Aaron Crow Gets First Career Win

Aaron Crow put up another scoreless outing, including a clutch strikeout of Torii Hunter with the bases loaded – on three pitches.  When the Royals came from behind to win, he’d earned his first major league victory.

Crow relieved Kanekoa Texeira in the seventh inning with one out and Hunter, who’d crushed a Kyle Davies pitch for a 437-foot homer, at the plate.  He seemed unfazed and, with the Kauffman Stadium crowd behind him, sat him down.

Chris Getz and Matt Treanor added some bottom of the order magic while combining for a key play in the field to help the Royals take the third game of the four game series with the Angels.

In the top of the eighth, Alberto Callaspo tried to score on a drive by Erick Aybar.  A solid relay from Getz to Treanor prevented the run from scoring, both in part to a fine Getz throw and a great block of the plate by Treanor.  In the bottom of the inning, Treanor tied the game with a single.  Getz singled in the go-ahead run.  Following that, Joakim Soria needed just six pitches to seal the win.

I love it when a plan comes together.

Before the dramatic moments, Kyle Davies had, in typical fashion, pitched five solid innings.  Problem: he came out for the sixth.  After getting the first out, he gave up three singles and a walk and the Angels had put up two more runs on him.  When Texeira relieved him another run scored on a groundout.

It wasn’t all bad for Davies.  He induced 10 groundball outs and up until the sixth was throwing a strong game.  He threw just 54 strikes out of his 102 pitches, and he wasn’t as sharp after retiring Bobby Abreu on a groundout and stepping gingerly back onto the mound.  It seemed like something came up tight or he turned an ankle.  It wasn’t anything that took him out of the game, but it seemed to take an edge off.  In the following at bat, he fell behind Hunter and gave up a bomb on a 3-1 pitch.

The Royals caught a few breaks in the win.  First, they scored a run on what otherwise would have been an inning-ending strikeout.  Jeff Francoeur offered at a slider in the dirt that bounced towards the first base dugout.  As he advanced to first, Billy Butler scored.

Later, the tying run came home after Treanor’s line drive shot off Howie Kendrick‘s glove at first.  In the first two games of the series, Mark Trumbo – at 6’4″ – was at first base.  On Saturday, it was the 5’10” Kendrick.  Getz followed with his third hit of the game which brought home Jarrod Dyson.

The Royals improve to 2-1 and take on Scott Kazmir Sunday afternoon.  They counter with Bruce Chen.