As the Royals trailed 3-4 in the Bottom of the 8th inning, Redsox pitcher Daniel Bard started off by walking the first two batters of the inning, who were Jarrod Dyson and Alex Gordon. After a mound visit and walking those two batters, coach Bobbie Valentine, of the Redsox, decided to pull Bard out of the game, with two on base and no outs in the inning. Bard was Relieved by Matt Albers, who came in to pitch against Kc`s Billy butler. Albers, who struck out Billy butler the night before, looked to have the same outing as the previous evening. Well Billy Butler thought differently, as he smashed a three-run home run off the reliever. Butler whomped that ball 402 feet into the left-field water fountain, giving the Royals a 6-4 lead. The late heroics came after a seventh-inning rally was cut short. The Royals had runners at second and third with one out, but Alcides Escobar's squeeze attempt resulted in Jeff Francoeur being thrown out at home. Brayan Pena then struck out to end the threat, But emotions swung from frustration to Jubilation an inning later with Butler's home run. As the Royals Third baseman, Mike Moustakas was quotes saying this
"He hit that ball, and we just went wild," "We knew we had [Jonathan Broxton] coming in to close it out, and we knew we were coming away with a 'W.'"
and then the man of the evening had this to say, "That's probably the best ball I hit this year so far, and I was just happy to do it in a big situation like that," Butler said.
Just a great night for the Royals as Albers, who had not allowed a run in seven games prior to the homer, said it simply was a lack of execution that led to the game-winning hit. Albers was quoted saying this after the game, "I'm trying to go down and away right there, which I still think is the right pitch," Albers said. "I talked to [catcher Kelly Shoppach] about it, and I could sit here and second guess, but I didn't execute. I didn't stay back on the rubber quite enough and the ball leaked over the plate. And he's a good hitter."
Butler's Bomb saved the Royals from what looked to be another loss brought by a short outing by a starting pitcher. Danny Duffy surrendered four runs in his abbreviated 4 1/3-inning outing on seven hits and five walks, striking out only one batter. Contributing to his early departure was his sky-high pitch count. He had thrown 53 pitches through two innings, 70 through three and 93 through four before exiting with a total of 102.
as Duffy had this to say, "I thought it was the worst outing of my year," Duffy said. "I don't feel like I commanded any of my pitches the way I should have, but that being said, my teammates had my back the whole time."
The bullpen picked Duffy up, tossing 4 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing the offense to stage the comeback. Kelvin Herrera pitched 1 2/3 innings, and Jose Mijares pitched two innings, saving the Royals from using long reliever Vin Mazarro, who was called up earlier in the day. Mijares earned the win, his second of the year, and Broxton pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his sixth save of the season.
This is what its all about, baseball is just about having fun and great team chemistry, the Royals showed that last night, and not just last night , but through this home stand. The Royals finish up the series against the Redsox tonight at 7:10 pm. It will be Chen Hosting Lester. look for a good game and another close one and maybe Chen could have a solid putting tonight and pick up his first W of the season.
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