Jeff Francoeur posted a tie-run.
On the other hand, the Padres’ batters scored two runs at the bottom of the second inning to go-ahead 3-1. Kyle Phillips drove a shot off deep left-centre and Cameron Maybin added his first run. The second run during the second inning was taken by Phillips
when Will Venable hit a sacrifice fly to centre-field.
During the third inning, Chris Gets reached the pitcher on an infield single but Melky Cabrera was grounded out to short-stop without posting any run on the score-board. In the fourth inning, Maybin contributed the last run for the Padres to give his team
a 4-1 lead as the Royals’ left-fielder Alex Gordon committed a wide throw error.
Fifth and sixth inning went without any run for both the sides as the pitchers maintained their ideal pitches. Richard presented only two runs on five hits with two earned runs and struck-out five batters. He allowed only one walk on his 99 pitches.
The Padres’ manager, Bud Black was amused with the performance of Richard as he said, “Well-deserved. He's pitched well. You look at his homework -- look at the ERA, the hits per inning pitched. The wins are going to come if he continues to pitch like that.”
Francoeur struck a solo homer (378 feet) towards left-field to cut the Royals’ deficit 4-2 in the seventh inning. During the eighth and ninth inning, the batters looked immobilised and did not add even a single run. It was the crucial and must-win game for
the Royals but they did not avail the winning opportunity.
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