KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Danny Duffy bounced back after getting hit by a line drive that left him with numbness in his throwing hand in last start.

Duffy (4-5) pitched a strong six innings and ended a nine-start winless skid, and Jorge Soler and Nicky Lopez hit back-to-back RBI singles twice as the Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox 7-5 on Wednesday night.

“I’m really thankful that nothing bad happened and went out there and was able to compete again five days later,” Duffy said.

The left-hander had all three of his pitches working. He scattered six hits and struck out five in sending Chicago to its season-worst sixth straight loss. With a heat index well above 100 degrees for most of the game, Royals manager Ned Yost was careful not to overwork him.

“It was hot, it was humid and he was starting to labor. He was getting worn out,” Yost said.

Duffy’s strong start followed Jakob Junis’ seven innings of one-run ball Monday and Glenn Sparkman’s complete game shutout Tuesday.

The second of Soler and Lopez’s consecutive two-out, RBI hits put Kansas City up 6-0 and gave Duffy some run support. The Royals had scored just 15 runs over Duffy’s last eight outings.

A.J. Reed hit a three-run homer, his first, with two outs in the ninth inning off Wily Peralta. Ian Kennedy entered the game and completed the one-out save, his 15th in 18 opportunities.

Ivan Nova (4-9) lasted just 4 2/3 innings and struggled with his command. He allowed six runs and six hits with five walks. After giving up two runs in the first inning, Nova retired 13 of the next 14 batters before running into trouble again in the fifth with two outs, allowing five straight batters to reach base, three by walks.

“You don’t want to give in in that situation,” Nova said. “There were a couple of guys I felt like I made good pitches. To Gordon, a couple of pitches he didn’t swing at. Again, I had tough luck in that situation today.”

White Sox starters have struggled over the last three weeks, going 4-8 with a 5.11 ERA in the last 17 games. The last White Sox starter to throw more than six innings was Lucas Giolito on June 8.

Ryan Goins homered in his first major league game this season, a two-run shot into the Royals’ bullpen in the sixth inning. That snapped a 15-inning scoring drought for the White Sox that dating to Monday’s game.

The White Sox have scored just 18 runs in their last eight games and scored more than three runs for the first time since Independence Day. In six games since the All-Star break, Chicago has been outscored 44-12.

“We’re going to keep playing; have to keep playing,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “That’s the only thing left. If they keep battling like they did today towards the end, there’s a little bit of the better life than we’ve seen over the last six days or whatever. There’s still so much baseball left. We’ve got to get back on track.”

The Royals have come roaring out of the All-Star break, winning five of six, for their best stretch of the season. Kansas City has also won consecutive series for the first time this season.

“It’s awesome, man. It’s great,” Duffy said. “We’re getting to that point where we’re gaining confidence again. Guys are playing great. The offense is doing a great job of going up there every at-bat and having good at-bats and we’re just kind of following them. As a staff, just kind of take the baton and run with it.”

Soler and Lopez also slapped RBI singles in the first inning, the fourth time in six games since the All-Star break Kansas City has scored in the opening frame.

Whit Merrifield had three more hits and was on base five times, extending his hitting streak to 15 games. He also increased his league-leading hit total to 128. During the streak, Merrifield is hitting .410 (25-61).

“Another great day,” Yost said. “Three hits, but it’s just what he’s been doing. You know, he’s been as consistent as anyone in major league baseball the last couple years with his performance day-in and day-out.”

The Junction City Blues shut out Andover 10-0 in the Single A American Legion Zone Tournament Wednesday in Newton.

Junction City will advance into a semifinal game in the zone tournament at 5 p.m. Thursday.

The Junction City Junior Baseball Association 8-and-Under teams captured the championship in their division at the Sunflower State Games.

The team also won the championship of the Junction City Bash Tournament, Manhattan Wildcat League and the Concordia Spring Classic Baseball Tournament. They finished second in the Chapman Baseball Tournament.

Photos courtesy of Brigade 8-and-Under team:

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Glen Sparkman overcame some early struggles and settled down for his first career complete game and shutout.

Sparkman pitched a five-hitter, Whit Merrifield and Hunter Dozier both had three hits including a home run, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White sox 11-0 Tuesday night.

“My fastball command was shaky early on,” Sparkman said. “Couldn’t really locate it as much, and the curveball as well.”

He wasn’t about to leave the game before trying to finish it. Manager Ned Yost approached him after the eighth.

“He asked ‘How are you feeling?’ I said ‘I feel great,'” Sparkman said. “So, in the ninth he just said ‘Keep going.’ I was all adrenaline, and excited, so I kept going.”

Sparkman (3-5) finished with a career-high eight strikeouts and one walk in the Royals’ first complete-game shutout since June 2, 2017, when Jason Vargas beat Cleveland 4-0.

Kansas City improved to 4-1 since the All-Star break and dropped the White Sox to 0-5.

“We’re playing hard,” Chicago’s Charlie Tilson said. “Obviously, you’ve got to do a little better. It’s part of the game. I think the biggest thing is how you bounce back from it and continue to push and get back to where we need to be.”

Merrifield, hitting .379 (22 for 58) in a 14-game hitting streak, raced to an inside-the-park homer down the right-field line in the fourth inning after Cam Gallagher doubled. Plate umpire Tom Hallion initially called Merrifield out on the play at home, but it was overturned after a quick replay review. That made the score 6-0 and gave Merrifield the 100th inside-the-park homer in Royals history.

“It was kind of a line drive down the line. I had a feeling it was going to stay fair and it did,” Merrifield said. “I saw him dive and miss it and I know that corner. If it’s in that corner, it can keep rolling and I knew I had a chance.”

Dozier hit a two-run, 447-foot homer to left field in the eighth inning to cap a four-run inning and finish the scoring.

Chicago starter Dylan Cease (1-1) gave up six runs — four earned — and eight hits in six innings. He walked one and struck out seven.

The White Sox had a rocky first inning as the Royals scored twice. Merrifield led off with long fly that was caught by center fielder Tilson as he collided with left fielder Eloy Jimenez, who went down in pain next to the wall. Jimenez was taken out with a sore right elbow.

Adalberto Mondesi followed with a single, and took second on Cease’s errant pickoff attempt. Mondesi then stole third and continued home when Yoan Moncada missed catcher James McCann’s throw. Alex Gordon followed with a single and scored on Hunter Dozier’s triple to right for a 2-0 lead.

A third White Sox error contributed to the Royals’ two-run third inning. After Mondesi singled, shortstop Leury Garcia fielded Gordon’s grounder, but threw wildly past second base, allowing Mondesi to score and Gordon to advance to third. Gordon was thrown out at the plate by second baseman Yolmer Sanchez but Bubba Starling’s single drove in Jorge Soler to push the lead to 4-0.

Seven members of the Junction City Brigade were on the Blue Team in the Mid Plains League All Star Game Tuesday night. Their Blue Team squad comprised of players from Sabetha, Junction City, Topeka and a portion of the Baldwin City Blues fell to the Red Team 12-4. The Red Team included players from Liberty, Midwest A’s, Kansas City Knights and a portion of the Baldwin City squad.

Players who represented the Brigade included Jack Christian, Bryce Hestand, Adam Becker, Zane Schmidt, Blaze Brothers, Tyler Halstead and George Specht.

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Royals are planning to extend the netting at Kauffman Stadium to better protect fans.

The decision comes after a young fan was struck by a hard-hit foul ball Sunday during the Royals’ game against the Detroit Tigers.

Spokesman Toby Cook told KSHB-TV the girl was kept at a hospital overnight for observation and expected to be released Monday.

“I didn’t get a good look at it but I think it was a mom and a little girl and what do you do when a ball’s coming in like that? It’s just hard to protect yourself. The best thing that I think Major League Baseball could do and we could do is extend the netting,” Royals manager Ned Yost said before Monday night’s game against the Chicago White Sox. “We don’t want any of our fans coming out and getting hurt. That’s the last thing we want. This is going to be a good thing when they get these nets extended.”

Cook said the club had commissioned a study on how to expand the netting before Sunday’s incident. The timing of extending the netting depends on engineering and design challenges. But he said more netting could be added before the season ends.

Following recommendations from Major League Baseball, the Royals in 2016 extended the netting from the outside edges of the dugouts and raised it behind home plate about 8 feet.

“You hate to say it, but I think since the popularity of cellphones, more people have gotten hit. Because they’re just not paying attention to every pitch like they did before,” Yost said. “It’s not everybody. Sometimes things happen. Sometimes you just can’t move.”

CHICAGO (AP) — With their All-Star catcher sidelined, the Chicago Cubs quickly found some experienced help behind the plate.

The NL Central leaders acquired Martín Maldonado in a trade with Kansas City on Monday night that sent left-hander Mike Montgomery to the Royals.

Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein announced the deal following Chicago’s 6-3 loss to Cincinnati — adding that top catcher Willson Contreras was going on the 10-day injured list with a strain to the arch area of his right foot.

The 32-year-old Maldonado, a Gold Glove winner in 2017 with the Angels, was batting .227 with six homers and 17 RBIs in 74 games for the struggling Royals this season. The Cubs will be his fifth team in nine major league seasons, and Epstein expects him to provide a strong defensive presence.

“He can really receive,” Epstein said. “He can really throw. He’s caught playoff games. He’s handled some of the best pitchers in the game. He’s a favorite of pitchers to throw to. He calls a great game.”

Contreras’ injury initially was not deemed serious and he was expected to start Tuesday, but an MRI showed enough damage to warrant shutting down the 27-year-old. Epstein said Contreras should improve quickly with rest and the club hopes he’ll be ready to play once eligible to return from a backdated stint on the IL.

“Our medical staff feels like if he were to try to play on it, that he’d be risking exacerbating the injury and turning it into something long term,” Epstein said. “So we have to get ahead of it, take it out of Willie’s hands and get him off his feet.”

The Cubs, holding a slim lead in their crowded division, weren’t sure if Maldonado would arrive at Wrigley Field in time for Tuesday night’s game against the Reds. He was pulled by the Royals from Monday night’s home game against the Chicago White Sox for a pinch-hitter, backup catcher Cam Gallagher, in the sixth inning.

Maldonado is a .220 career hitter with 57 homers and 210 RBIs in 686 games.

Montgomery, 30, is 1-2 with a 5.67 ERA in 20 relief appearances for the Cubs this year, and was 14-17 with three saves in 119 games for Chicago over four seasons.

Montgomery got the final out in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series at Cleveland, ending the Cubs’ 108-year championship drought.

“You can’t talk about his contributions without talking about him getting the last out in that World Series that changed everybody’s lives,” Epstein said. “Beyond that, I thought he started coming into his own.”

Montgomery is expected to get a chance to start with the Royals, who drafted him in 2008. He was traded to Tampa Bay four years later with Wil Myers and Jake Odorizzi, and made his big league debut with Seattle in 2015.

The deal with the Rays involving Montgomery was one of the most significant in Royals history because it netted pitchers James Shields and Wade Davis.

Shields won 27 games over two strong seasons with the Royals and helped them capture the 2014 AL pennant. Davis blossomed into a lights-out reliever in Kansas City and was a critical member of the 2015 World Series championship team.

Royals general manager Dayton Moore said the club intends to use Montgomery in the rotation as a replacement for Homer Bailey, who was dealt to Oakland on Sunday.

“He clearly wants to start,” Moore said about Montgomery. “He’s kind of been used in a very versatile role over there. He’s pitched in the middle, he’s pitched situational — it’s just a good opportunity to get him back and put him in the rotation.

“We’re going to have to stretch him out,” the GM added, “but the plan is for him to start on Friday (at Cleveland). Once we get him here and talk to him and analyze it a little more, we’ll figure out how many pitches he goes.”

Moore said catcher Meibrys Viloria will be called up from Double-A Northwest Arkansas to replace Maldonado on the roster. Viloria is batting .264 in 63 games.

Moore appreciated the effort this year from Maldonado, signed to a $2.5 million, one-year contract as a free agent to take over the starting job from injured All-Star Salvador Pérez, who is sidelined for the entire season.

“We can’t say enough about how he competed, the tone he set for our pitching staff, the way he studies, the way he prepares,” Moore said. “He’s played some of his best baseball here the last month.”

The Junction City Brigade dropped their final regular season game to the Kansas City Knights by the score of 1-0 Monday night in Kansas City.

The Brigade have an overall record of 24-5.

The Cowdin Cup postseason playoffs are next with the Brigade getting a bye until the semifinals on July 22nd.

The Junction City Blues are 1-1 in the American Legion Single A Zone Tournament in Newton. The Blues lost to the Salina Hawks on Monday 7-4 after defeating the Hutchinson Hawks 7-3 on Sunday.

This is a double elimination tournament so the Blues remain alive in the competition. Coach Pat Stivers said they will play Andover at 1 p.m. on Wednesday. Junction City must win three games to capture the zone championship and advance to the state tournament.

The effort is under way to form a new soccer program that will have teams comprised of players from Junction City, Fort Riley and surrounding communities. The team will play in a league in Topeka.

Coordinator Craig Bender said right now the only existing traveling soccer programs are in Manhattan. “They’re fairly expensive, and they’re timewise kind of difficult to get to. So we’re trying to do a more economically affordable option for communities and players in our area. ” Bender addded the start-up fee would be $250 per person, about one-fifth the cost of playing on a team in Manhattan.

Bender stated, “The league will be in Topeka so instead of having to drive to Kansas City for leagues you’ll have a one-hour drive so it’s easy there and back vs. having to spend the night if you’re going to Kansas City a lot of times.”

There will be three different age groups for players, ranging from ages 7 to 14. There will be free tryouts this Saturday ( July 20th ) at Fegan Field in Junction City. The schedule includes 10 a.m. registration and tryouts from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. for youth with birth years 2011 and 2012, registration at 11 a.m. with tryouts from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for youth born in 2009 and 2010, and registration at noon with tryouts from 12:30 – 2 p.m. for youth with birth years 2006, 2007 and 2008. A player birth certificate is needed for registration.

A commitment meeting is scheduled at 6 p.m. Monday at the First Christian Church meeting room. For information contact Karen Bender at 785-341-9209 and you can go to the Danger Futbol Club facebook page.