Royals Game Notes
Published on July 1, 2008 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Omaha Storm Chasers News Release
TONIGHT: The Royals visit Principal Park for game 2 of a 4-game series vs. Iowa. 1st pitch is 7:05 p.m. The Cubs lead this series 1-0 and are 7-2 vs. Omaha this season. Iowa is in 1st place in the Pacific Coast League's American Conference North, with Memphis 4.0 games back and Omaha 7.0 lengths behind. The pre-game show is on the air at 6:45 p.m. on News Talk 1420 KOTK and at www.oroyals.com.
LAST NIGHT: Iowa's Micah Hoffpauir smacked a 3-run homer in the 6th inning to tie the game at 3-all and Jason Dubois led off the bottom of the 8th with a home run to snap the tie and ignite a 3-run innings, as the Cubs beat the Royals 6-3. Hoffpauir's 7th home run of the season came off Royals starter Dusty Hughes, who gave up 3 runs on 6 hits over 5.2 innings. Dubois' dinger made a loser of Yasuhiko Yabuta (0-1), who allowed 3 runs on 6 hits in 2.1 frames. Cubs right-hander Greg Reinhard (2-0) got the win, firing 3.0 innings of scoreless, 1-hit relief, walking 3 and striking out 7. The Royals scored single runs in the 2nd, 4th and 5th innings off Iowa starter Randy Wells - 1 courtesy of Mike Stodolka's 3rd round-tripper of the year.
ROYALS REPORT: Monday night's loss ended the Royals road winning streak at 6 games. It was Omaha's longest win string on the road since an 8-game streak July 31-September 2, 2005. It was also the Royals 5th straight loss vs. Iowa. *** Following last night's defeat, the Royals are now 5-11 in games decided in the last at-bat. Omaha had won its 3 previous contests decided in the final at-bat. *** The Royals went 14-14 in June. Omaha had a team batting average of .267 and belted 31 home runs last month. The pitching staff posted a 4.63 ERA, with the bullpen only converting on 5 of 9 save opportunities in June. *** Stodolka's home run was his 1st in his last 15 games, dating back to May 20 when he went deep off Iowa's Hector Carrasco at Rosenblatt. *** Ryan Shealy and Chris Lubanski had 2 hits apiece last night. Entering the game, Shealy had been 2-for-his-last-14 (.143) and Lubanski was mired in a 3-for-31 (.097) slump *** Damon Hollins is riding an 11-game hitting streak. During the hit string, which is the 3rd-longest for a Royal this year, Hollins is hitting .364 (16-for-44) with 3 home runs and 8 RBI. *** Gookie Dawkins has hit in 6 straight, going 7-for-19 (.368) with a homer and 7 RBI. *** Shane Costa collected his 9th stolen base of the season last night in 10 attempts. He has hit in 11 of the last 12 contests, batting at a .383 clip (18-for-47) with 1 home run and 7 RBI. *** Omaha set a season high Monday night by leaving 12 runners stranded on base. *** Royals batters whiffed 14 times in last night's loss - 1 strikeout shy of their season high, which was set June 20 at Round Rock in a 13-inning game.
STARTERS: RH Matt Wright (3-4, 5.38) vs. RH Kevin Hart (1-1, 3.41)
Wright makes his 16th start of the season, his 1st vs. Iowa. The 26-year old right-hander's last outing was at New Orleans last Tuesday, when he got the win in the Royals' 5-4 victory (5.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 5 BB, 3 K). Wright has won each of his last 2 starts, posting a 2.77 ERA in the process. He has allowed just 1 home run in 18.0 innings over his last 3 outings, after giving up 15 gopher balls in his 1st 12 starts. Wright was signed by KC as a minor league free agent prior to 2007 and spent the entire campaign with Omaha, going 10-5 and ranking 7th in the PCL with a 4.06 ERA. In 21 starts last season, he was 7-3 with a 4.01 ERA; he went 3-2 with a 4.32 ERA in 7 relief appearances. He made 3 starts vs. Iowa last year, going 1-1 with a 5.79 ERA. Wright won 6 of 7 decisions at Rosenblatt last year, although his ERA was actually better on the road than at home (3.89 to 4.24). He pitched well in tight spots in 2007, holding batters to a .216 average with runners in scoring position and .193 with runners in scoring position and 2 outs. Following the season, he was a member of the gold-medal winning USA Baseball Team at the World Cup in Chinese Taipei, going 1-0 with a 1.00 ERA in 2 games (1 start). Prior to 2007, Wright spent his 1st 7 professional seasons in the Braves organization. He was named to the Carolina League All-Star team in 2004, when he ranked 6th in Atlanta's system with 133 strikeouts for Myrtle Beach. Wright was selected by the Braves in the 21st round of the 2000 draft out of Robinson High School in Texas.
PROBABLES FOR REMAINDER OF SERIES:
Wed., 7:05 p.m.: RH Roman Colon (2-2, 4.58) vs. RH Justin Berg (3-4, 6.49)
Thur., 7:05 p.m.: RH Carlos Rosa (3-1, 3.60) vs. LH J.R. Mathes (5-3, 3.33)
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