The Korea Herald

지나쌤

Chen, timely hitting lead Royals past Indians 6-3

By Korea Herald

Published : May 31, 2012 - 18:38

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CLEVELAND (AP) ― The Kansas City Royals are headed home on a high note.

Wednesday’s 6-3 win over the Cleveland Indians was significant on several fronts for the Royals.

The victory gave Kansas City a 5-4 road trip in which it won four of its last six games. The Royals, who are off Thursday, finished May with a 15-13 record, their first winning mark in the month since 2000.

Kansas City, which took two of three in both Baltimore and Cleveland after losing two of three in New York to open the trip, is 16-11 on the road. The Royals are 18-14 since losing 12 straight from April 11-24.

“It’s time to forget about the streak,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. “We’ve played really good baseball from that point on and we’re going to continue to get better.”

“We played three good teams,” said left fielder Alex Gordon, who had two hits and drove in a run. “Baltimore and Cleveland are at the top of their divisions. We’re starting to play a little better. This road trip is definitely a positive.”

Bruce Chen overcame a rocky second inning and the Royals scored their first five runs with two outs. Chen (4-5) held Cleveland scoreless after giving up three runs in the second. Gordon, Johnny Giavotella, Mike Moustakas, Jeff Francoeur and Brayan Pena each had run-scoring hits to help Kansas City rally from a 3-0 deficit.

White Sox stay hot

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (AP) ― The Chicago White Sox unexpectedly lost their starting pitcher in the fourth inning, and then went on to win their eighth straight game.

Alexei Ramirez drove in two runs and the White Sox extended their season-best winning streak with a 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday.

White Sox left-hander Jose Quintana was ejected by plate umpire Mark Wegner with two outs in the fourth when he threw a pitch behind Ben Zobrist at knee level.

White Sox manager Robin Ventura also was tossed by Wegner for arguing.

“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Ventura said. “I don’t know how to explain it. I was shocked. Usually if the guy feels it (had) intent, he gives warning and it goes from there, but it just shocked me.”

Quintana, through a translator, said he was not throwing at Zobrist.

“I was going to throw a fastball, but A.J. (Pierzynski) asked him for a changeup and instead of crossing him over, I went through and it just slipped away,” Quintana said.

Mariners crush Rangers

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) ― Justin Smoak hit two three-run homers against his former team and the Seattle Mariners used a pair of early eight-run innings to rout the Texas Rangers for the second straight game, winning 21-8 Wednesday night.

Smoak had three hits to go with his career high for RBIs as Seattle reached double digits in back-to-back games against the AL West leaders. Jesus Montero homered among his three hits and drove in four runs and Kyle Seager had four hits and two RBIs. Every Seattle starter had at least one hit in amassing 20 hits.

Dustin Ackley also had a three-run homer in support of former Rangers minor league prospect Blake Beavan (3-4).

Rangers starter Derek Holland (4-4) gave up eight hits, eight runs and two walks in 1 2/3 innings Seattle had lost five in a row before beating Texas 10-3 Tuesday night. They scored eight runs in the second and third innings en rout to scoring the second-most runs in club history, equaling a 21-9 victory against the Los Angeles Angels on Sept. 30, 2000.

Minnesota 4, Oakland 0

Chicago Cubs 8, San Diego 6

Pittsburgh 2, Cincinnati 1

Toronto 4, Baltimore 1

Boston 6, Detroit 4

Atlanta 10, St. Louis 7

Philadelphia 10, NY Mets 6

Miami 5, Washington 3

Colorado 13, Houston 5

NY Yankees 6, LA Angels 5

Milwaukee 6, LA Dodgers 3

Arizona 4, San Francisco 1