Royals Pitching Dominates, 3-hit Trojans

The combination of Onelki Garcia (4 innings pitched, 12 strikeouts) and Mike Miller (5 innings pitched, 0 hits) were too much for the 2nd place Trojans to handle, as the Royals were victorious 7-1.

Onelki Garcia took the mound for the second straight week for the Royals.  While his control wasn't perfect this week, he was still as dominant as ever.  4 batters later, Garcia had struck out the side and the Royals were ready to start the scoring.  Tyler Norman would walk and steal second, only to be thrown out trying to score on Richard Lizarraga's single on an amazing throw by the center fielder.  With 2 outs, Garcia and Mike Miller would line back-to-back singles to right to bring in Lizarraga and give the Royals a 1-0 lead.

In the second, the Trojans would get the run right back on a pair of walks, an error and a hit by pitch.  Still, Garcia would strike out the side to leave the bases loaded.  After the Trojans returned the favor and struck out the side in the bottom of the inning, Garcia would work around a single and a walk to strike out the side in the top of the 3rd.  In the bottom of the inning, Norman would reach on an error, and after a Dominic Archey single and a Lizarraga walk loaded the bags, Garcia would help out his own cause with an rbi-single to give the Royals a 2-0 lead.  In the top of the 4th, Garcia would load the bases on a single and a pair of walks, but again strike out the side, giving him a perfect 12 strikeouts in 4 innings pitched.

The bottom of the 4th featured more Royals offense.  Ryan Elliot singled and stole his way to third.  With 2 outs, Phillip Apodaca would walk, and Tyler "Mr. Big Hit" Norman would belt a 2-run double to the wall in left center, giving the Royals a 4-1 lead.

This is where things normally would get interesting, as the Royals brought in crafty-righty Mike Miller.  After getting roughed up for 6 runs in 1 inning last week, Miller would proceed to hit the first batter he faced.  Quickly settling down, he'd get out of the inning without any further damage.  The Royals would bring home another run in the bottom of the 5th when Garcia singled and stole second, and following a Miller walk, Matt "I Hate Seis de Mayo" Stormoen dropped an rbi Texas-leaguer to make the score 5-1.

The top of the 6th started with a runner reaching on an error, but one out later, new Royal left fielder Jason Graeff would charge and catch a line drive, only to fire a bullet to first and double up the runner and get out of the inning.  He'd follow that up with a single the next inning, but be left at third.

More action in the 7th for the Trojans, as an error and a walk would put runners on the corners with 1 out.  But a pop up to shallow right would be caught by second baseman Stormoen, who threw a strike to the plate, where catcher Joe McFadden would make the (debatable) tag to keep the runner from scoring and end the inning.

With momentum on their side from another emotional inning, Garcia would single for his 4th hit of the game and steal second, and following Miller's second walk, McFaddon would reach on a fielder's choice.  The next pitch was a passed ball, with Garcia scoring.  The catcher would fire to second but launch the ball into center, and McFaddon would turn on the jets and score all the way from first on the passed ball/throwing error, giving the Royals a 7-1 lead.

Miller was in cruise control now, and 14 pitches later, would finish the last 2 innings and secure the victory for the Royals.

Awesome pitching performances on both sides, as the game featured an amazing 25 combined strikeouts.  Garcia's 12 strikeouts ties him for second most in a single game in Royals history, and Miller's no hits and only 47 pitches over 5 innings of relief were both personal bests.  This was the first win for the Royals over the Trojans franchise (formerly the Ventura Athletics), who took all 3 meetings between the clubs last season.  Good luck to the Trojans the rest of the season.


Pitching
Onelki Garcia - 4IP, 0ER, 3H, 12K, 5BB, HBP
Mike Miller - W, 5IP, 0ER, 0H, 1K, BB, HBP

Batting
Onelki Garcia - 4-4, 2R, RBI, 2SB
Tyler Norman - 1-3, 2B, R, 2RBI, BB, SB
Mike Miller - 1-2, RBI, 2BB
Matt Stormoen - 1-4, RBI