KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Cole Hamels allowed four hits over seven innings, Delino DeShields doubled home two runs and the Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals 4-1 on Tuesday night to extend their winning streak to a season-high four games.

The Royals have lost eight straight, matching their season high, and 14 of 15. They own a major league-worst 10-28 home record and their 22-51 overall mark is the worst in franchise history after 73 games.

Hamels (4-6) picked up his first win since May 22. The run off him in the fifth was unearned and he has yet to allow an earned run in 20 innings over three starts at Kauffman Stadium.

Keone Kela pitched a spotless ninth for his 17th save in as many chances.

DeShields’ second-inning double scored Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Robinson Chirinos.

Kiner-Falefa, who had three hits and walked, doubled home Adrian Beltre in the third. Jurickson Profar scored the second run of the inning after Mike Moustakas’ fielding error to make it 4-0.

Royals starter Jason Hammel (2-8) was removed after 5 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on nine hits and four walks. Hammel is 0-6 in nine home starts since an Aug. 20 victory over Cleveland.

Rosell Herrera’s two-out double in the fifth scored Alex Gordon with the Kansas City run.

Whit Merrifield led off the Royals’ first with a walk, took second on a wild pitch and stole third with none out, but did not score. Salvador Perez grounded into his 12th double play after Moustakas walked to end the inning.

Alex Gordon picked up his seventh outfield assist of the season, throwing out Elvis Andrus trying to score from second on Profar’s ninth-inning single.

The Junction City Brigade cancelled their game Monday night against the Baldwin City Blues. It had been scheduled at Rathert Stadium.

The game was called off due to inclement weather.

The Brigade will play a doubleheader of two seven-inning games at Baldwin City on Tuesday. The Blues will  then return to Junction City on July 12 to play the Brigade.

UNDATED (AP) — The Astros are heading home after completing a perfect 10-game road trip that gives them an 11-game winning streak.

Carlos Correa belted a solo homer to spark the Astros’ three-run eighth in a 7-4 comeback at Kansas City. Evan Gattis went 3-for-4 and put Houston ahead with an RBI single in the eighth before Marwin Gonzalez singled home a run.

Correa had three RBIs and winning pitcher Tony Sipp worked a hitless seventh after Lance McCullers Jr. allowed two earned runs over six innings.

The outcome allowed the Astros to expand their lead in the AL West to 1 ½ games over Seattle.

The Junction City Brigade picked up their ninth win in ten tries on Sunday at Rathert Stadium when they stepped out of the Mid Plains League to defeat the Kansas City Monarchs 11-7.

The Brigade used a seven-run sixth inning to open up the game and rally from a two run deficit going into that frame. The big blast was a grand slam home run by Aaron Samaniego who was sent in as a pinch hitter  in the sixth inning with the score tied 4-4. “I think I watched one ball and then the next pitch it was a splitter, kind of high, left it up. ” Aaron added, I didn’t think I got it but it didn’t feel too good off the bat, but I guess I did get it.” That was Samaniego’s first home run of the season.

The Brigade also got a solo home run from Grant Goldston in the win. Relief pitcher Daniel Bachura came in during the 8th inning after the Monarchs had cut a seven-run lead down to four, and helped stop Kansas City from scoring any more. Cameron Kay pitched a scoreless ninth inning for Junction City.

The Monarchs, who are generally comprised of older players than the Mid Plains League teams, had defeated the Brigade 15-1 back on June 3rd at Rathert Stadium.

 

The Junction City Brigade got their bats going in the sixth and seventh innings enroute to a 16-6 win over the Ottawa River Bandits Saturday night at Rathert Field. The game was called in the bottom of the seventh inning due to the 10-run rule. Blake Burrows hit a bases loaded triple in the bottom of the seventh inning to knock in Grady Davenport, Trae McDaniel and Will Jordan for Junction City and end the ballgame.

Two other Brigade players had strong games at the plate. Colton Rexroad had a single, triple and home run in the win and also drew a walk. Joey Winkler hit both a double and a single, and also drew a walk. Pitcher Jessie Steinbring started and pitched four innings for the Brigade as they improved their season record to 9-5.

Junction City steps out of the Mid Plains League Sunday for a nonconference game when they host the Kansas City Monarchs. The first pitch is scheduled at 5 p.m. at Rathert Stadium.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A.J. Hinch wiped the sweat from his brow after watching his Astros win their 10th straight game on Saturday, joking that he might get tossed early the next time out to avoid the Kansas City heat.

The skipper hasn’t been sweating many outcomes lately.

Houston’s latest solid start came from Dallas Keuchel, who allowed the Royals two unearned runs over six sharp innings. Its latest offense came from Max Stassi and Alex Bregman, who belted three-run homers at spacious Kauffman Stadium. And its latest win was a 10-2 rout as the heat index eclipsed 100 degrees.

“I’m really happy with how consistently the guys are showing up expecting to win, and then going out and doing it,” Hinch said. “We’re a hard team to beat right now.”

No matter the situation. No matter the conditions.

“Winning streak, no winning streak, it doesn’t matter. We just play our game,” said Bregman, who survived the blazing sun and oppressive heat, which sent Stassi and Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel to the clubhouse with symptoms of dehydration.

Jose Altuve hit a two-run double in the first to send the World Series champions on their way. The Astros have won the first nine games on their 10-game road swing, already making it the best trip in club history with the series finale still to come on Sunday.

Coincidentally, the Astros had an 11-game win streak end in Kansas City last season.

Keuchel (4-8) has begun to emerge from a monthlong funk, allowing two unearned runs and six hits in six innings. The 2015 Cy Young winner had surrendered a combined 17 runs over his last three outings, and had not won since tossing seven scoreless innings against Texas on May 13.

Meanwhile, the Royals have lost five straight and are 2-12 since the calendar flipped to June.

“We’ve been around this clubhouse for a while to the point that we’ve had our ups, we’ve had our downs,” Royals pitcher Danny Duffy said. “We know what we need to do to come out of them, it’s just about doing exactly that. It’s not ideal where we’re at right now. It’s pretty much the opposite of what we drew up coming into the year. We got to come out of this stretch ourselves.”

Duffy (3-7) had been pitching well of late, going seven shutout innings his last time out. But the Royals left-hander allowed seven runs on seven hits and three walks in just six innings, becoming the most recent starting pitcher to have a rough time with the Astros’ potent lineup.

“We’ve played some good baseball. Obviously the teams we’ve been playing have played better than we have,” he said.

Duffy was in trouble right from the start. George Springer opened the game with a walk, Bregman added a single and Altuve ripped a double to give the Astros a 2-0 lead.

The Astros tacked on two more runs in the fifth, getting some help from third baseman Mike Moustakas, who flubbed an easy grounder that led to an unearned run. And after Kansas City matched the tally in the bottom half, the Astros’ big bats put the game out of reach.

Stassi began by swatting Duffy’s 1-0 pitch to left field for a 7-2 lead, and Bregman added his homer in the ninth inning to extend his career-best on-base streak to 27 consecutive games.

The only consolation for the Royals was that they weren’t grand slams. They pitching staff had served up one of them each of the past two games, including Evan Gattis’ in the series opener.

“This is a tough club,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “You make a mistake and they make you pay.”

The Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce has announced that the Young Professionals have scheduled a Regional Mixer at the Junction City Brigade baseball game on Monday, June 25 at Rathert Stadium. The he Young Professionals from Junction City, Manhattan and Wamego will participate in this event.

The game and mixer begin at 7 p.m.

There will be a $1 admission charge and beer specials. DJ Ryan Jones will provide entertainment after the game.

RSVP by Friday, June 22, to info@jcacc.org.

The Junction City / Geary County Catback Club held their annual golf tournament recently at Rolling Meadows Golf Course. The event raises funds for the Ahearn Scholarship Fund at Kansas State University. That is the fund that supports scholarships for athletes at the university.

Tournament Results:

1st Flight: 1st place — 62 — Pat Landes, Bob Small, Robert Witt and Mike McKone, 2nd place — 62 — Bruce mcEntee, Rick Lough, Scott Heller and Kelly McDowell, 3rd place — 63 — Bill Mayes, Stuart Mayes, Mark Powers and Andy Patterson.

2nd Flight: 1st place — 65 — Keith Ascher, Leon Osburn, Earl Stackhouse and Miles Christensen, 2nd place — 66 — Kenny Shaeffer, Mark Whaley, Chris McCurdy, Ken Dillon, 3rd place — 72 — Jeff Becker, Teresa Becker, Steve Krueger, Denise Boller.

3rd Flight: 1st place — 72 — Corey Childs, Zeb Carter, Max Wilson and Scott Stuckey, 2nd place — 72 — Ray Ibarra, Kyle Ibarra, Charles Stimatze and John Gager, 3rd place — 73 — Gary Houser, Alex Rexrode, Tim Cowan and Brian Lindley.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Kansas City Chiefs announced dates for 2018 Chiefs Training Camp presented by Mosaic Life Care at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri. All times and dates are subject to change.

Walkthrough practices are closed to the public and media. All practice sessions will take place on the Mosaic Training Fields. Practices held at 8:15 a.m. will run approximately two hours and 40 minutes. Practices held at 9:15 a.m. will run approximately one hour and 40 minutes.

Team autograph sessions are scheduled to take place July 26, July 28, July 29, Aug. 4 and Aug. 5. Family Fun Day presented by Family Center Farm and Home will take place on Aug. 4. New this season, the Chiefs will host two Season Ticket Member days on July 29 and Aug. 5 (more details to come as camp approaches). Chiefs Alumni day will be held on Aug. 11 and camp will wrap up with Military Appreciation day on Aug. 14. MWSU will host a back to football celebration at the Bill Snyder Pavilion on July 26 (details will be released at a later date). This year’s Gatorade Junior Training Camp will take place on July 28.

Unless otherwise noted, all training camp practices will be free of charge to the public. Missouri Western will charge a $5 parking fee per vehicle per day. On July 26, July 28 and August 4, MWSU will charge a $5 admission fee into practice.

Weather and field conditions are evaluated daily. All dates and times provided are subject to change. If practice is moved indoors due to poor conditions it will be closed to the general public. The club will notify fans via social media channels as soon as a decision is made.

Thursday, July 26	Practice – 3:30 p.m. | First Practice Open to the Public – $5 Admission Fee | Team Autograph Session* | Back to Football Celebration at Bill Snyder Pavilion (Details to Follow)
Friday, July 27	Practice – 8:15 a.m.
Saturday, July 28	Practice – 8:15 a.m. | Team Autograph Session* – $5 Admission Fee | Gatorade Jr. Training Camp (Details to Follow)
Sunday, July 29	Practice – 8:15 a.m. | Season Ticket Member Day | Team Autograph Session*
Monday, July 30	Practice – 9:15 a.m.
Tuesday, July 31	No Practice
Wednesday, Aug. 1	Practice – 8:15 a.m.
Thursday, Aug. 2	Practice – 8:15 a.m.
Friday, Aug. 3	No Practice
Saturday, Aug. 4	Practice – 8:15 a.m. | Family Fun Day presented by Family Center Farm & Home – $5 Admission Fee | Team Autograph Session*
Sunday, Aug. 5	Practice – 8:15 a.m. | Season Ticket Member Day | Team Autograph Session*
Monday, Aug. 6	Practice – 8:15 a.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 7	Practice – 9:15 a.m.
Wednesday, Aug. 8	No Practice
Thursday, Aug. 9	Preseason Game No. 1 – Chiefs vs. Texans – 7:30 p.m. CT
Friday, Aug. 10	No Practice
Saturday, Aug. 11	Practice – 8:15 a.m. | Chiefs Alumni Day
Sunday, Aug. 12	Practice – 8:15 a.m.
Monday, Aug. 13	Practice – 8:15 a.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 14	Practice – 9:15 a.m. | Military Appreciation Day | Final Camp Practice

*Practices July 23-25 are closed to the general public.

*Weather and field conditions are evaluated daily. All dates and times provided are subject to change. If practice is moved indoors due to poor conditions it will be closed to the general public. The club will notify fans via social media channels as soon as a decision is made.

For more information about training camp, please visit the Chiefs website at www.chiefs.com.