KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The next run Chi Chi Gonzalez gives up in the majors will be his first.

“It is going to be sad,” Gonzalez said, then laughed.

Gonzalez threw a three-hit shutout in his second major league start as the Texas Rangers beat the skidding Kansas City Royals 4-0 Friday night.

The Royals lost for the eighth time in 10 games, while the Rangers have won six of seven and 14 of 18 to move into second place in the AL West behind Houston.

Gonzalez (2-0), the Rangers’ 2013 first-round draft pick out of Oral Roberts, has not allowed a run and yielded only five hits in 14 2/3 innings in his first two starts. He checked the Royals on three singles, walked two and struck out two.

“I had the same jitters just because it was my first away start,” said Gonzalez, but he kept the sellout crowd at Kauffman Stadium quiet.

Gonzalez worked around five walks in 5 2/3 innings to top Boston 8-0 on May 30 in his big league debut.

“I threw more strikes and got ahead of a lot more hitters than in my last outing, which is what I was hoping to do,” Gonzalez said.

He threw 102 pitches in eight innings, and pitching coach Mike Maddux visited him in the dugout.

“I sat down and got a drink of water, Mike came up to me and asked how I was feeling,” Gonzalez said. “I said I felt strong, I felt good. He said `all right, go get `em.” That was the end of that conversation.”

Manager Jeff Banister said it “was not an easy decision” to send him out for the ninth.

“This is a young man that’s fresh in the big leagues, second major league start,” Banister said. “I’m very conscious of where he is. I felt like there was not a lot of stress on any of the innings. I felt he was in still in control, the velocity and pitchability was still there. We had a pitch count we weren’t going beyond.

“We had (Shawn) Tolleson ready if he got into any trouble. He didn’t get into any trouble.”

Mitch Moreland led off the Rangers’ three-run sixth with a homer. Robinson Chirinos celebrated his 31st birthday with a two-run single to finish right-hander Edinson Volquez’s night.

Volquez (4-4) gave up four runs and six hits, while striking out six and walking three in 5 1/3 innings.

Gonzalez, who retired 12 in a row after walking Lorenzo Cain in the first, did not allow a Royal to reach second base until the seventh. Eric Hosmer had a bunt single and Kendrys Morales walked, but Alex Gordon grounded into an inning-ending double play.

“We went through him four times today and still couldn’t solve him,” Royals manager Ned Yost said of Gonzalez.

Delino DeShields led off the game with a triple and scored on Shin-Soo Choo’s groundout.

 

The Friday night baseball games between the Junction City Blues and Wamego 18 and under team at Rathert Field has been postponed due to wet field conditions.

American Legion Baseball District spokesman Sonny Ehm confirmed the postponement. There is no word yet on a makeup date.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Trevor Bauer bounced a couple of pitches in the dirt, long before it became a soggy puddle of mud.

He threw a few wide. A couple high and tight.

Even when Bauer did find the strike zone, the Royals were just as powerless to hit him.

The young right-hander allowed only a long two-run homer by Lorenzo Cain while pitching into the seventh inning, and Brandon Moss hit a two-run shot of his own as the Cleveland Indians beat Kansas City 6-2 on Thursday night in a game called early because of rain.

“Early on he had some struggles. He left a pitch over to Cain. After that, he was really good,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “He really competes.”

Bauer (5-2) has allowed two runs or fewer in each of his last four starts, getting to the seventh in each of them. He walked four but also struck out five Thursday night.

“The trend is we’ve been facing good pitching,” said Royals manager Ned Yost, whose team has lost seven of nine. “That’s the trend.”

After struggling to score the previous night, the Indians pounded away against Chris Young (4-2) over the first five innings. They sent eight batters to the plate during a four-run third inning, and Moss added his second homer of the series with nobody out in the fifth.

“I wasn’t as sharp as I’d like to be. But when I made pitches, I felt like they fought it off and fouled it off and took some good ones,” Young said. “They were better than me tonight.”

The game was delayed with one out in the bottom of the eighth as lightning and heavy rain rolled into the area. The umpires waited 44 minutes before calling Cleveland’s sixth win in eight games.

Jason Kipnis, Michael Brantley and David Murphy also drove in runs for Cleveland.

The slumping Royals offense never got Bauer in a whole lot of trouble. They didn’t manage a hit until Omar Infante’s single leading off the third, and the only time they punctured the scoreboard came when Cain ripped a two-run shot 422 feet to straightaway center moments later.

Otherwise, the former first-round draft pick harnessed some erratic early stuff to flummox the Kansas City lineup. Bauer made Salvador Perez look foolish with a strikeout to end the second, then rung up Alcides Escobar to leave a runner stranded in the fourth.

The result was Bauer’s first victory in four career starts against the Royals.

The Manhattan – Ogden USD 383 Board of Education has approved the naming of the football field at Bishop Stadium in honor of former Manhattan High School head football coach Lew Lane.

Lane was the MHS football coach from 1976 to 1997, and in his 22-year career he directed teams to 15 championships.

The Board approved the naming of Bishop Stadium’s field to “Lew Lane Field” by a 7-0 vote.

MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State Athletics and SportsLabs – one of the nation’s leading sports technology providers — are partnering on a new k-statesports.com, mobile/tablet applications and full digital platform, providing Wildcat fans with industry-leading features and enhanced mobile and video experiences, officials announced today.

The revamped site at k-statesports.com will continue to provide unsurpassed content for fans while now utilizing the latest internet technology to provide a seamless, robust experience for fans that is unique to K-State. SportsLabs, in cooperation with K-State’s athletic internet services and communications staff, has been working the past several months in preparing both the site’s and applications’ new look/feel and features for the anticipated July 1 launch.

“Our fans continue to crave content, whether it be through nationally-acclaimed K-StateHD.TV, k-statesports.com, our mobile applications or various social media platforms, and we feel this partnership with SportsLabs will dramatically enhance their overall experience,” said Athletics Director John Currie. “I appreciate Director of Internet Services Dave Smoller, in addition to John Burris and the entire SportsLabs staff, for their hard work throughout this process, and I know the K-State Nation will be satisfied with these new enhancements as we continue to improve the digital experience for our fans.”

One of the key enhancements of the new platform is the fully responsive site design, which will allow users to view content in a consistent, streamlined, and user-friendly presentation across all desktop, mobile and tablet devices.

In addition to the website, Wildcat fans will also enjoy a vastly improved mobile experience. Following the launch, fans can download the new mobile application (“K-State Gameday”) for FREE, which will be available for iPhones and Android Smartphones, enabling fans to access all sport programs, live audio, video and real-time K-State social streams. The app, which will launch August 1 and replace the current application, will be the ultimate guide for fans attending K-State games and include interactive maps, fan guides, upgrades and more.

“K-State is already a digital leader in several categories so any launch of new experiences had to be a move to the next generation of media offerings,” said Burris, President and Co-Founder of Silver Chalice and SportsLabs. “Working hand-in-hand with the team at the university, we believe we’ve built something special that will showcase not only the athletic success but the institutional leadership of K-State.”

Fans will also see a seamless transition with K-StateHD.TV, the most-watched intercollegiate digital network in the country. The new SportsLabs platform creates the opportunity for more video distribution through various products and applications.  Fans will also be able to continue to listen to all live audio broadcasts for FREE, while content for K-StateHD.TV will continue to be provided at an unprecedented level. Last season, K-StateHD.TV produced more than 130 live events, and the 2015 season-opening football game against South Dakota on September 5 will be broadcast live on K-StateHD.TV beginning at 5:30 p.m. with the K-State Gameday preview show followed by a 6:10 p.m.kick.

Current monthly and annual K-StateHD.TV subscribers will need to cancel their existing account through the current provider by clicking here. Beginning July 1, all fans will need to re-subscribe to K-StateHD.TV as a new account and can do so at k-statesports.comfollowing launch. Those current subscribers who have paid for annual subscriptions will be contacted directly via email for specific details and instructions regarding how their subscription will be transferred to the new platform.

Subscribers will get access to 130+ live games and events, plus on-demand game replays, with an improved video player that features better performance and stability across platforms. 

“We are thrilled to partner with SportsLabs as we remain fully committed to our fans and their digital experience,” said Smoller. “It is exciting to work in conjunction with such an innovative digital provider to significantly enhance not only k-statesports.com and K-StateHD.TV but also our mobile experience, and we know our fans will feel the same way.”

SportsLabs (www.sportslabs.com) is a leading sports technology provider. At the core of the SportsLabs’ technology is its proprietary Advanced Media Platform (AMP) which streams more audio/video content to more platforms than any other college sports provider. AMP for Sports also ingests content from across the sports and media landscapes, normalizes that content and then presents it to fans on any digital device and platform in the market.  SportsLabs is a Silver Chalice company, the high-growth venture arm of the Chicago White Sox.

The Junction City Brigade ( 5-1 ) and Midwest ‘A’s” ( 4-2 ) hooked up in a doubleheader Wednesday night at Rathert field.

The Brigade came out on top in game one 2-1 when Connor Ross singled in Trevor Jones in the bottom of the 8th inning.

In game two the “A’s” defeated the Brigade for the first time in three tries this season, 6-2.

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Jason Vargas tossed six sharp innings, the Kansas City offense finally woke up against AL Cy Young winner Corey Kluber and the Royals beat the Cleveland Indians 4-2 on Wednesday night.

Mike Moustakas drove in a run in the first inning, and Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer and Kendrys Morales hit consecutive RBI doubles off Kluber (3-6) in the third to give the Royals the lead.

Vargas (4-2) made it stand up in his second start back from the disabled list. The left-hander used a pair of double plays to wiggle out of jams, and limited the streaking Indians to two runs on eight hits while striking out three without a walk.

Greg Holland pitched a perfect ninth for his eighth save.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) – Prized prospect Lagerald Vick, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard, has reclassified for the 2015 class and signed a grant-in-aid agreement to play basketball for Kansas.

Vick was originally planning to attend prep school for a year, but he managed to complete all the academic requirements necessary to be part of this year’s recruiting class. He signed his agreement Tuesday.

He averaged 27 points, 11 rebounds and five assists last season for Douglass High School in Memphis, Tennessee. He averaged 24 points and eight boards as a junior.

Vick joins incoming freshmen Cheick Diallo and Carlton Bragg in giving the Jayhawks one of the top recruiting classes in the country. All three are consensus top-50 recruits.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Michael Brantley drove in the go-ahead run with two outs in the eighth inning, backing a strong performance by Carlos Carrasco and sending the Cleveland Indians to a 2-1 victory over the slumping Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.

Carrasco (7-4) allowed five hits over seven innings to win his third straight start. The big right-hander struck out eight while dominating Kansas City for the second time in a month.

Cody Allen handled a perfect ninth for his 12th save as the Indians won for the 11th time in 14 games. AL Central rival Kansas City lost for the sixth time in its last seven.

Wade Davis (2-1) was summoned in the eighth to keep the game tied, but he walked Michael Bourn to lead off the inning.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Pro Bowl defensive tackle Dontari Poe walked gingerly off the Chiefs’ practice field Tuesday with back pain, and linebacker Derrick Johnson sat out with inflammation in his knee.

The Chiefs were getting back to work with the second week of organized team activities when Poe walked off the field. A team spokesman did not say how long he might be out.

Johnson worked out last week. He missed nearly all of last season with a torn Achilles tendon.

Wide receiver Chris Conley was back on the field after missing time last week to attend the NFL’s rookie premier, while linebacker Justin Houston remained absent from the voluntary workouts after getting the franchise tag earlier this offseason.