Stokes concern England have fitness from corse178's blog
MINNEAPOLIS -- Samuel Deduno had that ever-important command, of his fastball and his emotions. Ryan Miller Jersey . The key to keeping calm? "Oh, just breathe," Deduno said with a smile after he pitched seven sharp innings to send the Minnesota Twins to a 3-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday. One of Justin Morneaus two doubles drove in Minnesotas first run in the fourth, and Deduno took over from there. "Some guys really look like they think theyre going to hit it, and then all of a sudden it just kind of moves late on them," said Morneau, who handled more than his share of groundouts at first base during Dedunos outing. "He did a really nice job tonight. That was what we needed." Deduno (4-2) gave up only five hits and, more importantly, one walk. He struck out three and let only eight fair balls leave the infield. Jared Burton pitched a scoreless eighth and Glen Perkins notched his 20th save in 22 tries with a scoreless ninth inning despite allowing a walk and a double. The Twins even managed to beat Jeremy Guthrie (7-6). The right-hander topped them twice earlier this season and brought a 6-2 record over nine previous career matchups into the game. Guthrie gave up an RBI single to Oswaldo Arcia right after Morneaus big hit, but the other run he allowed was unearned. Salvador Perezs soaring home run, to the second deck in left field, was the only evidence of success by the Royals against the improving Deduno, who last year couldnt find the plate despite showing some potential with his lively right arm. "Everything moves. Just tough," Royals designated hitter Billy Butler said. "Hes got a good slider. Hard curve. Hes just real efficient." After shining for the Dominican Republic during the World Baseball Classic in March, Deduno has finally found the control of his fastball that escaped him before. His career walks-per-nine-innings ratio was 5.2 entering this game, buoyed by the 53 he issued last season in 79 innings. In seven starts this year since being called up from Triple-A Rochester, Deduno has completed six innings with three runs or fewer allowed four times. "Hes got a really nice natural cutter that just bores in on our lefties," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "We just havent done anything against him." Following consecutive singles to start the seventh, Deduno had runners at the corners with one out. But he struck out David Lough, celebrating the whiff with a slight hop off the mound at the end of his follow through. Then he got Elliot Johnson to ground out. "That was a huge sequence of pitches," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said, adding: "Hes more in control on the mound. His windup, hes not falling all over the place." Said Deduno: "Tonight, everything was working." For a couple of below-average teams, this was a crisply played game befitting of the clear-and-dry picturesque summer evening. The fielding error by Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas in the seventh that loaded the bags prior to Pedro Florimons sacrifice fly, which came against reliever Will Smith, was about the only blemish. Lough, the right fielder, did his best to keep Guthrie in it by tracking down Morneaus two-out double in the corner and start a textbook 9-4-2 relay to keep Josh Willingham from scoring in the sixth. Guthrie lost his third straight start, but he could hardly be faulted for this one. He retired the first nine batters he faced and allowed six hits over 6 2-3 innings while striking out four and walking two. The Royals, who have won five of six against the Twins in Kansas City this season, fell to 14-10 in June. That was their April record, too, but that ugly 8-20 mark in May is what has kept them from seriously challenging first-place Detroit in the AL Central. The Twins improved to 11-4 in their last 15 home games. NOTES: The Royals will send RHP James Shields (2-6, 2.92 ERA) to the mound Friday to face Twins RHP P.J. Walters (2-3, 4.88), who didnt finish the first inning in his last start, a loss at Cleveland. Shields has taken 10 straight turns without a win, despite a 2.87 ERA during that span. The Royals have won the last five of his starts, though. ... Twins DH-RF Ryan Doumit, whos also the backup catcher, handled rookie Kyle Gibsons pregame bullpen session and reported no problems with his sore right ankle. This was his third straight game on the bench. ... Twins CF Aaron Hicks, who began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Rochester this week for his strained left hamstring, was scheduled to increase his playing time to nine innings by Friday. GM Terry Ryan declined to put a timetable on Hicks return to Minnesota. ... The Twins signed second-rounder Ryan Eades, a RHP from Louisiana State, giving them 23 of their first 25 draft picks under contract. ... Perez is 6 for 10 over his last three games. ... This was Guthries first loss in four starts at Minnesota. ... Lorenzo Cain hit the double against Perkins to snap an 0-for-18 skid. ... This was the shortest game of the season for the Twins at 2:29. Jake McCabe Jersey . He said Tuesday thats a big reason why he is now the new coach of the Tennessee Titans. Whisenhunt said he hit it off quickly with Ruston Webster when interviewing for the job Friday night. Justin Falk Jersey . Artturi Lehkonen, Joni Nikko and Ville Leskinen had the other goals for Finland (1-0) while Juuse Saros stopped 28 shots. Tim Robin Johnsgard had the lone goal for Norway (0-2). http://www.cheapsabresjerseys.com/?tag=adidas-danny-gare-jersey . After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91.Sir Ian Botham has backed England to rise to top spot in the Test rankings after their emphatic innings victory over Sri Lanka. England beat the tourists by an innings and 88 runs inside three days at Headingley with centurion Jonny Bairstow edging James Anderson, who recorded match figures of 10-45, to the man of the match award.However, while totals of 91 and 119 are likely to see the Sri Lankan batsmen come in for criticism, Botham believes their inexperience and Englands quality must be taken into account. A lot of these guys wont have seen anything quite like this, said the former England all-rounder.Theyve got a couple of experienced players and the openers have played about 20 games I think, but after that they really are novices, particularly in English conditions, so you have to give them a bit of leeway. James Anderson ended with match figures of 10-45 as England crushed Sri Lanka by an innings and 88 runs Hopefully theyll learn quickly from their own point of view but its very easy for us too forget that England are a very good Test team. Jack Eichel Jersey. Theyre a team that I think will go to No 1 in the world in the next year or so, as soon as they can.Theyll be right back up there very shortly and thats what these teams do. England have got an exceptionally good bowling attack - and they were a bowler down dont forget. The bowler in question was Ben Stokes, who was forced to sit out the majority of the third day with an injury sustained on Friday.Should the 24-year-old all-rounder fail to recover in time for the second Investec Test at Chester-le-Street, Botham can see England opting for an extra seamer rather than a batsman to replace him.First and foremost, Id be very surprised if Ben Stokes doesnt play at Durham. Its a home game for him and hell be desperate to do well, said the Sky Sports pundit. Stokes concern England have fitness worry over Ben Stokes ahead of second Test If the injury cant be repaired in time or he isnt match fit then I wouldnt be surprised to see England go with one of the young bowlers theyve got lined up.I think theyre possibly thinking of bringing in a bowler because if youve got three seamers who are going well - Anderson, Broad and Finn - it gives you the opportunity to look at another seamer in that environment.Jake Ball is probably the next cab on the rank and fine, play him. It gives you an opportunity in the actual arena, because the team is playing so well, its much easier to test players and give them an outing than when youre struggling. Itd be a perfect opportunity if thats what they want to do. 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