Royals Game Notes
Published on August 4, 2007 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Omaha Storm Chasers News Release
AUGUST 4, 2007, 6:05 p.m.: OMAHA ROYALS (57-57) vs. Las Vegas 51s (53-60)
HOME: 36-18 (31-41 in '06) AWAY: 21-39 (22-50 in '06) vs. Las Vegas: 3-0 (2-2 in '06)
TONIGHT: The Royals host the Las Vegas 51s in a 6:05 p.m. game at Rosenblatt Stadium. It's the finale of a 4-game series, which Omaha leads 3-0. Hy-Vee, Roberts Dairy and KGBI 100.7 FM present Faith and Family Night, featuring Echoing Angels in concert! Air-time is 5:45 p.m. on News Talk 1420 KOTK and at www.Oroyals.com.
LAST NIGHT: Billy Buckner came within 2 outs of his 1st career complete game as the Royals blanked Las Vegas 2-0. Buckner (8-6) scattered 6 over 8.1 innings, striking out 4. After issuing his 1st walk of the game in the 9th, he was relieved by Jason Shiell, who walked the 1st 2 batters he faced to load the bases. But, Shiell retired Choo Freeman on a liner to right and Ben Davis hit a grounder to the hole at short that Angel Berroa turned into a game-ending force play at 2nd, giving Shiell his 3rd save. Justin Huber snapped a scoreless tie in the bottom of the 8th by crushing a 2-run homer off Miguel Pinango (7-6), who took the loss despite hurling a 1-hitter through the first 7 innings.
ROYALS REPORT: Buckner was making a bid last night for his 1st career complete game. It also would have been the 1st of the season for Omaha's pitching staff. The last 9-inning complete game shutout for a Royals pitcher came on August 30, 2004, when Chris George fired a 6-hitter in a 7-0 win vs. Nashville. The win for Buckner was his 1st since June 25; in 6 starts since that victory at Oklahoma he was 0-4 with a 5.65 ERA. Last night's gem trimmed his ERA from 4.48 to 4.07. *** Friday's shutout was the 6th of the season for Omaha's staff. The Royals have only had 2 shutouts thrown at them. *** Huber has homered in 3 straight games and has hit 4 home runs in the past 6 contests. The Aussie outfielder has 12 round-trippers in just 184 at-bats with Omaha and has 48 RBI in 49 games. His home run last night also extended his hitting streak to 9 games, matching his longest streak of the campaign. During the string, Huber's batting .389 (14-36) with 4 homers and 11 RBI. The hot stretch has raised his average from .243 to .272. *** Shane Costa's triple leading off the bottom of the 1st last night extended his streak of reaching base to 41 games. It's the 2nd-longest such streak in the PCL this season - New Orleans' Andy Tracy had a 43-game on-base string snapped last month. Costa has scored 16 runs over the past 17 tilts and is hitting .381 (24-63) over that span. *** The Royals have won 11 of their last 15 games overall and 9 of their last 11 at home. Omaha is at .500 for the 1st time since June 11, when the Royals dropped the opener of their 16-game CWS road trip to fall to 32-32. *** The Royals won last night despite being held to 3 hits, equaling their season low. Omaha had only 1 runner left on base - a new low mark this year. *** Berroa returned to the Royals' lineup last night after missing the previous 9 games with a strained quad. He was 0-for-3 at the plate, halting a hit streak at 8 games, but made a terrific defensive play to end the game. *** Matt Tupman's 6-game hit string went by the boards too, as he was 0-for-3 Friday. He has still hit in 9 of his past 11 games, at a .366 clip (15-41). *** Ryan Shealy has hit in 4 straight games, going 7-for-15 (.467) with 2 homers and 6 RBI. *** Chris Lubanski, who has missed the past 2 games due to illness, has had a trio of 2-hit efforts in his last 4 games. He's 6-for-12 with 2 RBI and 3 runs scored over that stretch, which has jumped his average from .171 to .220. *** Mike Aviles has 17 RBI over the past 17 contests. During that period, he's hitting .319 (22-69) with 5 home runs. *** A win tonight would give the Royals their 3rd 4-game series sweep of 2007. Omaha swept Nashville in April and Oklahoma in May, with both occurring at Rosenblatt, where the Royals are 36-18.
STARTERS: LH Eric Stults (5-5, 7.05) vs. RH Ben Hendrickson (9-5, 5.49)
Hendrickson makes his 16th start and 21st appearance of the season. The 26-year old right-hander's last outing was at Colorado Springs, when he made his 1st start since July 5. He got the win, combining with Roberto Giron on a 4-hitter in a 9-0 shutout (7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K). Hendrickson is 5-1 with a 3.91 ERA at home, but just 4-4 with a 7.24 ERA on the road. He's 7-4 with a 5.15 ERA as starter, while going 2-1 with a 7.00 ERA out of the bullpen. His ERA in day games is about 3 runs lower than his ERA at night (3.45, 3-0 in the day to 6.47, 6-5 at night). Hendrickson was acquired by KC from Milwaukee on March 27 in a trade for catcher Max St. Pierre. In 2006, he spent most of the season with Nashville, but also pitched for the Brewers. He was 9-8 with a 3.36 ERA in 23 starts for the Sounds. His 3.36 ERA ranked 9th in the PCL and he was selected to the mid-season PCL All-Star team. He pitched in 4 games (3 starts) for Milwaukee, going 0-2 with a 12.00 ERA. Prior to both the 2005 and 2006 seasons, he was named as having the "Best Curveball" in the Brewers organization by Baseball America, which rated him as Milwaukee's #7 prospect prior to 2005 and #19 entering 2006. In 2004, he was named as Milwaukee's Minor League Pitcher of the Year and the International League's MVP, after going 11-3 with a 2.02 ERA for Indianapolis. Hendrickson was the Brewers' 10th round pick in the 1999 draft out of Bloomington Jefferson High in the Twin Cities.
PROBABLES FOR SERIES VS. TUCSON:
Sun., 1:35: LH Greg Smith (1-2, 5.48) vs. RH Luke Hochevar (1-2, 7.08)
Mon., 7:05: RH Enrique Gonzalez (6-8, 4.24) vs. LH Tyler Lumsden (7-5, 6.14)
Tue., 7:05: RH Casey Daigle (9-2, 5.79) vs. RH Matt Wright (7-3, 3.93)
Wed., 12:05: LH Bill Murphy (1-3, 3.88) vs. RH Billy Buckner (8-6, 4.07)
Pacific Coast League Stories from August 4, 2007
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- Offense Slugs Out 13 Hits, Five Doubles - Round Rock Express
- Hawks Battle the Grizzlies - Oklahoma City Comets
- Royals Game Notes - Omaha Storm Chasers
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