Royals earn split with Rangers

Baseball Betting Lines

05/26/2010 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Billy Butler went 2-for-4 with a solo homer, and Luke Hochevar tossed eight strong innings, as the Kansas City Royals earned a 5-2 win over the Texas Rangers in the finale of a brief two- game set at Kauffman Stadium.

Willie Bloomquist added a double and knocked in two for the Royals, who snapped three-game slide. The Royals also halted a six-game losing skid against Texas, but are still only 5-15 in the last 20 matchups.

Hochevar (5-2) allowed two runs on six hits with four strikeouts and didn't issue a walk. It was the right-hander's second consecutive strong start, as he threw a complete game in the Royals' 9-3 win over Cleveland on Thursday.

Joakim Soria pitched a perfect ninth to record his 11th save of the season and the 100th for his career.

Michael Young had an RBI triple, and Justin Smoak knocked in a run for Texas, which has dropped three of its last four since winning the previous five.

Scott Feldman (2-5) was charged with the loss for allowing four runs on seven hits with one walk over 6 2/3 innings. He did not record a strikeout.

Texas pushed across a two-out run in the second to grab the early lead. Nelson Cruz reached with a double and scored on Smoak's base hit to left. However, the Royals quickly tied it in the bottom half on a Scott Podsednik's infield single that plated Mitch Maier, who led off the inning with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on a groundout.

Mike Aviles got the home third started with a double to left, took second on a ground out and came in on Jose Guillen's sacrifice fly to put the Royals up 2-1. Young's RBI triple in the sixth pulled the Rangers even.

Butler hit a sinker over the left field wall leading off the bottom of the sixth to give KC a 3-2 edge. Later in the inning, with runners on second and third and one down, Bloomquist's sac fly gave the Royals a two-run cushion.

Kansas City picked up an insurance run in the eighth when Bloomquist laced a run-scoring two-bagger to left for a 5-2 game. Soria retired the Rangers in order in the top of the ninth to finish off the win.

Game Notes

Royals infielder Yuniesky Betancourt missed the game with a mild concussion, while the club was also without outfielder David DeJesus, who was given the second straight game off to attend to the birth of his son...Texas finished 1- for-3 with runners in scoring position and stranded four, while Kansas City went 2-for-9 with RISP and left six.

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MySportsbook.com and Kentucky Derby Offer Bonuses
The 2008 Kentucky Derby has announced a $1-million bonus for this weekend’s 134th ‘Run for the Roses’ and MySportsbook.com is doing the same.

Well, not quite $1 million, but MySportsbook.com is offering a 75% rebate for Kentucky Derby lines. Check out the exclusive horse racing bonus for all the details.

According to MySportsbook.com, the favorites for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky are: Curlin (+250); Street Sense (+500); Scat Daddy (+700); Circular Quay (+750); and Nobiz Like Shobiz (+800).

Derby organizers announced this week that there will be a $1-million bonus at the 2007 Kentucky Derby odds if the first-place horse wins by more than 6 1/2 lengths – the margin of Barbaro's victory last year. The bonus would be divided Saturday among the winning trainer, jockey, owner and a charity, with each receiving 25 percent. The designated charity is the Barbaro Memorial Fund.

''It's certainly creative, it's certainly fun and it has something for the horsemen, which we always want to embrace,'' Churchill Downs president and chief executive Robert Evans said at a news conference. ''What's really cool is it will force us to remember Barbaro.''
    
Meanwhile, the Derby favorite – Curlin – is going against the odds this year. It's been 125 years since Apollo won after skipping his 2-year-old season, and not since Regret in 1915 has such a lightly seasoned horse worn the blanket of red roses.

Arkansas Derby winner Curlin – unbeaten in three career races – tries to overcome both those obstacles in Saturday's 133rd Derby.

''We're not running against history,'' trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. ''We're running against who they load up.''

Six other horses have run in the Derby without benefit of 2-year-old races and with three or fewer starts. The best any of them managed was a sixth-place finish by Showing Up last year.
   
Asmussen dismissed suggestions that Curlin's lack of racing experience could keep him from the winner's circle.

”He exudes confidence and he's got a great presence about him,'' the trainer said. ''I feel great about the position we're in. He's not worried about anything, why should you be?''
   
The Kentucky Derby is at 4:04 p.m., ET Saturday.

For complete odds on the Kentucky Derby, visit MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.