12-20-2019, 06:13 AM
(SportsNetwork.com) - The Toronto Blue Jays will play their next eight games on the road, starting with Tuesdays opener of a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. The Blue Jays were able to snap a four-game losing streak with Sundays 7-1 win over the Boston Red Sox in the finale of a three-game series at Rogers Centre. Brett Lawrie hit a solo home run and drove in two, while Edwin Encarnacion ended with two doubles and two RBI. Melky Cabrera was 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Jays, who gave starting pitcher R.A. Dickey enough run support. The right-handed knuckleballer limited the rival Red Sox to a run on five hits in 6 1/3 innings with six strikeouts and no walks. "When I have one to two to zero walks, its usually going to be a pretty good day, and thats what I need to get back to, and like I said, today was a good step in that direction," said Dickey, who won for the first time since April 5 and is 2-3 on the season. Steve Delabar and Esmil Rogers combined to throw 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief. Dustin McGowan draws the start for the Blue Jays Tuesday and he is 1-1 in four starts with a lofty 6.88 ERA. He has posted back-to-back no-decisions and was reached for six runs in four innings of last Wednesdays 10-8 loss to Baltimore. McGowan has allowed nine runs over the past two outings and is 1-1 with a 2.30 ERA in four career meetings (2 starts) with the Royals. Kansas City is home for the next six games versus Toronto and Detroit, and hopes to build on a strong offensive performance Tuesday night. The Royals took two of three meetings in Baltimore over the weekend and closed the set with Sundays 9-3 pounding of the Orioles. Omar Infante hit a two-run homer to highlight a four-run seventh inning and finished with six RBI. "Hes a tremendous offensive performer and definitely the star of the day today for us," Royals manager Ned Yost said about Infante. Alex Gordon had two RBI and Norichika Aoki collected two hits and three runs scored. Royals starting pitcher James Shields got the win and held the Orioles to a pair of runs and three hits in seven innings of work. He is 3-2 on the season. Jason Vargas will follow Shields in the Kansas City rotation and is 2-0 with a 1.54 earned run average through five starts. Vargas did not receive a decision in last Wednesdays 5-3 loss at Cleveland and lasted six innings, allowing three runs (2 earned) and six hits. Vargas, a left-hander, was coming off seven scoreless innings versus Minnesota on April 18 and is 2-0 with a 1.54 ERA in five outings. Vargas hasnt pitched well in his career against the Blue Jays and is 1-3 in six starts with a 5.67 ERA. Toronto won four of six games against Kansas City a year ago and is 10-4 in the past 14 matchups between the two clubs. 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Maximilian Arnold put Wolfsburg ahead in the eighth minute, when the stationary Fallou Diagne allowed him to guide Patrick Ochs cross beyond the helpless Freiburg goalkeeper, and Ivica Olic doubled the lead three minutes later after Luiz Gustavo did well to set him up.RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Rafael Nadal showed no signs of a tender back Tuesday, defeating fellow Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-3, 7-5 in the first round of the Rio Open. It was No. 1-ranked Nadals first match since losing three weeks ago in the Australia Open final against Stanislas Wawrinka, a match the Spaniard was a heavy favourite to win. Nadal tweaked his back warming up for the final in Australia, bringing up questions again about his health to start a season. A year ago he was coming back from a left knee injury, which he overcame to win the French and US Open. "Daniel is a specialist on clay, so for me it was a great match after so much time off after the final in Australia because of the back problems," Nadal said. "I practiced very little. So I was happy to get back, and get back with a victory." Nadal looked fine on the outdoor red clay and seems headed for a possible final Sunday against fellow Spaniard David Ferrer. Ferrer defeated Jeremy Chardy in his first-round match 6-2, 6-3. Nadal broke Gimeno-Traver in the sixth game en route to taking the first set. The two were even in the second set until Nadal broke in the 11th game and then served out to win.dddddddddddd Nadal has the best clay-court record in the Open Era, 294-21. "For Rio, for the Brazilian people, for everybody its nice because hes No. 1 in the world," third-seeded Fabio Fognini said of Nadal. "For the tournament, especially because its the first year, I think it will help." Other seeded players advancing on Tuesday included: No. 3 Fognini, No. 4 Tommy Robredo, No. 7 Juan Monaco and 8 Pablo Andujar. Ousted were No. 5 Nicolas Almagro and No. 6 Marcel Granollers. In the combined WTA event, top-seeded Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic won her first-round match, beating Colombias Mariana Duque-Marino 6-4, 6-4. Second-seeded Francesca Schiavone of Italy was eliminated in a 6-4, 6-4 to Spains Lourdes Dominguez Lino. Unseeded Teliana Pereira defeated No. 4 Alexandra Cadantu 6-3, 6-4 to become the first Brazilian woman ranked in the top 100 in 23 years. The last was Andrea Vieira. Brazils most famous womens player is Maria Bueno, who won seven Grand Slams, the last at the US Open in 1966. ' ' '