sakura

MI MINNEAPOLIS — Needing a big hit, the Minnesota Twins instead turned a little tapper back to the mound into big trouble for the Kansas City Royals. Damon Jones Jersey . Pitcher Wade Davis made a wild flip home on a comebacker in the eighth inning and the Twins rallied past the Royals 4-3 Sunday for a three-game sweep. „Had the play right there in front of me, just didnt make it,“ Davis said. A madcap sequence put the Twins ahead and a crazy play ended it, too. With two outs and none on in the ninth, Mike Moustakas popped a ball straight up. As he stood to watch it in the batters box, catcher Kurt Suzuki tripped over him, resulting in an interference call for the final out. „Thats always on the hitter,“ Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. „Thats not going to be on the defender. He has a right to catch the ball.“ After the Royals scored three times in the eighth for a 3-2 lead, reliever Aaron Crow (0-1) walked two Minnesota batters to start the bottom half. Davis struck out Joe Mauer, but Trevor Plouffe walked to load the bases. Chris Herrmann then hit a grounder back to the mound and Davis, hoping to begin an easy double play, hesitated briefly after getting the ball out of his glove. Davis toss sailed past catcher Salvador Perez. Pedro Florimon scored the tying run and Dozier slid home under Perezs return throw to Davis, who was a step late covering the plate. „You got to be aggressive, you cant lose that,“ Dozier said. „I saw the throw. I saw Davis just hanging out a good 10 yards away from the thing, so might as well take a shot.“ The lapse by Davis compounded an already frustrating series for the Royals. Kansas City was outscored 21-5 in the sweep. „I got frustrated and made a mental mistake by not being there,“ Davis said. „Its unacceptable.“ Casey Fien (1-0) got one out and Glen Perkins posted his third save. The Royals have lost their first five road games this season, managing just nine runs. „I think everybodys trying to do too much right now,“ Royals manager Ned Yost said. „When you go in a slump everybody tries to do more, and thats only natural for a team when youre having trouble scoring runs.“ Josmil Pinto hit his third homer in the seventh inning to give the Twins a 2-0 lead. Twins starter Kevin Correia cruised through seven innings before running into trouble in the eighth. He allowed three runs on six hits in seven innings. Eric Hosmers RBI double capped the Royals three-run eighth. Not wearing sleeves despite a gametime temperature of 42 degrees, Jason Vargas held the Twins to two runs on five hits over seven innings for his third straight quality start this season. That type of outing would have been more than enough last season, when the Royals won 15 of 19 from Minnesota. But the Twins now have the upper hand to start 2014. NOTES: The Twins swept the Royals for the first time since winning four in a row in June 2011. … A CT scan revealed a small fracture in LF Josh Willinghams hand. Twins assistant GM Rob Antony said the team will consult hand specialists, but remains hopeful that Willingham wont need more than 15 days on the disabled list. … Gardenhire returned after missing the previous two games to attend a funeral. … Both teams are off on Monday. When the Royals begin a three-game series in Houston on Tuesday, hard-throwing Dominican rookie Yordano Ventura will make his second start against RHP Lucas Harrell (0-2, 11.05). … The Twins begin a three-game series at Target Field with Toronto on Tuesday. RHP Phil Hughes will look for his first win in a Twins uniform against RHP Brandon Morrow (1-1, 5.73). Ron Harper Jersey . Louis against the Blues. The Canucks picked up their second straight victory in the swings opener on Tuesday in Calgary before getting routed in Minnesota last night, 5-1. John Williams Jersey . The turf is scheduled to give way to actual grass that is bright green, so we dont have to complain any more—we just have to wait a few years. Instead, do feel free to complain if the roof is closed for any reason other than to allow a game to be played.EBEBIYIN, Equatorial Guinea – Zambia and Congo drew 1-1 to open Group B at the African Cup of Nations on Sunday at a tiny new stadium carved out of the dense jungle in the far north-eastern corner of Equatorial Guinea.Zambias Given Singuluma struck first after an early error by Congo goalkeeper Robert Kidiaba in the remote town of Ebebiyin near the borders with Cameroon and Gabon — maybe one of the unlikeliest venues to host two former African champions.Congo equalized in the 66th when Yannick Bolasie swept a shot into the top left corner after the ball fell to him on the edge of the area.The teams were the first at the African Cup to play at Ebebiyin Stadium, a 5,000-seat ground hastily put together for the continental championship and with no stands behind the goals. Local fans not used to this standard of soccer cheered both countries, and roamed around the stands in long lines, dancing and chanting and enjoying their rare exposure to top-level football.Outside the ground, more people made themselves at home under a huge tree, setting up makeshift tents and shelters away from the black-suited riot police who had to make the three-hour drive up from the city of Bata to provide security for the game.Ebebiyin is one of the venues under especially close scrutiny in the hurried buildup to the Cup of Nations. Its a town of just over 30,000 people with little football infrastructure.Its OK. We are not complaining, Zambia coach Honour Janza said. We are enjoying the atmosphere. I think it remminds us of 2012. Jim Chones Jersey. So I think we are OK.Zambias only previous African Cup title came in 2012, when Equatorial Guinea co-hosted the tournament.On Sunday, the Zambians got a lucky early break when Kidiaba punched the ball straight to Singuluma, who drilled it back past the keeper into the net.Congo stamped its authority on the game from then on, with Bolasie forcing Zambian goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene to block a close-range shot in the seventh minute, and sending a deflected free kick just past the right post toward the end of the first half.Bolasie did find the net in the second half, and ran all the way to the dugout to do a little jig with his teammates.Ebebiyin Stadium was full by the end of the game, including a packed section of Congolese supporters in one corner banging drums constantly. The pitch wasnt good, though, cutting up often and forcing players to stamp big lumps of turf back down again.But Equatorial Guinea only had two months to prepare for this tournament after Morocco withdrew as host, and the Central African country had just a handful of stadiums it could use to save the African Cup.We knew that (Equatorial) Guinea obviously wasnt ready to host this African Cup of Nations, said Congo captain Youssouf Mulumbu, who plays in the Premier League. I dont want to criticize them. They do their best. If we want to be in better conditions, we need to go past this group stage.Tunisia plays Cape Verde in the second Group B game at Ebebiyin later on Sunday. ‚ ‚ ‚