The Chicago White Sox seem to be getting better swings at Zack Greinke every time they see him. Before a packed house Friday night, they finally beat him. John Danks threw 7 1-3 innings and got a big lift from reliever Scott Linebrink, while A.J. Pierzynski and Scott Podsednik had three hits apiece to lead the White Sox over the Kansas City Royals 5-0, their seventh straight victory.
The last thing the slumping Kansas City Royals needed was for Mark Buehrle to get even better. But the Chicago left-hander tinkered with the grip on his sinker and became even more dominant than usual against the Royals, taking a four-hit shutout into the ninth before settling for a 4-1 victory that gave the surging White Sox their sixth win in a row.
Joe Mauer has enough hits to lead the major leagues in batting average. Soon, he'll have enough plate appearances. Mauer went 3-for-3 Wednesday in the Minnesota Twins' 5-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals, raising his average to .392. He's eight plate appearances short of the 3.1 per game needed to qualify for the batting race.
One pitch after another, the Royals fouled back seemingly everything Scott Baker threw. Good pitches, bad pitches, pitches he was trying to let them hit: Foul! When it mattered most, Baker got the outs and the win. Justin Morneau homered for the third straight game and Baker labored through five tough innings, lifting the Minnesota Twins to a 2-1 victory over hapless Kansas City on Tuesday night.
Miguel Olivo didn't think Luke Hochevar struggled. He didn't believe the Royals missed some early chances against Nick Blackburn. That triple he hit in the seventh inning? Single all the way. Either Olivo was being a contrarian or wasn't watching the same game as everyone else. Whatever it is, the guy sure did some damage to the Minnesota Twins.
Beating Zack Greinke and the weatherman in one day proved too difficult for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Greinke didn't allow any scoring until making his final pitch before a rain delay in the seventh inning, and the Kansas City Royals prevented the Pirates from sweeping an interleague series for the first time since 2001 by winning 3-2 on Sunday.
Waived three times in the offseason, Virgil Vasquez couldn't help but have fun in his first major league start in 22 months. The 27-year-old right-hander went six innings for his first major league win and the Pittsburgh Pirates got home runs from three unlikely power sources in a 5-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.
Houston's Lance Berkman needed to drive in one run to become the third player in franchise history to reach 1,000 RBIs. The Astros needed all of the season-high four RBIs he had on a pair of homers to overcome an error-filled day and beat the Kansas City Royals 5-4 on Thursday. He reached the milestone on his first at-bat, a two-run shot to far left field that gave Houston a 2-1 lead and put...
Miguel Olivo had some inside information when he went to the plate against Jeff Fulchino in the 11th inning Wednesday night. And he used it to his advantage. Olivo homered on the first pitch from the former Royal, whom he caught last season, to give Kansas City a 4-3 victory over the Houston Astros. "I know what he's got," Olivo said.