OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – James Shields pitched eight sharp innings for his first win in nearly a month, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Oakland Athletics 4-2 on Sunday.

Shields (10-6) retired his first 15 batters before Josh Reddick hit a leadoff homer in the sixth. Alberto Callaspo then had a one-out single before Sam Fuld lined into an double play.

The 32-year-old Shields (10-6) allowed two runs and four hits. He walked none for the fifth time this season.

Billy Butler and Omar Infante had three hits apiece for Kansas City.

Reddick homered twice, getting to Shields again in the eighth.

 

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – Raul Ibanez homered to break his own franchise record for oldest Royals player to clear the fences, and Kansas City beat the Oakland Athletics 1-0 on Friday night.

The 42-year-old Ibanez connected in the fifth inning for his fifth homer, giving Jeremy Guthrie the lone run he needed for Kansas City’s first victory at the Oakland Coliseum since April 10, 2012. The Royals went 1-5 against the A’s last season, including 0-3 on the road.

Guthrie (7-9) struck out six in six innings to win his second straight outing following a three-start skid as the Royals beat the team with baseball’s best record for their third straight win and eighth in 10. It could get tougher Saturday, when Jon Lester makes his A’s debut two days after being traded by the Boston Red Sox.

The A’s struggled to get anything going and lost for the third time in four games a day after trading slugging left fielder Yoenis Cespedes to the Red Sox for Lester and Jonny Gomes.

The Junction City Brigade used a six-run sixth inning to break open a close game, and rolled on to a 10-5 victory over the Kansas City Monarchs.

The win came in the final game of the season for the Brigade, who finished with the campaign with a final record of 27-12. Junction City head coach Shane Sieben said the Brigade did a good job of some big innings, “and getting some big swings with runners in scoring position and we did a really good of executing with runners in scoring position.”

James Denton of Junction City had a good night, hitting a home run and reaching base two other times. He scored two runs in the ballgame.

There was a good crowd turnout on USD 475 Night at the ballpark. Brigade General Manager Cecil Aska put the rough count on the turnout at a little more than 850 people. “This was even bigger than opening night. I think opening night was right at 700.”

The season was successful for Junction City, with the team capturing the Mid Plains League championship by winning the League’s Summer Classic tournament. First baseman / designated hitter Brett Nickle was named MVP of the league, while pitcher Dalton Shalberg was named Pitcher of the Year in the conference.

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) – The Kansas City Chiefs received good news on the injury to All-Pro safety Eric Berry.

Berry, who left Thursday’s training camp practice with what the team said was a sore ankle, has a right heel injury according to team spokesman Ted Crews.

Berry did not practice Friday, but was observed walking without a noticeable limp.

“There’s just letting him have a few days just to let that relax,” Crews said.

The news, however, isn’t as good surrounding second-year defensive back Sanders Commings.

“He had very similar to a high ankle sprain, but to the extreme where he needed surgery to repair that high ankle sprain,” Chiefs head athletic training Rick Burkholder said.

“As his foot externally rotated on the play, he fractured his fibula.”

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Kansas City Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer will be out three to six weeks with a stress fracture of the third finger of his right hand.

He aggravated a previous injury on a check swing in the fourth inning of a 6-3 victory Thursday night over the Minnesota Twins. Billy Butler hit for Hosmer in the sixth and X-ray’s revealed the fracture.

Hosmer was hit by a pitch by Jon Lester on July 20 at Boston and did not start six of the next seven games.

“Very frustrating, bad timing,” Hosmer said.

Hosmer, who will go on the disabled list, had a 16-game hitting streak before Lester’s pitch hit him.

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Alcides Escobar hit a two-run triple and Yordano Ventura pitched seven effective innings as the Kansas City Royals defeated the Minnesota Twins 6-3 Thursday.

Escobar’s triple highlighted a four-run seventh. The inning also included Jarrod Dyson’s run-scoring single. Dyson stole second and third and scored on catcher Eric Fryer’s throwing error.

Ventura limited the Twins to two runs, one earned, on five hits, while striking out seven.

Danny Santana led off the game with a home run. Mike Moustakas committed two throwing errors in the third to gift the Twins with an unearned run.

Caleb Thielbar retired only one of three batters he faced for Minnesota.

K-State incoming freshman baskeball player Tre Harris will play with the Global Sports

Academy in  Belgium, Germany, England, and the Netherlands August 11-19.

They will spend seven days playing five games against various club teams in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. There will also be numerous sight-seeing opportunities in multiple cities from London to Amsterdam.

Global Sports Academy is a not-for-profit organization created to arrange athletic competition with the goal to promote international goodwill and a better understanding between nations.

A 6-foot-5, 195-pound shooting guard from Edwardsville, Illinois, Harris came to K-State from Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro, Virginia, where he helped the Caissons achieve a No. 1 ranking for the firs time in school history. He averaged a team-leading 9 points per game for a squad that posted a 25-7 overall record and advanced to the National Prep Championships for the second consecutive season in 2013-14.  He played his one postgraduate year at Fishburne after a four-year career at Edwardsville High School, where he left as the school’s No. 4 all-time scorer with 1,460 points.

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Stuck in limbo between contending and conceding, the Kansas City Royals opted to stand pat as baseball’s non-waiver trade deadline passed Thursday, even as several other teams pulled off splashy moves.

The Tigers, who led the Royals by 4 1/2 games in the AL Central at the start of the day, landed arguably the biggest coup in left-hander David Price. The Mariners and Yankees, neck-and-neck with Kansas City in the wild-card hunt, also were involved in a series of trades.

Meanwhile, Royals general manager Dayton Moore said his perennially building club checked on potential trade targets but “at the end of the day, there weren’t any players we could get our hands on that would be upgrades over what we have.”

The Royals haven’t made the playoffs since 1985.

 

The Kansas State Wildcats have been ranked 21st in the Preseason Amway Coaches Poll released Thursday.

The Wildcats were one of four Big 12 teams ranked in the season’s initial top 25.

The other Big 12 programs in the poll include Oklahoma ( 3rd ), Baylor ( 10th ), and Texas ( 24th).

Kansas State was also ranked 21st by the coaches prior to the Big 12 Championship season of 2012.

 

 

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) – Eric Berry left Chiefs practice on Thursday after hurting his lower right leg, the second injury that the Pro Bowl safety has sustained so far in training camp.

Berry missed some time earlier with a dislocated finger.

It was unclear what happened to Berry during one of the early sessions of practice at Missouri Western. He was checked by trainers in the injury tent next to the field, then talked with other team officials on the sideline before leaving the field on a cart.

Berry was able to put weight on the leg, but was noticeably limping. Chiefs coach Andy Reid was expected to discuss the nature and severity of the injury after practice.