Antworten & Fragen » e semifinals, the Red Storm are off to

DETROIT -- Omar Infante showed the Detroit Tigers what theyre missing. Infante hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning and had an RBI single in a four-run fifth against former teammate Justin Verlander, helping the Kansas City Royals beat the Tigers 11-8 Monday night. Infante became expendable in Detroit last November when the franchise traded first baseman Prince Fielder to Texas for second baseman Ian Kinsler. The next month, Infante signed a $30.25 million, four-year contract with the Royals, and their manager is glad he did. "I didnt really think much about Omar last year with the lineup that they had," Royals skipper Ned Yost acknowledged. "I would try to pitch around this guy and pitch around this guy to get to Omar, and Omar constantly just beat our brains in offensively. At about the midway point, I started realizing how really good he was." With 90-plus games left this season, the Tigers are finding out how vulnerable they are and how good Kansas City is in the tightly contested AL Central. The Royals have won a season-high eight straight to pull within a half-game of Detroit atop the division. Kansas City has won 11 of 13 since trailing the Tigers by 6 1/2 games at the start of the month. "We got on a nice little run here and weve made up some ground," Yost said. Detroit scored six runs in the ninth inning and pulled within three on J.D. Martinezs two-out grand slam off Donnie Joseph. Michael Mariot struck out Austin Jackson looking for the final out. Jason Vargas (7-2) gave up two runs on seven hits and two walks to win his third straight. Verlander (6-7) allowed seven earned runs in consecutive starts for the first time in his career, giving up a season-high 12 hits and striking out two over six innings. He got off to a good start, retiring the Royals in order on 10 pitches in the first inning, and pitched four scoreless innings before getting roughed up. The Royals took a 4-2 lead in the fifth inning when Billy Butler followed Infantes RBI single with a three-run double off Verlander. "Our confidence level is as high as it can get," Butler said. "I dont think it is as much him as it is were going really good right now." Infante cleared the left-field fences with his third homer this year with two on to make it 7-2 in the sixth, leading fans to boo Verlander, who is in the second season of his seven-year, $180 million deal. "I dont blame the fans for booing," Verlander said. "They are frustrated with me, just like Im frustrated with myself. I would have probably booed myself tonight. Theyve cheered me a lot of times, and they will cheer me again." The jeers kept coming in the next inning when Kansas City scored four runs -- one earned -- on four hits and two errors off Evan Reed, who failed to retire any Royals as their lead grew to 11-2. The Royals finished with a season high in runs and hits (17) on a steamy night in the Motor City. Detroit hurt its chances of winning the opener of the four-game series early in the game. Both teams lost a player to cramps. Tigers outfielder Torii Hunter left the game in the fourth with a cramp in his right hamstring. "Its not a strain," Detroit manager Brad Ausmus insisted. Royals catcher Salvador Perez was replaced in the seventh because of cramps in both calves. "Hes fine," Yost said. "They made him drink a bunch of fluids and gave him an IV." NOTES: Kansas City RHP Yordano Ventura (4-5) will start against Detroit RHP Max Scherzer (8-2) on Tuesday night, when the Royals will have a chance to move into first place and push the Tigers to second in the division for the first time this season. ... Kansas Citys winning streak is the longest active streak in the majors and its best since winning nine in a row from July 22 to Aug. 1 last year. Golden State Warriors Jerseys . Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas appeared to be on track to gain election from the Baseball Writers Association of America on Wednesday, and Craig Biggio could join them. Stephen Curry Jersey . 25 against Miami. Hillis left Browns Stadium about two hours before kickoff, a decision that has led to speculation he was upset over ongoing negotiations with the club on a contract extension. http://www.cheapwarriorsjerseysauthentic...thompson-jersey. -- Canadian mens rugby coach Kieran Crowley has made four changes to his starting roster for Saturdays Pacific Nations Cup clash against the United States. Wilt Chamberlain Jersey .Y. -- Dallas Stars coach Lindy Ruff had an opportunity to experience an entire range of emotions in his first trip back to Buffalo to face his former team. Rick Barry Jersey . -- Brad Gushue of St.New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - The St. Johns Red Storm will be enjoying some home cooking on Friday night, as they go up against 10th-ranked Gonzaga in the title game of the NIT Season Tip-Off at Madison Square Garden. The Red Storm, who play some of their regular season games in the Worlds Most Famous Arena, are off to a 4-0 start to the 2014-15 campaign as they go up against an undefeated Bulldogs squad. Two days ago, St. Johns advanced to the championship round of the tournament by taking out Minnesota by a score of 70-61. With the victory in the semifinals, the Red Storm are off to their best start since they opened 6-0 during the 2009-10 campaign. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs are doing exactly what was to be expected of a top-10 program, plowing through the competition and winning every game by double figures. The first four wins of the campaign came at home in Washington, the other coming two nights ago versus Georgia (88-76) at the Garden. Gonzaga leads the all-time series by a count of 3-1, a relationship that dates back to 1960 when the Red Storm won the first meeting, 97-69. The latest clash took place in 2011 during the NCAA Tournaments second round in Denver, Colorado. The Bulldogs scored the first points of the game against Georgia and never looked back, converting 50.0 percent from the floor and outscoring the other Bulldogs by 10 at the free-throw line, en route to the 12-point victory. Kyle Wiltjer scored 32 points as he accounted for half of the teams 52 field goal attempts, followed by Kevin Pangos with 22 points, to go along with six assists and three steals. Byron Wesley missed five of his sixx shots from the floor, but countered with a 10-of-12 effort at the stripe in order to finish with 12 points.dddddddddddd Thanks to some lopsided blowouts, the Bulldogs are generating a hefty 93.4 ppg at the moment, shooting 55.1 percent from the field, which is considerably higher than the 33.8 percent accuracy of the opponents. Wiltjer is one of five players in double figures with his 16.8 ppg, followed by Pangos and Wesley with 12.6 and 12.4 ppg, respectively. In addition to being a 56.3 percent shooter out on the perimeter, Pangos has also issued 29 assists for a squad that has a better than 2-to-1 assist to turnover ratio. Unlike Minnesota, the Red Storm have an intimate knowledge of MSG and made sure that they benefited from that as they claimed the nine-point win on Wednesday night. DAngel Harrison came up a rebound shy of a double-double as he tallied a game-high 19 points and while he shot only 5-of-17 from the field, he made up for that lackluster effort by registering six steals. Rysheed Jordan filled his stat line with 18 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals, followed by Chris Obekpa with 10 points and nine boards. St. Johns, which logged a staggering 16 steals against Minnesota, has been focusing quite a bit on defense in the early going. Opponents have converted only 34.5 percent of their field goal attempts and are turning the ball over an average of just over 14 times per contest. From an offensive standpoint, Harrison is responsible for 18.5 ppg and Jordan another 17.5 ppg for a squad that is outscoring the competition by 13.6 ppg at this stage of the campaign. 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