Kansas City Royals rout St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 – MLB Update
The Kansas City Royals as they defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 at Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City on Friday, May 20.
Jeff Francis was the solo star in the game with his unplayable pitches. Importantly, it was for the first time since August 31, 2004 that the Royals had more than 14 hits in a game.
It was the Royals’ first shut-out in 61 interleague games. Francis, the star that factored into the brilliant win for Kansas sounded excited and understandably so. The Royals have barely been able to demonstrate their class as a thoroughly competitive team.
"I mean, I'm still 1-5. As much relief as there may be, it's a long year.” Francis said. He was able to outrival Chris Carpenter of the Cardinals on Friday. Francis had tough time in winning any game in his 10 starts, but this game proved a turning point
for him.
Having allowed a single in the eighth inning that allowed Ryan Theriot a run. However, Aaron Crow who replaced Francis did not disappoint his team and threw effectively to limit the Cardinals’ hitters. Once Joakim Soria descended, he was unhittable and perfected
the 3-0 victory for Kansas City.
Interestingly, both Carpenter and Francis, probably due to sheer coincidence, threw 76 pitches in six innings, allowing five hits each and no runs. Francis succeeded in striking-out five, as Carpenter did as well.
However, things had to change if any team wished to win the game. That came with Billy Butler’s single in the seventh inning, as for the first time in the game when Carpenter was subject to hit. Brayan Pena got the chance to hit a sacrifice fly to score
the first run for the Royals, which proved favourable.
Soon after him, Alcides Escobar singled to right to double Kansas City’s score. Just when the lead seemed good enough, Melky Cabrera hit a sacrifice fly to centre to triple the lead, thereby making things increasingly difficult for the Cardinals.
The 3-0 lead put the Cardinals in a tough situation, as their offence then tried their best to stage a come-back in the game, but they failed. Soria pitched effectively to seal the Royals 3-0 victory against St. Louis.
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