Pirate Galaxy » nal at the plate, going four-for-fou

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- With two runners aboard in the sixth inning, the Royals Alcides Escobar was just trying to put the pitch from Yankees reliever Blake Parker in play Monday night.He wound up slapping it right over the wall.The three-run homer broke open a nip-and-tuck game, and backed by a strong pitching performance by Dillon Gee, Kansas City went on to beat New York 8-5 to open their three-game series.I knew I hit it good, Escobar said, but I wasnt 100 percent sure it was gone.Everybody else was sure, the way things have been going for Kansas City lately.The reigning World Series champions won for the 18th time in 22 games, closing within two games of the second AL wild card. The Royals (69-62) were seven games below .500 as recently as Aug. 6, nearly left for dead 11 games behind the Cleveland Indians in the AL Central.Gee (6-7) allowed four hits and a run over six sharp innings.The results just werent coming but Ive been throwing the ball well, said the Royals fifth starter, but tonight I got an early lead and just tried to stick to it.Lorenzo Cain, Kendrys Morales and Alex Gordon drove in runs off Michael Pineda (6-11) during a five-hit salvo in the first inning. Pineda then retired 15 straight before getting into a two-on, no-outs jam in the seventh that led to Escobars homer.It really broke the game open for us, Royals manager Ned Yost said.Starlin Castro drove in two runs for the Yankees, the second in a four-run eighth inning that forced Yost to summon fill-in closer Kelvin Herrera to make a four-out save.He retired Mark Teixeira to get out of his initial jam, then put runners on the corners in the ninth. Herrera calmly struck out Castro for his 11th save.It was a frustrating night for the Yankees, who had elbowed their own way back in the playoff chase. They were a half-game behind Kansas City at the start of the night, but their second straight loss on the heels of a four-game winning streak was costly against a fellow contender.Yankees manager Joe Girardis frustration was evident when he was tossed by plate umpire Brian ONora for arguing balls and strikes with the bases loaded and no outs in the eighth inning.Didi Gregorius proceeded to deliver a two-run double, and the Yankees tacked on two more runs against the Kansas City bullpen before Herrera put a stop to their rally.Two different strike zones. Its unfortunate, Girardi said of his ejection. Even the broadcasters were talking about it in the eighth and ninth inning. I dont know why. Im frustrated by it. I dont know if you give the catchers credit. I know the last inning and the inning before that Im watching on TV and I see it. Oh-1 is a lot different than 1-and-oh a lot of times.STATS AND STREAKSThe Royals have cut 7 1/2 games from their wild-card deficit in 22 games. ... All nine players in the Royals starting lineup had a hit. ... Pineda lost for the first time since July 31 at Tampa Bay, snapping a four-start winning streak. ... Yankees CF Jacoby Ellsbury reached base on catchers interference for the 11th time this season, extending his major league record.AWARD WINNERSYankees C Gary Sanchez won his second straight AL player of the week award. He hit .522 with three doubles, five homers and nine RBI while walking five times in six games. ... Royals 1B Eric Hosmer and Yankees SS Gregorius were chosen from their teams for the Heart and Hustle Award from the Major League Baseball Players Association.ROYALS TRADEThe Royals acquired INF/OF Daniel Nava from the Angels for a player to be named or cash considerations. He is not on the Angels 40-man roster and will be assigned to Triple-A Omaha.TRAINERS ROOMRoyals RHP Luke Hochevar said he experienced instant relief after surgery for symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome. The reliever will begin rehab with hopes of being ready for spring. The swelling, the coldness is gone, he said. I havent had any of that happen since surgery.UP NEXTYankees RHP Masahiro Tanaka has tossed 14 2/3 scoreless innings over his last two starts. He takes on Royals RHP Edinson Volquez, who has won his last two decisions. Custom Boston Red Sox Jerseys Cheap . Vaives lawyer Trevor Whiffen claims the former 50-goal man wasnt provided with a copy of the claim beforehand and that he would not have agreed to the allegations made against the NHL had he been asked to review its contents. Custom Jerseys Sale . -- The boos poured down on Tom Brady and the New England Patriots at the end of a horrible first half. http://www.baseballjerseyscustom.com/ . 1 position. The Mustangs (6-0), who beat Queens 50-31 last weekend, earned 17 first-place votes and 287 points in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Western was last ranked first in the country in October 2011. Cheap Custom Jerseys Online . While hell be dialed in to that tournament on a course he loves, you can forgive him if his eyes glance down the calendar just a bit, towards April. Custom Oakland Athletics Jerseys Cheap . -- Peyton Manning will have all of his wide receivers available for the first time in a month when the Denver Broncos begin their playoff run Jan.The Winnipeg Goldeyes showed no mercy on Tuesday night. In fact, the Fish scored 20 runs and pounded out 31 hits, as they ripped a doubleheader away from the Lincoln Saltdogs. In front of a crowd of 4,595, the Goldeyes beat the Saltdogs 8-0 in the opening seven-inning game and then put up nine runs on a single-inning, record-tying 11 hits, as they blasted Lincoln 12-2 in the night cap. Edgar Osuna pitched a complete-game masterpiece in Game 1, while newcomer Matt Jackson threw 5 1/3 solid innings, allowing only two runs on eight scattered hits, to record his first win as a Goldeye. With the Twin Bill win, the Goldeyes took the first two games of a four-game series with Lincoln. It was also Winnipegs fourth and fifth straight wins, as the Fish improved to 36-32. Lincoln fell to 36-34 on the season. Winnipeg pulled to within three games of Gary in the Wild Card race and just 5 1/2 games of Fargo in the race for first in the American Associations North Division. Winnipeg has 32 games left to play. "It was a very good night for the club," said Goldeyes manager Rick Forney. "We had some pretty good offence for five hours. Im happy for the guys tonight. It was one of the best days weve had all season. The guys were hitting line drives all over the place." In the second game of the double dip, Lincoln opened the scoring in the first on a solo homer by David Espinosa, but Winnipeg tied it in the second, as Ryan Scoma singled, stole second and scored on a base hit by Fehlandt Lentini. Winnipeg made it 3-1 in the third as Kevin Moesquit walked and Amos Ramon hit a two-run bomb over the left field wall. In the top of the fifth, Espinosa hit his second solo homer of the game to make it 3-2, but in the bottom of the fifth, the roof fell in on Lincoln. Tyler Graham singled, Ramon singled, Ray Sadler doubled in Graham and Scoma doubled home Ramon and Sadler. Then Casey Haerther singled, but was erased at second base on a ground ball to third by Josh Mazzola. Mazzola was safe at first on a fielders choice. Lentini then singled and Luis Alen hit a majestic three-run homer over the left field fence. Right behind Alen, Moesquit hit the second back-to-back home run of the night -- a line drive over the left field wall. That made it 11-2. Before the inning ended, Ramon doubled and Sadler singled him home. Scoma then singled to tie the club record for hits in an inning with the 11th. "You dont see a nine-run inning very often," said Forney. "But hitting is contagious and we took advantage of some young pitcherss who made some mistakes.dddddddddddd." It was a hitters smorgasbord. Graham went two-for-four with a run scored; Ramon went four-for-four with two singles, a double, a home run, three runs scored and two RBI; Sadler was two-for-four with a run scored and two RBI; Scoma was three-for-four with two runs scored and two RBI; Lentini was two-for-four with a runs scored and a run batted in; Alen had a three-run bomb in four trips; and Moesquit had a solo shot and a walk, two runs scored and an RBI in four trips to the plate. Jackson (1-0, 3.38 ERA) got the win for Winnipeg while starter Travis Parker (2-2, 5.66 ERA), who allowed seven runs on 11 hits, suffered the loss for Lincoln. "Matt Jackson had a helluva debut for us," said Forney. "He hasnt pitched in about a week to 10 days, but he responded. He gave us a very good start tonight. He did a great job, he really did." In Game 1, Osuna fired a three-hit shutout to earn his third win of the season. Meanwhile, Casey Haerther hit a three-run homer while Josh Mazzola and Ray Sadler added solo blasts as the Goldeyes built a 4-0 lead in the third inning and coasted. Winnipeg opened the scoring in the third as Sadler led off with a double, Ryan Scoma walked and Haerther homered. Mazzola followed Haerther with a back-to-backer as he lofted a pitch from starter Stephen Bougher into the trees across Waterfront Dr. Sadler hit a solo shot, his team-leading 15th of the year, to lead off the fourth. That gave the Fish a 5-0 advantage. Then, in the fifth, Winnipeg added three more. Fehlandt Lentini led off with a single, Luis Alen doubled and Kevin Moesquit singled to drive home Lentini. Tyler Graham beat out an infield single to score Alen, reached second on a ground out by Amos Ramon and then scored on a single by Sadler. Sadler was sensational at the plate, going four-for-four with two singles, a double, a home run, two runs scored and two driven in. Mazzola was pretty good himself, going three-for-four with an RBI and a run scored. Haerther had a three-run homer and leadoff man Tyler Graham went two-for-three with a walk, a run scored and an RBI. Osuna (3-1, 1.46) pitched brilliantly and got the win. Bougher (2-5, 4.43) suffered the loss. Osuna allowed three hits and struck out seven, including the side in the fifth. The Goldeyes and Saltdogs will play Game 3 of this four-game series on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Shaw Park. Justin Garcia (5-4, 5.33 ERA) will get the start for Winnipeg, while Pete Parise (7-5, 3.55 ERA) will take to the bump for Lincoln. ' ' '