Royals Split Two Spring Matchups

Good news: The Royals beat the Padres in Surprise 7-4 behind a power display by Max Ramirez in the DH slot.

Bad news: Short of an Irving Falu homer, they only scored twice in a loss to the Indians.

One of the great things about spring training is getting younger players a chance to get into a game. With two split squad games on Tuesday, the Royals managed to insert a number of non-roster invitees into the lineup to get a look at them on the big fields.

Ramirez, who’ll likely start as the primary catcher in Omaha with Manuel Pina recovering from knee surgery, drove in four with two opposite field homers and Derrick Robinson and Jarrod Dyson used bunts and speed to create three runs. Johnny Giavotella added two hits to bring his spring average up to .500.

Luke Hochevar struck out one, walked one and gave up a hit in his two innings of work. He was followed by Jake Odorizzi for two innings. Odorizzi had a strong first inning of work but gave up four hits in his second inning of work, resulting in two runs. His secondary stuff may not have been sharp (going off of MLB.com’s Gamecast), as he threw 35 fastballs in 45 pitches, but only threw a strike once in his other ten pitches (comprised of curveballs, changeups and a slider). Joakim Soria worked one inning, giving up a double to James Darnell, who scored on an Everth Cabrera single. Soria got Yonder Alonso to ground into a double play to end the inning. Greg Holland worked the ninth, striking out Blake Tekotte to end the game after two groundouts and a double.

3/6/12 Padres vs. Royals scorecard:

In Goodyear, Arizona, the Royals sent Will Smith against the Indians and he had relatively little trouble against a lineup of Cleveland reserves. Jose Lopez and Shelley Duncan both had singles after two outs in the first, but Smith escaped, then induced three groundouts in his second inning of work.

The Indians offense boiled down to one swing by Duncan, who homered with two outs off of Zach Miner in the third inning.

The Royals made up two runs in the fourth inning on a homer by Irving Falu, but the Royals would only get a runner in scoring position one more time the rest of the game, when Kevin Kouzmanoff doubled, sending Clint Robinson to third with two outs in the seventh inning. Both were stranded after Sharlon Schoop (who pinch-hit for Brett Eibner after Eibner was shaken up on a diving catch) grounded out to short.

Billy Butler reached base three times with two singles and a walk and Mike Moustakas walked and singled in the game.

Cuban lefty Noel Arguelles worked two innings, allowing just a single and reportedly looked sharp. Jeremy Jeffress worked a perfect inning as well.

3/6/12 Royals at Indians* scorecard:

The Royals take on the Cubs tomorrow afternoon at 2:05 p.m. CST. Jonathan Sanchez and Everett Teaford are scheduled to pitch as well as Kelvin Herrera, Nate Adcock, Blake Wood and Tim Collins (who have already gotten their first game action out of the way).

*The Indians complex apparently doesn’t have pitch f/x set up, so the Gamecast was not charting every pitch. Instead, it counted only pitches tied to a result.

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