Kansas City Royals beat Texas Rangers at Kauffman Stadium
When the Texas Rangers encountered the Kansas City Royals on Monday, in their home ground at the Kauffman Stadium, they came out with a comfortable win. However, last night's outcome was unexpected to say the least. Most of it was due to the lack of focused pitching from both sides. The contest, nevertheless, saw great hits all around, making the bout an interesting one to watch.
The Rangers’ Cliff Lee was horrible on the day and his 4.2 innings of play saw him strike 5 hitters, while conceding 10 hits, 7 runs and no walks. The misery did not end there as the Royals’ starting pitcher Sean O'Sullivan played for 5 innings, striking out no player, conceding 9 hits, 6 runs and no walks.
The Texas ball club started the match in stunning fashion as they opened up the game with a 421 feet homer to the left centre, courtesy of Michael Young, who has been inspirational this season. The top 1st innings ended with the Rangers on top and the Royals were called on early to reply. The response hence came in the bottom 2nd when Yuniesky Betancourt took the game to the Rangers with a 344 feet homer to the right. The match was steaming hot and the Royals were dealt a blow in the top 3rd inning when Elvis Andrus got on the score sheet through Vladimir Guerrero’s grounder out to shortstop.
With the Rangers leading the score line, the Royals converted their deficit into a lead as Gregor Blanco ran home off Billy Butler’s single to the centre for the equalizer. Mike Aviles then scored when Kila Ka’aihue grounded into the fielder’s choice to second. The Kansas City ball club were up by a run and Ka’aihue extended the score to 2 when Alex Gordon singled to the right. Texas was on 2 as their opponents were cruising on 4.
David Murphy came on the top 4th inning for Texas and produced a stellar 419 feet homer to the centre. This got the player on the scoring sheet and closed the gap between the West Division leaders and the fourth seeded Kansas City. Andrus then scored again in the top 5th when Josh Hamilton singled to the right. Guerrero eventually followed it up with a marvellous 450 feet homer to the left centre. Much to the delight of the fans, Hamilton ran in to the dugout, ahead of the strong hitter as he occupied the base before the shot.
The tables had turned and the Royals were left to handle the situation with full valour. Gordon shined under debilitating standards as his double to the deep right in the bottom 5th got Wilson Betemit and Brayan Pena through the last base. Kansas City found itself in the lead and Jai Miller followed the act up with a double to the deep right centre. The move got Gordon and Betancourt to the dugout in comfortable fashion as the team recorded another two runs to make it 8. Miller finally joined the party when Aviles singled to the centre for the 9th.
Texas was 6 – 9 down and the roster loved the action when it got competitive. Manager Ron Washington was impressed with the fight back that the ball club offered to their opponents in the top 6th. To recap, Mitch Moreland hit a 422 feet homer to the right centre for the 7th run of the team. Andrus then scored the third for the night as Michael Young smashed a double to the deep right. Young then finally equalized for the Rangers when Hamilton bashed a double to the right. Scores were now level and the last three innings were left to decide the winner.
Willie Bloomquist was a figure absent from the fixture until the last innings when he scored the winner for the Royals when reliever Alexi Ogando delivered a wild pitch. The contest concluded on Texas 9 – Kansas City 10.The game was a hotly contested encounter and one mistake gave away the result. Regardless of the outcome, both teams played astonishingly well and it has to be seen what transpires in their next fixture.
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