Kettering Royals

For the 2nd time this season the Royals received both weekly awards.  Chris Jergens won the Player of the Week honors as he went 3-6 in the Royals doubleheader with the Rangers.  He belted a double and 2 Homeruns plating 6 total RBIs in they Royals victories.  Jason Holmberg also won the Advocare Pitcher of the Week as he threw the 7 inning Complete Game against the Rangers.  He struck out 4, only allowed 1 free pass, and scattered 5 hits throughout the game.  Congratulations to both!  Chris Jergens joins Matt Spradlin (Indians) as the only players this season to win both the Player of the Week and Pitcher of the Week during the same season.

The Royals faced off Sunday in their first meeting with the Rangers with a doubleheader on a beautiful day for baseball.  The game was not very exciting as scoring was hard to come by.  Jason Holmberge started for the Royals and went the distance.  Holmberg held the Rangers scoreless as he threw the 7 inning complete game recording 4 K's and only allowed 5 hits.  However Rangers pitching also only allowed 5 Royals hits, but one was a 2 run Homerun from Chris Jergens that proved to be all the Royals needed.

In Game 2 Kevin Reynolds took the mound for the Royals looking for his team leading 4th win.  Reynolds picked up right were Holmberg left off.  Reynolds also threw a 7 inning complete game.  He only allowed 6 hits, picked up 2 K's and only allowed 2 walks.  The Rangers got on the board first when a close call allowed Rangers leadoff man Steve Marshall to reach base.  Marshall would later score off a well placed single right down the line for the first run of the game.  The Royals countered though in the bottom of the 3rd as Brian Duffy was able to plate Tim Peffley with an RBI single bringing Jergens to the plate with 2 on.  Jergens followed up with his 2nd homerun of the day, this time a 3 run shot to put the Royals up 4-1 after 3.  In the 5th the Royals would add 3 more as Jergens knocked an RBI double to plate Duffy from 1st, and Jason Holmberg hit a 2 run homerun, his 4th of the season.  The Rangers would add their 2nd run of the game in the 6th off a single from Jelani Arnold, but Reynolds and the Royals defense was unphased as the game ended with the Royals up 7-2.

After their dismal 6 week losing streak the Royals have bounced back going 5-2 over the last 6 weeks.  The 2 victories against the Rangers helped secure them the number 2 seed in the Miami Division.  The will face off against the Cardinals in their final regular season game at Kettering Fields.  Come out to cheer on the Boys in Blue as they close out the 2011 regular season.

The Royals met up with the Sox for the first time in a double header Sunday.  Frank Burgos got the nod for the Boys in Blue looking to take on the might Sox juggernaut.  Burgos had a rough start as the Sox were able to score 5 runs in the top of the first off 6 hits.  The Royals were able to match the Sox as they scored 5 of their own in the 3rd with 3 hits and the help of 2 walks.  Burgos worked well as the game ended after regulation 7 innings with the game tied at 5, but in the 8th the Sox got to Burgos with a leadoff double and a sac put the winning run at 3rd base.  Burgos then offered up his first walk off the day as the Royals then went to the bullpen to bring in Grant.  Grant needed a bit more warmup time as 2 walks and an infield error allowed the Sox to score 3 runs.  Down 5-8 the Royals were unable to counter in the bottom of the 8th.  Game 2 appeared to be a different story for the Boys in Blue though.  DJ Swearingen started for the Royals and had a 2 run lead going into the bottom of the 1st, but the Sox countered with 3 of their own.  The Sox got their 4th run in the 2nd, but in the 3rd inning the Royals bounced back and score 3 of their own capped by a 2 RBI single from Neil Stafford.  As the 4th inning started the clouds were looming behind the field.  The Royals went down quietly in the 4th, and Swearingen also worked quickly through the Sox bottom half of the 4th, but the Umpires wanted to take a brief break to see what the storm would do.  As both teams left the field the winds picked up, and several minutes later the clouds opened up dumping buckets of rain on the field.  With the Royals up 5-4 the game was called as there was no end in sight.

Royals sent Rookie Santel Grant to the hill for their first game against the upstart Tigers and he wouldn't disappoint his team.  The Royals got up early as DJ Swearingen scored off a single by Brenden Regan.  That would've been all Grant needed, but the Royals continued to plate 4 runs over the next 3 innings.  With the Royals up 5-0 Grant continued to work through the Tigers lineup getting groundballs and K's when he needed.  Grant ended the game with a punchout to secure the Royals first ever NO HITTER.  Grant went all 7 innings facing 25 Tiger batters notching 8 K's, only allowed 3 free passes, but didn't allow a hit on the day.

In Game 2 Kevin Reynolds took the hill looking to get the Royals win streak started.  The Boys in Blue got up early scoring 2 in the first off a double from Mark Franklin scored Jason Holmberg and Brian Duffy.  In the 2nd Shawn Rudegeair added another run as he belted an RBI single to score Brenden Regan.  With a 3-0 lead Reynolds worked surgically through the Tigers order.  Reynolds didn't face more than 4 batters any inning over the course of the game.  The Royals added 3 more runs over the 6th and 7th innings to build their lead to 8-0, but as the game ended Reynolds followed up Grant and held the Tigers scoreless.  Reynolds went 7 innings, also faced 25 batters, notched 6 K's, only offered 1 walk, and held the Tigers to only 2 hits.

On Thursday night the Royals met up with the Mariners, who beat the Boys in Blue 6-14 in their last meeting.  Frank Burgos started for the Royals looking to pickup his first victory of the season on the mound.  The Royals got out on top in the 2nd inning as Mark Franklin belted an RBI double to the gap to score Burgos from 1st.  The lead was short lived though as the Mariners countered with 2 of their own in the bottom of the 2nd to take the 2-1 lead.  Royals Rookie Sam Cerreta led off the top of the 3rd with a solo shot to tie the game at 2 after 3.  In the bottom of the 3rd, MVABL HR leader Greg Foster, belted a 3 run Homerun to right center to put the Mariners up 2-5.  In the 4th the Mariners continued to score as the summer heat got to Burgos and he had some control problems and they were able to score another 2 runs.  In the 5ht the Royals chipped away scoring 2 with RBI singles from DJ Swearingen and Jason Holmberg to bring the score to 4-7.  In the 6th inning the Mariners were able to score 2 more runs after a costly error by Franklin in right field allowed the inning to continue before Eric Jameson had to come in and get the inning ending double play.  As the Royals entered the 7th they were down 4-9 facing Matt Klaus for the Mariners.  Cerreta led off the inning with a single and scored on the next single from Jameson.  Brian Duffy then scored Jameson with a double to the gap.  Kevin Reynolds stepped up with a single to score Duffy, Jason Holmberg then followed up with a double to score Reynolds to cut the Royals deficit to 1.  Klaus then got Burgos to groundout, and Franklin to fly out to rightfield for the final innings of the game.  Royals 8, Mariners 9.