ROYALS RELIEVERS TAME TIGERS BATS, FAN 8 IN 4 INNINGS
Butler Drives in 3 for K.C.
KANSAS CITY, May 3 (AP) - Three Royals relievers combined to strike out eight
batters over four shutout innings to lead Kansas City past the Detroit Tigers
6-3 at Kauffman Stadium. The work by the bullpen made a winner of starter
Danny Duffy, who fought control problems before being lifted after five innings
with his team on top 5-3. Five Royals batters had two-hit games, led by
designated hitter Billy Butler who also homered and drove in three runs.
The game looked like a slugfest early on. The Royals scored twice in the
first off Tigers starter Drew Smyly when Eric Hosmer singled with two outs and
Butler followed with his fifth long ball of the season, putting Kansas City on
top 2-0.
But Detroit retaliated with three runs in the top of the second off Duffy.
Austin Jackson led off with a double and Nick Castellanos tied the game by
depositing a Duffy offering into the left field bullpen for his second home run
of the year. Bryan Holaday followed with a base hit. Danny Worth
struck out but Rajai Davis singled, putting runners on first and second.
Ian Kinsler's fielder's choice left runners on the corners with two outs but
Miguel Cabrera walked to load the bases and Duffy then issued a free pass to
Victor Martinez, forcing home Holaday to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead. Torii
Hunter finally ended the inning by flying to center.
Undaunted, the Royals came right back to take the lead in the bottom of the
second. Brett Hayes singled with one out and Norichika Aoki's base hit put
runners on first and second. Smyly fanned Omar Infante for the second out
but back-to-back singles off the bats of Hosmer and Butler scored Hayes and Aoki
to give Kansas City a 4-3 lead.
The Royals made it 5-3 in the fifth when Alex Gordon led off with a single,
stole second, and scored on Danny Valencia's base hit.
Kansas City capped the scoring in the sixth when Infante led off with a two-base
hit, moved to third on a ground ball and scored when a drawn-in Kinsler booted
Butler's roller, making it 6-3.
Duffy ended up walking five batters and allowed the first two hitters to reach
in the top of the fifth before wiggling out of trouble, but he was on fumes by
then and was removed heading into the sixth. Wade Davis took over and
faced five batters, retiring all of them, four on strikes. Kelvin Herrera
replaced Davis with two outs in the seventh and faced four batters, retired all
of them, two on strikes. Greg Holland came on in the ninth and yielded a
two-out single on a swinging bunt off the bat of Kinsler. But he closed
out the game by fanning Cabrera, one of two strikeouts to his credit in a single
inning of work.
5/3/2014, Det14-KC14, Kauffman Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2014 Tigers 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 7 1 9 1 2014 Royals 2 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 x 6 13 0 9 0 Tigers AB R H BI AVG Royals AB R H BI AVG Davis,R lf 5 0 2 0 .320 Aoki rf 5 1 1 0 .300 Kinsler 2b 4 0 1 0 .292 Infante 2b 5 1 1 0 .311 Cabrera,Mi 1b 4 0 0 0 .266 Hosmer 1b 5 1 2 1 .218 Martinez,V dh 3 0 1 1 .319 Butler,B dh 4 1 2 3 .252 Hunter,Tor rf 3 0 0 0 .226 Gordon,A lf 4 1 2 0 .225 Jackson,A cf 4 1 1 0 .287 Valencia 3b 3 0 2 1 .294 Castellanos 3b 3 1 1 2 .257 Dyson,J pr 0 0 0 0 .268 Holaday c 3 1 1 0 .308 Escobar,A ss 3 0 1 0 .273 Avila ph 1 0 0 0 .189 Maxwell cf 3 0 0 0 .071 Worth ss 3 0 0 0 .000 Moustakas 3b 0 0 0 0 .172 Martinez,J ph 1 0 0 0 .313 Hayes c 4 1 2 0 .333 34 3 7 3 36 6 13 5 Tigers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Smyly L 2-1 4.0 11 5 5 0 6 80 58 5.29 Miller,Ju 2.0 2 1 0 0 0 22 16 5.23 Alburquerque 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 20 12 2.79 Chamberlain 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 12 9 0.75 8.0 13 6 5 1 7 134 95 Royals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Duffy,D W 1-0 5.0 6 3 3 5 3 108 58 5.40 Davis,W H 3 1.2 0 0 0 0 4 20 16 0.00 Herrera,K H 5 1.1 0 0 0 0 2 14 10 1.35 Holland,G S 7 1.0 1 0 0 0 2 21 14 1.42 9.0 7 3 3 5 11 163 98 Det: Avila batted for Holaday in the 8th Avila moved to c in the 8th Martinez,J batted for Worth in the 9th KC : Dyson,J ran for Valencia in the 7th Dyson,J moved to cf in the 8th Moustakas inserted at 3b in the 8th E-Kinsler. 2B-Davis,R(8), Jackson,A(5), Infante(7), Escobar,A(12). HR-Castellanos(2), Butler,B(5). RBI-Martinez,V(15), Castellanos 2(6), Hosmer(14), Butler,B 3(17), Valencia(1). SB-Gordon,A(2), Dyson,J(6). K-Davis,R, Kinsler, Cabrera,Mi 2, Hunter,Tor, Jackson,A, Castellanos, Holaday, Worth 2, Martinez,J, Aoki, Infante 2, Gordon,A, Valencia, Maxwell, Hayes. BB-Kinsler, Cabrera,Mi, Martinez,V, Hunter,Tor, Castellanos, Valencia. SH-Escobar,A. HBP-Maxwell. HB-Smyly. GWRBI: Butler,B Temperature: 60, Sky: clear, Wind: right to left at 1 MPH. Attendance: 35,886 Game Time: 2:49