Guthrie strong as Royals keep rolling with 6-3 win

The Royals are beating bad teams. The Tigers are not. The Royals are doing what professional playoff teams do. The Tigers are doing what pretenders do. I do not understand. Jeremy Guthrie gave the Royals eight solid innings in a 6-3 win over the Rangers. The Royals can finish off the sweep tomorrow on a road trip that has already seen them go 6-2.

Alex Gordon got the scoring started immediately for the Royals with a first inning home run, a blast that hit near the top of the foul pole, his sixth dinger in his last sixteen games. Over that time, he's hitting .351/.403/.719. I'd say he's heating up at the right time. Dayton Moore, your argument that "we really don't have anyone who is really hot offensively right now" is invalid

Shin-Soo Choo would tie the game in the bottom of the inning with a solo home run as Guthrie continues to struggle in the first inning, with a 5.54 ERA this year in the opening frame. But as usual, Guthrie would settle down and turn in a solid performance, scattering five hits over eight innings, striking out two and walking won his tenth game of the year. The Royals have a very good shot at having five starting pitchers with ten victories, the first time that will have happened since 1985.

Nick Tepesch got to the big leagues by throwing strikes despite below-average velocity, but his command failed him in the fifth. Josh Willingham, who seems in the middle of a lot of the scoring lately, led off with a walk. Mike Moustakas followed with a single, and after Erik Kratz struck out after unsuccessfully laying a bunt down, Lorenzo Cain loaded them up with another walk. Jarrod Dyson was able to plate home a run without lifting his bat, drawing a free pass on four pitches to force in a run. Omar Infante capped off the inning with a two-run single to make it a 4-1 lead for the good guys.

Dyson continued to knock home runs in the seventh. Erik Kratz and Lorenzo Cain led off the inning with singles. After an Alcides Escobar sacrifice put runners at second and third, Dyson drove home a run off lefty-reliever Alex Claudio to score two runners (after a replay showed Lorenzo Cain was safe at home). Dyson is hitting .364/.436/.455 this month in case you were wondering. No one is hot offensively.

Aaron Crow faltered a bit in the ninth giving up a pair of runs, but was able to shut things down before it got nuts. Royals win 6-3.

Detroit was blown out earlier today 12-4 in the first game of a doubleheader, so the Royals have already picked up a half game on the Tigers. The Tigers lead 7-5 in the seventh in Game Two, so now we play the waiting game.

Aw, the waiting game sucks. Let's play "Hungry, Hungry Hippos!" #EverySimpsonsEver