ROYALS RULE; MAY FIRES 1-HITTER, SWEENEY DRIVES IN 5
Ibanez Extends Hitting Streak to 31 Games
LOS ANGELES, June 5 (AP) - The Kansas City Royals haven't had much to
celebrate this season, but they owned this day. En route to a 7-0 win over
Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium, Darrell May took a no-hitter into the eighth
inning, Raul Ibanez extended his major league best hitting streak to 31 games
with a pair of safeties and Mike Sweeney had three hits, including a grand slam,
while driving in five runs.
May (5-3) held the Dodgers hitless until Jolbert Cabrera lined a clean single
into right-center field leading off the bottom of the eighth inning.
Undaunted, May calmly retired the final six batters of the game to secure his
second complete game shutout of the season.
Kevin Brown was almost as sharp as May through seven innings. The Royals
scored the only run they would need off Brown in the fourth. Sweeney led
off with a single and advanced to third when Ibanez extended his hitting streak
with a double into the gap in right-center field. Carlos Beltran drew a
walk to load the bases and Michael Tucker followed with a sacrifice fly to
center to score Sweeney with the game's first run.
The Royals retained their 1-0 lead until the eighth when they blew the game
open. May led off by looping a single to left and took second when Desi
Relaford's attempt at a sacrifice bunt went for an infield hit. Joe Randa
followed with a single to left, filling the bases for Sweeney who promptly
foiled Brown's attempt to get ahead in the count by blasting a first pitch
fastball high up in the left field pavilion for a grand slam and a 5-0 Kansas
City advantage. That ended Brown's day; he was replaced on the mound by
Victor Alvarez and the Royals upped the lead to 6-0 later in the same inning
when Geronimo Berroa doubled home Ibanez, who had singled earlier.
Sweeney's ninth inning single off Paul Shuey drove home his fifth run of the
game--an unearned tally following an error committed by shortstop Cesar Izturis.
May, meanwhile, was the epitome of efficiency, needing only 93 pitches to
complete the game while allowing only one runner to reach as far as second base.
The Royals have only two complete games thus far this season and May has both of
them.
6/5/2003, KC03-LA03, Dodger Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2003 Royals 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 1 7 12 0 8 1 2003 Dodgers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 1 Royals AB R H BI AVG Dodgers AB R H BI AVG Relaford 2b 5 1 2 0 .311 Roberts,D cf 2 0 0 0 .178 Randa 3b 5 1 2 0 .324 Coomer ph 1 0 0 0 .250 Sweeney,Mi 1b 5 2 3 5 .279 Lo Duca c 4 0 0 0 .294 Ibanez lf 4 0 2 0 .339 Green rf 2 0 0 0 .254 Beltran cf 3 0 0 0 .272 Jordan lf 3 0 0 0 .293 Tucker,M rf 4 1 0 1 .254 McGriff 1b 3 0 0 0 .254 Berroa ss 4 0 1 1 .218 Cabrera,J 2b 3 0 1 0 .291 DiFelice c 4 0 0 0 .257 Beltre 3b 3 0 0 0 .237 May p 4 2 2 0 .500 Izturis ss 3 0 0 0 .303 38 7 12 7 Brown,K p 2 0 0 0 .148 Alvarez,V p 0 0 0 0 .000 Kinkade ph 1 0 0 0 .222 Shuey p 0 0 0 0 .000 27 0 1 0 Royals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA May W 5-3 9.0 1 0 0 2 2 93 62 3.03 9.0 1 0 0 2 2 93 62 Dodgers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Brown,K L 3-6 7.0 8 5 5 2 2 109 65 3.19 Alvarez,V 1.0 2 1 1 0 0 23 13 9.00 Shuey 1.0 2 1 0 1 0 28 16 3.66 9.0 12 7 6 3 2 160 94 LA : Kinkade batted for Alvarez,V in the 8th Coomer batted for Roberts,D in the 9th E-Izturis. 2B-Ibanez(17), Berroa(11). HR-Sweeney,Mi(10). RBI-Sweeney,Mi 5(40), Tucker,M(30), Berroa(15). K-Beltran, Berroa, Brown,K, Kinkade. BB-Ibanez, Beltran 2, Roberts,D, Green. SF-Tucker,M. HBP-Green. HB-May. GWRBI: Tucker,M Temperature: 67, Sky: cloudy, Wind: none. Attendance: 33,528 Game Time: 2:33