Kansas City Royals News

The Kansas City Royals declined their half of a mutual option with Alex Gordon on Friday, making the veteran outfielder a free agent.Gordon had already exercised his side of the option. He now will be paid a $4 million contract buyout instead of the $23 million he would have received if the Royals brought him back for the 2020 season on his existing contract terms.Gordon, 35, batted .266 with 13 home runs and 76 RBIs for the Royals this past season. The three-time All-Star was an integral part of Kansas City's 2015 World Series championship team.

Mike Matheny, who guided the St. Louis Cardinals to the 2013 World Series, was hired Thursday as the manager of the Kansas City Royals.The 49-year-old most recently worked as the Royals' special adviser for player development."Our entire organization is delighted to announce and celebrate the hiring of Mike Matheny," Royals general manager Dayton Moore said in a statement. "Every department has had the pleasure to work and interact with him this past season. Through this interaction, it became very clear to our leadership team that Mike is the obvious person to lead our baseball team. Mike Matheny is a passionate leader with strong virtues, intelligence, and a relentless commitment to help players reach their full potential."He becomes the 17th manager in franchise history, succeeding Ned Yost, who retired at the end of the 2019 season.Matheny succeeded Tony LaRussa as Cardinals manager before the 2012 season and was fired midway through the 2018 campaign. In his tenure, the Cardinals reached the National League playoffs in four consecutive seasons. They lost to the Boston Red Sox in six games in the 2013 World Series.

Brett Phillips' sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth led the Kansas City Royals to a 5-4 win over the visiting Minnesota Twins on Sunday in manager Ned Yost's final game. It was Phillips' first career walk-off RBI.Humberto Arteaga led off the ninth with a double down the left field line. Nick Dini blooped a hit into short right, sending Arteaga to third, and setting up Phillips' heroics.The Royals said before the game that they wanted to win this one especially for Yost, and they got their wish in come-from-behind fashion.With the Royals trailing 4-3, Hunter Dozier led off the eighth with his 10th triple of the season. He joins teammates Whit Merrifield and Adalberto Mondesi for the American League lead in triples. It marks the first time since 1984 (Houston Astros) that a team has had three players with at least 10 triples.Dozier then scored on Ryan O'Hearn's double to tie the score.Ian Kennedy (3-2) pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up the win.Brusdar Graterol (1-1) was the losing pitcher.Even with the loss, the Twins had 55 road wins, tying the 1971 Oakland A's for the third most in major league history.The Twins jumped on Royals starter Jorge Lopez with three runs in the first inning. C.J. Cron hit a two-run, two-out home run, scoring Miguel Sano. Jake Cave followed with a solo home run, the 12th time this season the Twins have recorded back-to-back home runs.

Nelson Cruz belted a lead-off home run in the eighth inning to help the Minnesota Twins defeat the host Kansas City Royals 4-3 Saturday afternoon.Cruz is hitting .371 with nine home runs and 28 RBIs in 16 games against Kansas City this season, the most RBIs against the Royals by one player in Kansas City history.Twins starting third baseman Luis Arraez was carted off with an apparent right leg injury after a collision with first baseman Willians Astudillo on a pop out near the mound to end the bottom of the seventh. The Twins announced after the game that Arraez has a sprained right ankle, and X-rays were negative.Tyler Duffey (5-1), the sixth of eight pitchers the Twins used, picked up the win, despite giving up the second of Jose Soler's two home runs. The two-run shot, Soler's 47th home run of the season, tied the score at 3 in the bottom of the seventh.Taylor Rogers pitched the ninth to record his 30th save.Royals reliever Jacob Barnes (1-5) took the loss.Soler got the Royals on the board in the first with a solo shot to straightaway center. Soler took the American League lead in homers, having been tied at 45 with the Los Angeles Angels' Mike Trout, who is injured and out for the season.

Minnesota scored two runs in each of the first three innings, getting two-run home runs from Miguel Sano and Ryan LaMarre, and the Twins earned a rain-shortened 6-2 win over the host Kansas City Royals on Friday.The game was called after a 40-minute delay following the top of the seventh inning.The American League Central champion Twins (100-60) extended their major league single-season record to 303 home runs.Jose Berrios (14-8) was credited with a complete-game win. He gave up two runs on six hits and two walks in six innings with nine strikeouts.Kansas City's Erik Skoglund (0-3) allowed six runs on nine hits in just three innings. He fanned two and walked one.The Twins got on the board quickly, when Nelson Cruz drove in Sano with a single in the top of the first. The RBI was Cruz's 27th against the Royals this season, the most ever by one player in a season against Kansas City.Eddie Rosario followed with an RBI single, and the Twins were ahead 2-0 before the first out was recorded. Skoglund got out of the jam with a popup and a double play.The Royals got one in the bottom of the first on an RBI groundout by Alex Gordon, scoring Whit Merrifield.

Kansas City Royals shortstop Adalberto Mondesi will undergo surgery on his left shoulder and may not be ready for Opening Day in 2020.The 24-year-old Mondesi is expected to be sidelined for about six months, team trainer Nick Kenney told reporters on Wednesday.Mondesi injured the shoulder for the second time this season during Sunday's loss to the Minnesota Twins. He also injured the shoulder in July and missed 41 games before returning on Sept. 1.

Josh Donaldson had his first career three-double game and drove in four runs as the Atlanta Braves defeated the Kansas City Royals 10-2 Wednesday night.Dansby Swanson added a career-high four hits and two RBIs for the National League East champion Braves (97-62).Atlanta spotted the Royals a 2-0 lead through four innings before scoring 10 straight runs. Three Braves pitchers struck out eight straight Royals batters in the fourth through sixth innings.Luke Jackson (9-2) picked up the win in relief, striking out all four batters he faced.Royals reliever Jacob Barnes (1-4) allowed three runs on one hit and two walks in two-thirds of an inning. He struck out two. Royals pitchers combined for seven walks.Neither starter lasted five innings. Atlanta's Josh Tomlin gave way to the bullpen following the third. He allowed one run on four hits with three strikeouts and no walks.Kansas City's Mike Montgomery held the Braves scoreless before allowing two runs to tie the game with two outs in the fifth. He wound up allowing the two runs on five hits and three walks with four strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.The Royals got on the board in the second on back-to-back extra-base hits. Nicky Lopez drove a two-out triple to the wall in right-center, and Meibrys Viloria followed with a double down the line in right.Lopez drove in the second run in the fourth on a bunt base hit, driving in Ryan McBroom, who extended his hitting streak to seven games with a single.

As postseason tune-ups go, this was a rough one for the Atlanta Braves.Bubba Starling's two-run double capped a five-run third inning Tuesday night that lifted the host Kansas City Royals to a 9-6 win over Atlanta.Not only did the Braves lose for the third time in as many meetings with the 100-loss Royals, but they also saw 41-homer man Ronald Acuna Jr. leave due to right hip tightness. Acuna limped toward a Starling fly ball in the bottom of the second and was lifted for precautionary reasons in the next half-inning.Danny Duffy (7-6) got the win after allowing three runs and five hits over five innings, walking two and walking five in what was likely his last start of the year.Julio Teheran (10-11) lasted just 2 1/3 innings, allowing six hits and six runs with one walk and one strikeout. It was the third straight losing start for Teheran, who has allowed 15 runs (14 earned) over 11 1/3 innings in that span and could find himself missing from the Braves' postseason rotation.Teheran landed in first-inning trouble, falling behind 1-0 on Hunter Dozier's sacrifice fly that scored Whit Merrifield.The Royals pulled away in the third.

Ned Yost, who led the Kansas City Royals to the 2015 World Series title and is the winningest manager in franchise history, will retire after Sunday's season finale.Yost, 65, also guided the Royals to the 2014 World Series and posted a 22-9 postseason record. He owns a 744-836 record in 10 seasons with the rebuilding club, which has at least 100 losses in each of the past two seasons."With the development of our young players and our returning veterans, I feel and hope the worst is behind us in this rebuilding phase of our organization," Yost said in a statement."My plan all along was to get us through the rough times then turn it over to a new manager to bring us the rest of the way. I've thoroughly enjoyed my time here as your manager and will never forget the good and the hard times we had together as an organization and a fan base."I will never forget the fact that you fans supported us through it all. Kansas City will always have a special place in my heart, and I look forward to rooting the Royals on to their next World Championship very soon."

Nelson Cruz hit the 400th home run of his career and Miguel Sano hit two home runs to lead the Minnesota Twins to a 12-8 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis.Cruz, who hit his first major league homer against the Twins at the Metrodome while he was with the Texas Rangers on July 31, 2006, became the 57th member of the 400-club in the fourth inning when he hammered a Gabe Speier fastball 412 feet into the second deck in right-center to give the Twins an 8-6 lead.It also was the 40th home run of the season for Cruz, marking the fourth time in his career he has reached that milestone. He is the third Twins player to do it, joining Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, who did it seven times, and Brian Dozier (2016).Sano hit a three-run homer into the second deck left during a six-run first inning against Kansas City starter Jorge Lopez (4-9) and added a solo shot, his 33rd, in the third to the back of the bullpen in left-center for a 7-5 lead. It was the eighth multi-homer game of his career and fifth of the season.Sano drove in four runs. Eddie Rosario had three doubles and three RBIs. Marwin Gonzalez went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a run, and Jorge Polanco had two hits and scored three runs for Minnesota (96-60). The Twins which increased their American League Central Division lead to 4 1/2 games over the Cleveland Indians (91-64), who host the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday night, with six games remaining.

Cheslor Cuthbert hit a two-run pinch-hit home run to break a 5-5 tie and highlight a seven-run ninth inning as the Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 12-5 Saturday night in Minneapolis.Cuthbert hit the first pinch-hit homer of his career off reliever Taylor Rogers (2-4), a 364-foot line drive down the left field line, to drive in Ryan O'Hearn who had opened the inning with a single and was sacrificed to second. The Royals would go on to roll up eight hits and two walks while sending 13 batters to the plate in the inning.O'Hearn homered, doubled and had three hits and three RBIs, Jorge Soler finished with three hits and an RBI, and Ryan McBroom had two hits and scored twice for Kansas City (57-99), which snapped a four-game losing streak. Randy Rosario (2-0) retired one batter to end the eighth and pick up the win.LaMonte Wade Jr. homered, tripled and scored two runs, and Luis Arraez, Nelson Cruz and Miguel Sano each had two hits and an RBI for Minnesota (95-60) which remained four games ahead of the Cleveland Indians (91-64) in the American League Central with seven games remaining for both clubs. Cleveland lost to Philadelphia 9-4 earlier Saturday night.Kansas City took a 2-0 lead in the second against Minnesota starter Jose Berrios. Alex Gordon was hit by a pitch and took second on a bloop single by McBroom. O'Hearn then drove in Gordon with a double to right. Meibrys Viloria followed with a sacrifice fly to drive in McBroom.

Randy Dobnak gave up one run on three hits over 5 1/3 innings to pick up his first major league win and Marwin Gonzalez had a two-run double to lead the Minnesota Twins to a 4-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night at Target Field in Minneapolis.Miguel Sano tripled and drove in a run and Jorge Polanco doubled and scored a run for Minnesota (95-59), which remained four games ahead of the Cleveland Indians (91-63) in the American League Central with eight games remaining.Dobnak (1-1), signed two years ago out of the United Shore Professional Baseball League (USPBL), a four-team independent league in Michigan, walked two and struck out five. Trevor May struck out the side in the ninth to earn his second save.Alex Gordon had a double and two RBIs and Ryan McBroom had three hits for Kansas City (56-99), which lost its fourth straight game and for the seventh time in eight outings. Eric Skoglund (0-2) pitched four innings, allowing two runs on three hits to pick up the loss.Minnesota took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Mitch Garver led off with a walk, advanced to third on a double by Polanco and scored on a sacrifice fly by Nelson Cruz. One out later, Sano smashed a triple to center to drive in Polanco.

Nelson Cruz hit two home runs and drove in five runs and Miguel Sano and Mitch Garver also homered to lead the Minnesota Twins to an 8-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday night in Minneapolis.Cruz hit a three-run homer in the third inning and a two-run blast in the seventh to give him 39 homers and 102 RBIs for the season and 399 home runs for his career, tying Andres Galarraga and Al Kaline for 57th place in major league history.Garver finished with two hits and two walks scored three runs, Sano also doubled and walked and had two RBIs, and Eddie Rosario also had two hits and scored a run for Minnesota (94-59).The Twins remained four games in front of the Cleveland Indians (90-63) in the American League Central with nine games remaining and have a magic number of six to clinch the division.Lewis Thorpe (3-2) gave up two runs on six hits in four innings of relief to pick up the victory. Taylor Rogers had two strikeouts which retiring the side in order in the ninth for his 28th save.Nicky Lopez went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI, and Alex Gordon and Ryan McBroom also had two hits for Kansas City (56-98) which lost for the sixth time in its last seven games. Jacob Barnes (1-3) took the loss.Kansas City took a 3-0 lead and chased Minnesota starter Kyle Gibson in the second inning when seven consecutive batters reached base, four by walks, including back-to-back free passes with the bases loaded.

Mark Canha stroked a two-out, two-strike RBI double in the 11th inning Wednesday afternoon, giving the host Oakland Athletics a 1-0 win over the Kansas City Royals in a game that featured a 28-minute rain delay and a brilliant pitchers' duel.A's right-hander Homer Bailey and Royals lefty Danny Duffy authored one of the season's best scoreless stalemates, combining to allow just five hits and two walks while striking out 17 in seven innings apiece.After the Royals stranded the bases loaded against J.B. Wendelken (3-1) in the top of the 11th, Jesse Hahn (0-1) walked Jurickson Profar to open the bottom of the inning.After Profar stole second, Hahn got two strikeouts before intentionally walking Matt Olson, setting the stage for Canha's clutch hit and just Oakland's sixth win in 15 extra-inning affairs this season.Former Royals teammates Bailey and Duffy dominated the first seven innings.Only one runner got as far as third base in the first nine innings. That came in the bottom of the fourth, when Marcus Semien led off with a double and took third on Olson's one-out fly to right.Bailey struck out Canha to end the threat.Duffy, who remained unbeaten (4-0) in his career against the A's, allowed just three other baserunners in his seventh innings -- one apiece on an error, a walk and a Semien single in the sixth inning. Two of the three were erased on double plays.Duffy struck out six, allowing two hits and one walk.

Matt Olson ignited a two-run seventh inning with a home run and Seth Brown broke a tie with an RBI double two batters later Tuesday night as the Oakland Athletics rallied to edge the visiting Kansas City Royals 2-1.One night after the Royals stormed back late for a 6-5 win, the A's turned the tables in a game that began as a pitchers' duel between Oakland left-hander Brett Anderson and Kansas City righty Jorge Lopez.Seeking to extend his personal winning streak to three games, Lopez (4-8) took a two-hit shutout and 1-0 lead into the seventh. Both were gone four pitches later, however, when Olson bombed his 35th homer of the season over the fence in center field.The home run was Olson's sixth in his last eight games.After Lopez hit Mark Canha with a pitch, Brown lashed his go-ahead double to right-center, producing the eventual difference-making run.Joakim Soria and Liam Hendriks retired all six Royals they faced, striking out four, to preserve the lead over the final two innings, with Hendriks, who suffered the loss on Monday, earning his 23rd save.Rookie A.J. Puk (2-0) got the win after pitching scoreless sixth and seven innings, striking out two.Anderson went the first five innings for Oakland. He left trailing 1-0, having allowed five hits. He struck out two and did not issue a walk in running his unbeaten streak to five games.

Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog had a minor stroke Monday during his charity golf tournament, the St. Louis Cardinals announced."Whitey and his family wanted to let everyone know that he has received treatment and is currently resting, and doing well," the Cardinals wrote in a statement. "Whitey is hoping for a quick recovery, and he and his family are very appreciative of the caring support that everyone has shown them."Herzog, 87, led the Cardinals to the 1982 World Series championship and guided St. Louis to National League titles in 1985 and 1987, highlighting an 18-year managerial career. The Veterans Committee elected Herzog to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010.He managed the Texas Rangers for most of the 1973 season, then had a four-game stint as interim manager of the California Angels in 1974.Herzog guided the Kansas City Royals to the playoffs three times while in charge from 1975-79. He took over in St. Louis late in the 1980 season and stayed in that job until 1990.

Brett Phillips tied the game with a ninth-inning home run, and Adalberto Mondesi followed two batters later with a go-ahead double as the visiting Kansas City Royals handed the playoff-contending Oakland Athletics a stunning 6-5 defeat Monday.Jorge Soler bombed his 45th home run for the Royals, whose win trimmed Oakland's lead for the first American League wild card to one game over Tampa Bay and 2 1/2 over Cleveland.Oakland (90-61) saw its six-game winning streak end.The Royals' uprising came immediately after Khris Davis broke a 4-4 tie with a run-scoring single in the eighth, scoring Matt Olson, who had led off the inning with his second double of the night.Phillips' homer, his second of the season, came off A's closer Liam Hendriks (4-3), who is now 22-for-28 on save chances.Whit Merrifield followed with a fly ball that was dropped by A's center fielder Ramon Laureano, putting a runner at second. Merrifield raced home on Mondesi's difference-making double.Kevin McCarthy (4-2), who served up Davis' go-ahead single in the eighth, was credited with the win. In the bottom of the ninth, Royals closer Ian Kennedy worked around Marcus Semien's third hit of the game, an infield single, for his 30th save.Semien had earlier hit his 31st home run, a two-run shot that gave Oakland a 4-1 lead in the second inning. Olson's first double plated the Athletics' first two runs in the first.

Josh Reddick had five hits and three RBIs as the Houston Astros defeated the host Kansas City Royals 12-3 to complete a three-game sweep on Sunday.Abraham Toro also drove in three runs for Houston.The Astros (98-53) are tied with the Yankees for the best record in baseball.Wade Miley (14-5), who hadn't gotten out of the first inning in his past two starts, got back on the winning track. He allowed two runs on seven hits in six innings. He struck out four and walked two.Kansas City starter Jakob Junis (9-14) allowed five runs on seven hits in 2 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out two.Kansas City's Jorge Soler, who has smashed the franchise record with 44 home runs this season, put the Royals on the board in the first with his first triple of the season, scoring Adalberto Mondesi.The lead didn't last long as Yuli Gurriel launched a 414-foot home run to lead off the second. Toro then put the Astros ahead with an RBI single, scoring Josh Reddick. With two outs, Michael Brantley singled in Aledmys Diaz with the Astros' third run.Toro added a two-run double in the third to extend the Astros' lead to 5-1.

Zack Greinke pitched six strong innings to become the 19th pitcher to defeat all 30 major league teams, as the Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals 6-1 Saturday night.Kyle Tucker had four hits, including the go-ahead single in the sixth inning for the Astros.Houston (97-53) saw its magic number to clinch the American League West reduced to six, pending Oakland's game at Texas later Saturday. Houston came into the day with a 7 1/2-game lead over the A's.Greinke (16-5) allowed one run on six hits. The former Royals first-round pick (sixth overall) in 2002 struck out seven and didn't walk anyone. He is the third Astro to reach 16 wins this season.Mike Montgomery (3-9) took the loss. He gave up two runs on five hits in five-plus innings. He struck out one and walked five.The Royals opened the scoring in the third inning, as Whit Merrifield drove home Nicky Lopez with an RBI double to the wall in left center. Lopez was originally ruled out at the plate, but the call was reversed after the Royals challenged. Merrifield went to third on the throw and was there with no outs, but Greinke retired the next three hitters and stranded him.Alex Bregman tied it in the fourth with his 36th home run, just over Alex Gordon's glove and into the first row in left field. The Astros put runners on second and third with one out, but Montgomery retired the next two batters.

Gerrit Cole showed why he is one of the front-runners for the American League Cy Young Award by pitching eight solid innings as the Houston Astros defeated the host Kansas City Royals 4-1 Friday night.George Springer's three-run home run in the ninth inning broke a 1-1 tie.Cole (17-5) allowed one unearned run on four hits in eight innings, with two walks and 11 strikeouts. It was the 18th time he's reached double figures in strikeouts this year, and he leads the major leagues with 292 K's.The 11 strikeouts were the fewest in his past four startsCole remains undefeated since May, winning his past 13 decisions. In that stretch, he's carried a 1.85 ERA, bringing his season mark from 4.11 to the current 2.62.Roberto Osuna pitched a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his 33rd save in 39 chances.Kansas City reliever Heath Fillmyer (0-2) gave up three runs while getting two outs in the ninth inning.Royals starter Danny Duffy allowed only a Jose Altuve solo home run over six innings. He gave up four hits and one walk while striking out six. He used 54 pitches in the first two innings, which was the primary reason he didn't reach the late innings.