Baseball – Page 50 – North Platte Post Archive

Royals’ Gordon to Miss All-Star Game with Injury

Posted on July 10, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Royals outfielder Alex Gordon will miss next week’s All-Star game after visiting with a hand specialist and receiving an injection Thursday for his sprained right wrist.

Angels shortstop Erick Aybar was added to the roster as Gordon’s replacement.

Gordon said he still plans to attend the game at Target Field in Minneapolis, and that he’s looking forward to rooting on fellow All-Stars Greg Holland and Salvador Perez.

Holland, the Royals’ closer, and Perez, their catcher, are also making their second straight appearances.

Royals manager Ned Yost said he’s holding off on putting Gordon on the disabled list in hopes that rest during the All-Star break will be enough. It’s possible he could be used as a defensive replacement during a four-game series against Detroit starting Thursday night.

Sale, Rizzo, Aybar Added to All-Star Rosters

Posted on July 10, 2014

NEW YORK (AP) — Chicago White Sox pitcher Chris Sale and Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo were voted by fans onto the rosters for Tuesday’s All-Star game, and Los Angeles Angels shortstop Erick Aybar will replace Kansas City outfielder Alex Gordon.

Rizzo received 8.8 million votes among the 52.5 million ballots and Sale 6.7 million, Major League Baseball said Thursday. Voting was conducted on MLB.com, team websites and Twitter.

MLB did not release voting totals for players other than the winners. The others on the AL ballot were all pitchers: Houston’s Dallas Keuchel, Cleveland’s Corey Kluber, the Angels’ Garrett Richards and Detroit’s Rick Porcello. The losing NL players were Miami third baseman Casey McGehee, Colorado first baseman Justin Morneau, Washington third baseman Anthony Rendon and Atlanta outfielder Justin Upton.

Aybar joins fellow shortstops Derek Jeter and Alexei Ramirez on the AL roster. Gordon has been bothered by a sprained right wrist.

There was no immediate announcement on a replacement for St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina, who is to have surgery Friday to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb and is likely to be sidelined for at least eight weeks.

Royals Place Vargas on DL after Appendectomy

Posted on July 10, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Royals placed left-hander Jason Vargas on the disabled list after an appendectomy and recalled reliever Louis Coleman from Triple-A Omaha before Thursday night’s game against Detroit.

Vargas began experiencing pain early Wednesday in Tampa, and underwent the procedure later in the day. He remained in Florida after the Royals beat the Rays to wrap up their series.

Vargas is off to the best start of his nine-year big league career. He’s 8-4 with 3.31 ERA in 19 starts, solidifying a rotation that lost Ervin Santana to free agency last season.

Coleman was a dominant reliever for the Royals last season, but he had an unsightly 6.41 ERA with the club this season. He’s been in Omaha trying to rediscover his form.

Ex-Minor Leaguers Sue MLB over Low Salaries

Posted on July 10, 2014

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Like many young baseball players, Aaron Senne dreamed of fame and fortune when he signed his first contract as a Miami Marlins draft choice after a record-breaking college career at Missouri.

Reality as a low-level minor leaguer was far different: vending machine dinners, bug-infested apartments and a salary with an equivalent hourly wage less than what fast-food workers make

Senne and former minor-league players in each of the 30 big-league organizations are suing Major League Baseball, alleging violations of federal wage and overtime laws in a case some legal observers suggest has significant merit.

The lawsuit’s driving force is Garrett Broshuis, another former minor-leaguer from Mizzou who went to law school after six seasons in the San Francisco Giants’ organization. Major League Baseball says the claims lack merit.

Perez Hits 3-Run HR in 9th, Royals beat Rays 5-4

Posted on July 9, 2014

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Salvador Perez hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the ninth inning and the Kansas City Royals beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 on Wednesday night.

Kirby Yates (0-1), the fifth Tampa Bay reliever, entered with runners on first and third with one out and gave up Perez’s towering shot into the left-field corner.

It’s been a big week for Perez, chosen Sunday to start at catcher for the American League in next week’s All-Star game.

Aaron Crow (4-1) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win. Greg Holland got three outs for his 24th save.

The second-place Royals return home Thursday night to begin a four-game series against AL Central-leading Detroit, which has a 4 1/2-game lead.

Tulowitzki Homers Twice as Rockies beat Padres

Posted on July 9, 2014

DENVER (AP) — Troy Tulowitzki hit two of Colorado’s five home runs, and the Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 6-3 on Wednesday.

Drew Stubbs, Charlie Blackmon and Wilin Rosario also went deep for the Rockies, who won a home series for the first time in nearly two months.

Colorado last won a home series taking two of three from San Diego in May. The Rockies managed to split a four-game set with Atlanta in June but lost five other series at Coors Field. They were swept twice.

They erased that mark with back-to-back homers off reliever Joaquin Benoit (3-1). Blackmon started the rally with a single and Stubbs followed with his ninth homer of the season and fifth in his last five games.

Tulowitzki then hit an 0-1 fastball into the left field seats. It was Tulowitzki’s second multihomer game this season and 10th of his career.

Vargas Scheduled for Appendectomy

Posted on July 9, 2014

ST. PETERBURG, Fla. (AP) — Kansas City Royals left-hander Jason Vargas has been taken to the hospital and will have an appendectomy.

Royals manager Ned Yost announced the news before Wednesday game against Tampa Bay and said surgery was planned for Wednesday night.

Yost says Vargas “started really having severe discomfort” around 4 a.m. Wednesday

There was no timetable given for how long Vargas will be out. Bruce Chen could replace Vargas in Sunday’s game against Detroit.

Royals All-Star outfielder Alex Gordon was scratched from Wednesday’s lineup due to a sprained right wrist. He will have an MRI exam and see a hand specialist Thursday when the team returns to Kansas City.

Yost said the injury could “very well” impact Gordon’s status for next week’s All-Star game.

Kansas City third baseman Mike Moustakas was also out of Wednesday’s lineup with the flu.

The First Nationals Earn the No. 2 Seed in the A-7 District, will Host

Posted on July 9, 2014July 9, 2014

The North Platte First Nationals have earned the No. 2 seed for the A-7 district tournament and will host the tournament at Bill Wood Field July 18-22.

North Platte currently has a 26-17 record on the year and will play third-seeded Hastings. Scottsbluff earned the No. 1 seed for the tournament and has a first round bye. Kearney is the No. 4 seed and will play fifth-seeded Lexington for the right to play Scottsbluff.

The tournament begins Friday, July 18 with No. 5 Lexington Pinnacle Bank playing No. 4 Kearney Runza at 4:00 pm at Bill Wood Field. The second-seeded North Platte First Nationals will then play No. 3 Hastings at 7:00 pm that night.

It is a double elimination tournament that culminates on Tuesday, July 22 with a 4:00 pm championship game.

The First Nationals are 0-2 this season against Hastings. The two teams played a doubleheader in Hastings on June 10 and Hastings won 6-1 and 8-4.

North Platte’s record against the rest of the teams in the tournament are as follows:

2-2 vs. Scottsbluff- Lost at Scottsbluff 7-0 and 11-10; won in North Platte 12-4 and 10-1.

1-1 vs. Kearney- Won in North Platte 6-5; lost in Kearney 7-0.

1-0 vs. Lexington- Won in North Platte 9-0.

The cost of admission will be $6 for adults, $3 for students and veterans get in free.

The bracket can be seen below.

Larger version of the bracket: A-7 District Tournament Bracket

First Nationals Announce Schedule Changes

Posted on July 9, 2014

The North Platte First Nationals have announced changes to their schedule for the remaining games this week.

The First Nationals are down to their final week of the regular season and have added a game and changed the game time of this weekend’s games.

The North Platte Seniors (26-17) will now play Ogallala at 7:00 pm on Friday at Bill Wood Field. The First Nationals also changed the game times of the Saturday and Sunday games against Malcolm. The Seniors will now play Malcolm at 1:00 pm Saturday and 11:00 am Sunday both at Bill Wood Field.

The updated schedule for this week can be seen below:

Wednesday July 9^th– Junior/Senior doubleheader vs. Gering @ 5:30 and 8:00

Thursday July 10^th– Senior game vs. Hershey @ 7:00

Friday July 11^th– Senior game vs. Ogallala @ 7:00

Saturday July 12^th– Senior game vs. Malcolm @ 1:00

Sunday July 13^th– Senior game vs. Malcolm @ 11:00

Tonight’s game against Gering is the final regular season game for the North Platte Juniors (22-8). It is also Leadership Awards night for the First Nationals. The recipient of last year’s Seniors Leadership award was Drew Beyer and the Juniors award went to Kevin Hancock.

Kenny helps the West Win the Cornhusker League All-Star Game

Posted on July 9, 2014

Cornhusker League West All-Stars. Photo courtesy of Lori Allberry.

North Platte’s Jack Kenny drove in a run to help the West Team beat the East Team 3-1 in the Cornhusker League American Legion All-Star Game.

The All-Star game was played in Grand Island Tuesday night. Kenny’s RBI came in the third inning as he grounded out to the shortstop to drive in Gretna’s Zach Howell and propel the West to a 3-0 lead.

First Nationals coach Rick Ostergard was the head coach for the West Team this year and had three of his own players on the team. Kenny was joined by Darian Allberry and Luke Volz.

Kenny played both center field and right field in the game and finished 0-2 at the plate with an RBI. Allberry started in left field and pitched a scoreless third inning for the West and went 0-2 at the plate. Volz started at third base and went 1-2 at the plate.

The West took the early 2-0 lead thanks to a first inning two-run home run by Grand Island’s Phoenix Stevenson and never looked back. The East scored its lone run in the fourth inning. Hits were hard to come by Tuesday as the West had five in the game and the East had four. The West team did commit three errors compared to just one by the East team. Kearney’s Peyton Pocock earned the win on the mound for the West team.

The West team was made up of players from North Platte, Columbus, Kearney, Grand Island, Hastings, Norfolk and Gretna, while the East was players from the Lincoln Legion teams.

The North Platte First Nationals return to action Wednesday night at Bill Wood Field. North Platte plays Gering in a Junior Senior doubleheader beginning at 5:30 with the Juniors game. The Seniors first pitch will be at 8:00 pm. Tonight’s game is also the Leadership Awards night for the First Nationals.