[Brananorama]

4/13/15
Kansas City Royals (2-4) at Minnesota Twins (2-4)
Edinson Volquez (0-1, 9.00) vs. Ervin Santana (0-1, 6.00)


Omar Infante got the scoring started in the second, as with men on the corners, he grounded into a double play that allowed Eric Hosmer to score. A two-out single from Alex Gordon in the next inning scored another to make it 2-0. A brief rain delay struck between the bottom of the third and the top of the fourth, but less than half an hour’s pause meant I was sending Ervin Santana back out there. Santana pitched well on the other end of the storm, even inducing a strike-’em-out, throw-’em-out with Kurt Suzuki. Another ground ball scored a third run for the Royals in the sixth. Edinson Volquez held the Twins darn near hostage for the majority of the game, and allowed just three hits in his six-plus innings of work. The Twins tried to get to work on his replacement, Luke Hochevar, and got the tying run to the plate with the top of the order. Danny Santana brought the Twins into the run column with a near double-play grounder to make it 3-1. Joe Mauer singled to keep the inning alive, but Brian Dozier fanned versus Kelvin Herrera to end the threat. (Dozier has been batting third so far for me, but has so far put up a .100/.250/.100 line and his having an abysmal start to his year.) Brian Duensing pitched two scoreless in relief of Ervin, and the Twins got Greg Holland for the ninth. Holland walked pinch-hitter Eduardo Escobar and brought the tying run to the plate in pinch-hitter Josmil Pinto. This was one of those moments where I felt like a genius manager, as Pinto unloaded one into the bullpen in left-center and sent the fanbase into a frenzy.


We headed to extra innings with Pinto behind the plate, Escobar at third, and Casey Fien on the mound. Fien gave up a base knock and a double to put two men in scoring position with nobody out, and with a set of lefties due up, I was faced with a choice: leave in Fien, go to one of two remaining lefties (Caleb Thielbar), or bring in Perk to shut them down? I opted to go for a more bearing-down move and had Glen Perkins enter the game. Perkins got a popup from Gordon and induced a groundball from Kendrys Morales, but Escobar -- whose natural position is by no means third base, allowed it to get away from him and into foul territory, scratching one across for Kansas City. (I’d think the wet field conditions might have attributed a bit to that misplay, as well.) Eric Hosmer added a double -- his third of the game -- and Rafael Furcal had a single that made it 6-3. Add in a ground-rule double for Lorenzo Cain and the Royals had a four-run advantage. Royal reliever Louis Coleman worked a 1-2-3 bottom half and Kansas City got the win.
Kansas City 7, Minnesota 3 -- F/10
WP: Louis Coleman (1-0, 0.00) / LP: Casey Fien (0-1, 9.00)
League Notes: The Chicago White Sox have picked up 39-year-old free agent utility infielder Marco Scutaro on a one-year deal worth $812k. Just two years removed from an All-Star season with the San Francisco Giants, Scutaro played in just five games last year and will serve as a depth man for Chicago.
It’s tough news for Tampa Bay, as their strong young starter Alex Cobb will miss over a year with a harsh elbow ligament reconstruction surgery. The road to recovery is largely uphill for 27-year-old Cobb, who posted ERAs under 3.00 in his last two seasons as a starter with the Rays.
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4/15/15
Kansas City Royals (3-4) at Minnesota Twins (2-5)
Danny Duffy (0-0, 3.60) vs. Kyle Gibson (1-0, 0.00)


The Twins find themselves in a situation where they need to get on a roll quickly if they want .500 to seem like a somewhat reachable goal throughout the year. I’d rather hover around the .500 mark throughout than get too far behind and feel like we’re playing catch-up against our remaining number of games. The Royals opened the scoring today with a two-run single in a bases-loaded spot for Rafael Furcal. After Kyle Gibson re-loaded the bases with a walk, Salvador Perez smacked a deep fly to left that wound up nothing more than a sac fly to make it 3-0 Royals. The score then held and the game progressed quickly through the fifth inning, with Gibson allowing no more runs and Danny Duffy not having allowed a Twins runner on base safe for by the base on balls. Kyle began to struggle in the sixth, walking his third man (no strikeouts yet) and nearly allowing a runner to score -- save for an outfield assist from the arm of Torii Hunter, and Gibson finished the inning without another run allowed.


The Twins finally broke up Duffy’s no-hitter when Joe Mauer laced a double to straightaway center field, but he was left at third. Brian Duensing threw two perfect innings in relief of Gibson. J.R. Graham added a scoreless top of the ninth, and Greg Holland vied for a more successful save situation against Minnesota. Kennys Vargas wound up coming to the plate as the tying run, but was set down on strikes to give the Royals the victory.
Kansas City 3, Minnesota 0
WP: Danny Duffy (1-0, 1.50) / LP: Kyle Gibson (1-1, 0.64) / SV: Greg Holland (2, 7.71)


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4/16/15
Kansas City Royals (4-4) at Minnesota Twins (2-6)
Jason Vargas (0-1, 10.38) vs. Ricky Nolasco (0-0, 9.00)
It didn’t take long for Ricky Nolasco to give up his first run in this outing, as three batters in Jarrod Dyson had already scored to make it a 1-0 game. Salvador Perez followed with a second run, scoring on a double play. Brian Dozier got just his third hit of the year in the second inning. I’ve left him batting third waiting for him to get hot again, but oh, man, that .120/.267/.120 line is not remotely attractive. Oswaldo Arcia, who’s thus far been the team’s best hitter, doubled to raise his average to .313, then scored on a Kennys Vargas fly ball -- but a sacrifice fly on the Royals’ side of things put the score to 3-1. Eric Hosmer scored two with a single later in the inning. After back-to-back walks opened Ricky’s fourth, I’d had enough and brought in long man Tim Stauffer for already the fourth time in nine games. Stauffer quickly got a couple grounders and ended the inning. The Twins never got anything going off Jason Vargas, who was lifted in the sixth due to hamstring soreness. After that, it didn’t take much longer for Kansas City to finish out the sweep, as with two men on in the bottom of the ninth, Greg Holland clocked in a one-out save to put the Twins away.
Kansas City 5, Minnesota 1
WP: Jason Vargas (1-1, 5.40) / LP: Ricky Nolasco (0-1, 11.25) / SV: Greg Holland (3, 7.20)
Series Notes: Disappointing all around. While the positives to take away from this can be that we’ve seen a lot now from Thielbar, Duensing, Graham, and Stauffer, and they’ve all been great so far (even if a few more strikeouts wouldn’t be rejected), the fact remains that the offense -- particularly the power -- needs a major lift, and players like Dozier and Danny Santana really need to hit a stride to get this team running. Already five games under .500, I need a big showing in the next series or else I might start to get worried.
League Notes: The Cardinals have extended their new right fielder, as 25-year-old Jason Heyward has signed himself a 5-year, $95MM deal that will keep him in St. Louis through the 2020 season. Heyward is currently awaiting an injury diagnosis following a bruised jaw a day ago.
The Detroit Tigers have scooped up international free agent Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. The 16-year-old Dominican right fielder takes after his father and projects for incredible hitting talent.
The Miami Marlins have signed catcher Lorenzo Quintana out of free agency on a one-year, $1.02MM deal after the 26-year-old took a year off while playing in Cuba.
Texas Rangers starter Ross Detweiler has uncovered bone spurs in his elbow and will miss five months.
Transaction Notes: I’ve decided to make an offer to IFA starting pitcher Yadier Alvarez, a 19-year-old Cuban righty whose claim to fame is overpowering hitters. The kid tells me I’m up against the Angels in terms of bidding for his services, but I offer $1.66MM out of my $24 million free agency money pool and expect to hear back soon.