Royals hoping Gordon's Friday performance is sign of things to come
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- When designated hitter Kendrys Morales started the season slowly, Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost stuck with him.
The patience paid off. Morales is hitting .342 with nine home runs and 25 RBIs in his past 31 games.
Yost said he is "absolutely" showing the same perseverance with Alex Gordon, who was hitting .200 after going 0-for-4 on Tuesday, striking out twice and failing to get the ball out of the infield.
Gordon did not start Wednesday but did deliver a pinch double. After an off-day Thursday, which included the Royals visiting the White House, Gordon walked and tripled in his first two plate appearances in a 3-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday night. It was Gordon's first triple since Aug. 17, 2004 at Minnesota.
"Gordy is a guy that puts everything he has into his game," Yost said. "You ask players every single day to come in and be prepared and just give your very best effort every day. As a manager, you take what comes with that, you know good or bad. All they can do is give their best effort. And he does that with the best of them.
"But he also gets a little frustrated with himself and it kind of compounds the problem a little bit. He wants to be productive. I could see him really starting to grind. When you break out, you're going to break out. He's just too good of a player not to. He hasn't forgotten how to hit."
Gordon, who was a free agent this past winter, signed a four-year, $72 million contract to stay with the club that drafted him second overall in 2005. That is the richest contract ever given a Royals player.
"He said the contract doesn't have anything to do with it," Yost said. "Gordy is a guy; he wants to make sure that you're getting your end of the bargain. You know what I'm saying. And he's just right now pressing and getting a little bit frustrated."
Does Gordon appear to be standing more upright and diving at balls across the plate?
"Those are questions I can't answer, articulatory," Yost said. "Dale (Sveum, hitting coach) can. Dale has got some ideas that can help him. But like a lot of good players that have had success, they can be a little bit stubborn. They don't blow with the wind, which makes them successful.
"They are not always trying to tweak and change and do stuff like that. Him and Dale they talk and are trying to figure out what can help him be more productive."
Gordon, who has struck out 72 times in 219 at-bats, did not strike out Wednesday on a night when Yu Darvish struck out 11 in six innings.
"You can't find a whole lot negative with Yu's start tonight," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said.
Keone Kela and rookie left-hander Jake Diekman each pitched a scoreless inning after Darvish was removed after 91 pitches. Kela gave up a career-worst four runs in one inning on Monday in a loss at the Angels. Diekman was pitching for the first time since July 5 at Boston and going on the disabled list with a lacerated left index finger.
"It was great to see Keone rebound from the outing in Anaheim, flooding the strike zone with a big fastball," Banister said. "It was 97-98 mile per hour, a breaking ball and a double play ball, something he doesn't get a whole lot of.
"And then to have Jake Diekman and do what he did, to give us an opportunity there. Those two guys are going to play big for us down the stretch out of our bullpen."
The two teams meet again Saturday night in the middle game of the weekend series. The Rangers' lead over the Houston Astros has dwindled to 2 1/2 games in the AL West. With the victory and the Cleveland loss, the Royals picked up a game on the Indians but are still eight games back in the AL Central.
Royals right-hander Yordano Ventura, who starts Saturday, walked a major league-leading 33 in his first nine starts, 6.10 per nine innings. In his past nine starts, however, Ventura has allowed just eight free passes in 52 2/3 innings, 1.37 per nine innings. That ratio ranks third lowest in the AL during that span.
The Rangers will counter with All-Star left-hander Cole Hamels. This will be first time to appear in a regular-season game at Kauffman Stadium. He did throw a perfect inning there in the 2012 All-Star Game, retiring Billy Butler, Matt Wieters and Adam Jones. He worked a scoreless inning in this year's All-Star game in San Diego.
The Rangers are 14-5 in Hamels' starts this season, including winning seven of his past eight. He struck out the first six Chicago Cubs he faced in his Sunday start, a 4-1 victory, allowing four hits and one unearned run in eight innings.
