8/13/2081 to 8/15/2081
The Kansas City Royals (60-58)
AT
The Denver Broncos (66-52)
Pitching Matchups:
RH Steffen Snow (11-7, 4.57 ERA) VS. LH Robert McNett (14-6, 4.37 ERA)
RH Eduardo Ruiz (2-7, 7.07 ERA) VS. RH Larry Waltz (2-6, 3.17 ERA)
RH Edward Chambliss (7-10, 4.69 ERA) VS. RH Ray Lockridge (6-7, 4.51 ERA)
The Broncos opened their series with the Royals with
an easy victory, a 10-0 rout. An easy victory with what could have been a steep price. With the game scoreless in the 6th inning,
Lee Chappel ripped a run-scoring double. But Chappel came up limping and was forced to leave the game. His replacement,
Michael Grace played a huge role in the Broncos putting the game out of reach.
The Broncos clung to that one run lead until the 8th inning, when they erupted for 9 runs. Grace contributed to the explosion by hitting a 2 run homer and a three run double in the inning.
Robert McNett was very lucky in this game. He pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings with only 3 hits allowed. However, he also walked 5 batters, which contributed to his early exit. Relief pitcher
Leo Salguero pitched 2 2/3 innings to pick up his first save of the season.
Joseph Swayze also helped out with two RBIs.
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Denver Fans, You Can Relax
8/14/2081
Al Vincent
Staff Writer
No team in a heated playoff race wants to see its best hitter go down to injury. Fortunately for Denver, catcher Lee Chappel will only miss about a week of action. Chappel came up limping after hitting an RBI double in yesterday's 10-0 win against the Royals. After having his foot examined, it has been deemed to be only a bruised heel, and Chappel won't even have to go on the disabled list.
With AAA catcher Gary Kibby currently injured as well, Broncos' GM John Mounts has announced that the team has signed 39 year old Christopher Hosler to be Chappel's replacement. Mounts also said that since Chappel will not go on the disabled list, infielder Michael Phillips has been sent down to AAA to make room on the roster for Hosler.
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The second game against Kansas City proved to be an exciting one. The Broncos grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning, but the Royals went ahead 2-1 in the third. In the bottom of the third, the Broncos got back to back run scoring triples from
Asbel Fuentez and
Russell Thomas, and
Ellis Bolling followed with a two run homer to put Denver up, 5-2.
This lead proved to be short-lived when the Royals struck for three runs in the 4th to tie the game up. The Broncos retook the lead with a run in the bottom of the 4th, and added to it with another run in the 6th.
Alexis Vazquez smacked a two run homer in the 7th inning to put Denver up 9-5. Each team scored one more run to conclude the scoring
in favor of the Broncos, 10-6.
Larry Waltz had one of his poorest outings on the season, with 12 hits and 5 runs allowed in 6 1/3 innings. Thomas finished with 3 hits and 2 RBI. Fuentez had 2 hits and 2 RBI.
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The final game of the series proved to be even more exciting than the second one, though also more disappointing. Things looked bleak early, as
Ray Lockridge appeared to have absolutely nothing. The Royals scored 2 runs in the 1st inning, another run in the second, 2 more in the third, and finally another run in the 4th inning to put them firmly in control (or so they thought) at 6-0. Lockridge had been knocked out by that point, with 8 hits allowed, 6 runs allowed, and two home runs allowed in 3 plus innings.
The Broncos began to make a game of it, with a run in the 4th inning, and two more in the 5th inning, but the Royals got two of those runs back in the 6th inning to lead 8-3. In the seventh inning,
Mark Bakke hit the 300th home run of his career, a three run blast to bring the score to 8-6. In the 8th inning, the Broncos managed to tie the score at 8 apiece.
The game remained deadlocked at 8 until the Royals were able to get a run across in the 13th inning, and
the Broncos were defeated, 9-8.
Russell Thomas had 3 hits and 2 RBI in the game. Bakke had 2 hits, 3 RBI, and 2 runs scored.
In divisional news, Memphis moved into a tie for first place with Tucson.