New Royals ace Johnny Cueto looks masterful in Kauffman Stadium debut
Take a look around the league with Big League Stew’s daily wrap up. We’ll hit on all of the biggest moments from the day that you may have missed, while providing highlights, photos and interesting stats.
If Kansas City Royals fans weren’t already in love with their new ace Johnny Cueto, he gave them every reason to be smitten in his Kauffman Stadium debut Monday night.
Cueto, acquired from the Cincinnati Reds in a trade-deadline deal, tossed a four-hit shutout as the Royals beat the Detroit Tigers by the score of 4-0. Cueto struck out eight, didn’t walk a batter and looked masterful throughout his 116 pitches.
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The moment was not lost on Cueto either. Just look at his face as catcher Salvador Perez embraced him after the game. Cueto had been good but not great since joining the Royals. In his first two starts, which were on the road, he let in three runs and two runs, respectively, winning neither.
Now, according to ESPN Stats and Info, he’s the fifth pitcher in the last 20 years to throw a shutout in his home debut after changing teams midseason. The last one was Curt Schilling when he joined the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2000. And for Royals pitchers, it was their first shutout of the season.
There’s no doubt he gave the Kansas City crowd his best and, according to the Kansas City Star’s Andy McCullough, Cueto even campaigned to come back out for the ninth.
Afterward, Cueto got the on-field bath he deserved from Perez. It was captured in fantastic fashion on the Royals’ Instagram account:
METS RUIN JON GRAY’S GREAT START FOR ROCKIES
Don’t blame top prospect Jon Gray for the Colorado Rockies’ disappointing 4-2 loss to the New York Mets on Monday night. Gray, making his second MLB start, did more than his part. He allowed just one hit — a solo homer to Travis d’Arnaud in the second inning — over six innings.
Leaving with a 2-1 lead, Gray’s work was quickly undone by the Rockies bullpen, as the Mets scored three runs in the seventh inning to win. The go-ahead hit came from David Murphy, who singled off Boone Logan with two outs. Tough luck, Jon Gray.
NATS THUMP THE DODGERS
We called the Washington Nationals’ current roadtrip an important one, as the once-World Series favorites try to right the ship after a rough July. The Nats need to catch up to the Mets in the NL East and not lose too much ground in the wild-card race.
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Their West Coast roadtrip started Monday night in the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers and things went about as well as anybody in a Nats uniform could have hoped. They won 8-3, but those three were just non-threatening ninth-inning runs from a defeated Dodgers bunch. So this was a beatdown. Ian Desmond led the Nats’ offensive outburst with three hits, two of which were homers. Jayson Werth also had a two-run double.
SALE, GARCIA LEAD WHITE SOX PAST ANGELS
When Chris Sale is on the mound, the Chicago White Sox usually have a pretty good shot to win. When Avisail Garcia adds two homers when Sale is on the mound, well that’s a formula for victory. Sale struck out seven and allowed two runs in 7.1 innings while Garcia’s two homers drove in four runs. That was enough for the White Sox to top the Los Angeles Angels by the count of 8-2.
Want to see more from Monday’s slate of games? Check out our scoreboard.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
