Kansas City Royals edge Houston Astros 2-1 to take series – MLB Update
Kansas City Royals won a hard fought series as they beat Houston Astros 2-1 at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas on Wednesday, June 20 in the finale of their three match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
Royals’ starting pitcher Bruce Chen put up another solid show to help his team secure an important series victory. Chen pitched effectively into the sixth inning, striking out six to win for the sixth time this year.
Allowing just one run and five hits, he had a great time on the mound. Brayan Pena and Mike Moustakas combined to score the first run for Kansas City in the fifth inning and Alex Gordon tripled to score the second run.
But the offence will have to be more productive in the upcoming games to take some pressure off the bullpen.
"They've been doing it all year and once again they came up big today," Gordon said of the bullpen. "A 2-1 win, it feels like we've been doing that all year. I swear one of these days our offense is going to get rolling and we're going to start giving the bullpen a rest. Hopefully it will come soon."
"I'm fine. Piece of cake. We had them all the way," Manager Ned Yost said in a post game interview.
The win will be of great importance for the Royals have now improved their record to 31-36. After making a poor start to the season, Ned Yost and company have raised the level of their game play significantly.
Considering the fact they are just five games behind the American League Central Division leaders Cleveland Indians, it will not be wrong to say that the Royals still have a chance to make it to the post season.
Houston, on the other hand, will be very frustrated with the outcome of the series. There is no denying the fact they have some exceptional hitting and pitching talent in their squad but the Astros will have to learn to handle their nerves in pressure situations to stand any chance of making it to the playoffs.
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