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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- From sad sack to staff ace. It's amazing
that one little delivery change made all the difference for Jay
Witasick.
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| Witasick |
Baffling batters all night long with breaking pitches and
off-speed stuff, the right-hander with the 1-7 record and the 5.97
ERA beat Cleveland 8-1 in a complete-game four-hitter Wednesday
night.
In his previous start last week at Anaheim, the first time he
used his new three-quarters delivery, Witasick lost 4-3 but pitched
better than he had in weeks and recorded the Royals' first complete
game.
"It's very tough to see my breaking ball now," said Witasick,
who lost his shutout on Jim Thome's sacrifice fly in the ninth.
"It breaks more like a slider. That's tough because I throw my
fastball with the same exact arm slot and it's not giving the
hitters a chance to really sit on the fastball because it could be
a breaking ball. Or if they're looking for a breaking ball it could
be a fastball."
Coming over the top, Witasick had telegraphed his pitches.
"In Anaheim, I struggled with it early and then we shut them
down for 5-6 innings, and it was the same hitter response," he
said. "They were a little bit off, their timing was not on for any
of my pitches. This is a definite positive."
Witasick struck out five and walked three and took a
three-hitter into the ninth before Roberto Alomar reached on an
infield single, stole second and took third on a fly ball before
Thome ruined what would have been the Royals' first shutout since
Witasick beat Baltimore 6-0 last Aug. 29.
"I thought he pitched pretty good. We hit some balls hard but
we couldn't get nothing going," Cleveland manager Charlie Manuel
said. "Credit him. He took a shutout into the ninth inning, so he
had to be doing something right."
Kane Davis (0-1), recalled from Triple-A Buffalo earlier in the
day, gave up seven runs in 4 1/3 innings in his first major league
start. He allowed eight hits and walked two.
Joe Randa's two-run single in the fifth chased Davis and put the
Royals up 7-0. Randa drove in three runs.
Mike Sweeney drove in two runs, raising his RBI count to 73.
Jermaine Dye hit his 20th home run making it 8-0 in the seventh.
Jeff Reboulet had an RBI bunt single and Mark Quinn and Randa
each had RBI on infield outs during the four-run third.
Dye brought the crowd to its feet with a great catch of Richie
Sexson's drive in the fourth. With one out, Sexson hit an
opposite-field shot that Dye caught while jumping and crashing into
the wall.
Game notes
In each of the first two innings, the Indians stranded
runners at third base. .... Carlos Beltran made a fine sliding catch of Sandy Alomar's sinking liner into center in the seventh.
... Kane was the 11th starter used this year by the injury-plagued
Indians. ... In their four previous home games, all losses, the
Royals had given up 51 runs. ... Witasick is the first Kansas City
pitcher with consecutive complete games since Jeff Suppan last
August.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Cleveland Clubhouse
Kansas City Clubhouse
RECAPS
Baltimore 8
Boston 7
Detroit 13
NY Yankees 6
Toronto 5
Tampa Bay 2
Chi. White Sox 7
Minnesota 3
Kansas City 8
Cleveland 1
Texas 5
Oakland 3
Anaheim 3
Seattle 2
Cincinnati 7
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Montreal 4
Chicago Cubs 5
Pittsburgh 4
NY Mets 6
Florida 5
Philadelphia 9
Milwaukee 7
Colorado 17
San Francisco 13
Arizona 6
Houston 2
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San Diego 4
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