BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK HOMERS HIGHLIGHT ROYALS 'W'
Beltran, Ibanez, Harvey Blasts Back Snyder's Strong
Outing
KANSAS CITY, June 19 (AP) - Carlos Beltran, Raul Ibanez and Ken Harvey belted
consecutive home runs in the seventh inning to cap the scoring and Kyle Snyder
pitched into the eighth inning in his best outing of the year as the Kansas City
Royals took three of four from the Minnesota Twins with a 7-2 victory at
Kauffman Stadium. It was the first time this season the Royals had hit
home runs in three consecutive plate appearances and marks the ninth time it's
happened during the 2003 major league season. The San Diego Padres are the
only team to hit four home runs in a row, accomplishing the feat in the first
inning of a 9-6 April 9 loss to the San Francisco Giants.
Snyder and Twins starter Joe Mays matched goose eggs into the bottom of the
fourth when the Royals drew first blood with an unearned run. Ibanez led
off with a single and advanced to second when A.J.Pierzynski was charged with a
passed ball. Harvey struck out and Michael Tucker grounded to third but
Aaron Guiel, who's off to a phenomenal start since being added to the Kansas
City roster two weeks ago, came through with a base hit to center, driving home
Ibanez with the game's first run. In his first 14 games since joining the
club, Guiel has driven in 17 runs.
After breaking the ice, the Royals steadily added to their lead. Carlos
Beltan belted his ninth home run of the season in the fifth, scoring Brent Mayne
who had reached base on a lead-off single, to up the advantage to 3-0. In
the sixth, Mays and his replacement, Johnan Santana, combined to walk the bases
loaded with one out and Harvey scored on Mayne's sacrifice fly. The
seventh saw the string of three consecutive solo home runs, including Beltran's
second of the game, giving Kansas City a commanding 7-0 lead. It was the
third time in four days that a Royals batter had managed a multi-homer game;
Guiel and Angel Berroa both accomplished the feat in the series opener--a 17-3
Kansas City romp.
The Twins avoided a shutout by scoring twice in the eighth inning, aided
immeasurably by a pair of wild pitches thrown by reliever D.J. Carrasco, but it
was far too little too late.
Snyder tossed seven shutout innings in the process of snapping a personal
three-game losing streak, but was nicked for a pair of singles to start the
eighth and was replaced by Carrasco who mopped up by tossing the final two
frames. It was just the second time in nine starts this season that Snyder
had worked past the sixth inning.
6/19/2003, Min03-KC03, Kauffman Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2003 Twins 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 8 1 8 0 2003 Royals 0 0 0 1 2 1 3 0 x 7 10 0 9 1 Twins AB R H BI AVG Royals AB R H BI AVG Jones,Jac lf 5 0 1 0 .341 Relaford 2b 5 0 1 0 .309 Guzman,C ss 3 1 3 0 .278 Randa 3b 4 0 0 0 .321 Koskie 3b 3 1 1 0 .275 Beltran cf 5 2 3 3 .293 Morneau dh 3 0 0 1 .308 Ibanez 1b 5 2 2 1 .338 Hunter,T cf 4 0 0 0 .206 Harvey dh 3 2 1 1 .248 Mientkiewicz 1b 3 0 3 0 .373 Tucker,M lf 3 0 0 0 .242 Mohr rf 2 0 0 0 .259 Guiel rf 4 0 2 1 .412 Kielty ph 1 0 0 0 .257 Berroa ss 3 0 0 0 .265 Pierzynski c 4 0 0 0 .341 Mayne c 2 1 1 1 .287 Rivas 2b 3 0 0 0 .240 34 7 10 7 LeCroy ph 1 0 0 0 .304 32 2 8 1 Twins INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Mays L 6-5 5.0 6 4 3 2 3 91 50 3.56 Santana 2.0 3 3 3 2 2 42 25 4.35 Romero,J 1.0 1 0 0 0 2 22 11 3.09 8.0 10 7 6 4 7 155 86 Royals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Snyder W 2-4 7.0 7 2 2 3 3 99 60 7.24 Carrasco,D 2.0 1 0 0 0 1 42 25 6.05 9.0 8 2 2 3 4 141 85 Min: Kielty batted for Mohr in the 8th Kielty moved to rf in the 8th LeCroy batted for Rivas in the 9th E-Jones,Jac. 3B-Beltran(3). HR-Beltran 2(10), Ibanez(5), Harvey(5). RBI-Morneau(6), Beltran 3(32), Ibanez(47), Harvey(26), Guiel(17), Mayne(19). SB-Guzman,C(8). K-Jones,Jac, Koskie, Pierzynski, Rivas, Relaford 2, Randa 2, Ibanez, Harvey, Guiel. BB-Koskie, Morneau, Mientkiewicz, Randa, Harvey, Tucker,M, Berroa. SH-Guzman,C, Mohr. SF-Mayne. HBP-Mayne. PB-Pierzynski. HB-Romero,J. WP-Snyder, Carrasco,D 2. BALK-Romero,J. GWRBI: Guiel Temperature: 75, Sky: clear, Wind: in from center at 10 MPH. Attendance: 18,980 Game Time: 2:58