Royals 3, Phillies 2 (9 inn)
'The Rick' spoils no-no bid, leads Royals to win
The Phillies thoroughly outplayed the Royals in this one, but in the end, the Royals forced extras and scored the game winner on a ground ball out to right in the bottom of the 9th to pull out a 3-2 win. Bryan Shirley (1-1) pitched an amazing game for the Phils, keeping the impotent Royals' bats guessing all game long. Shirls carried a no-hit bid into the bottom of the sixth with the Phillies leading 2-0. He walked the first two batters of the 6th, and a ground out moved them to second and third. Rick Eddy then his a grounder that got stuck in no-man's-land between the pitcher and left fielder Brian Pace. Nobody volunteered to go after the ball, and Rick was safe at first, busting up the no-hit bid, while the base runners on second and third both scored, tying the game. 'The Rick' (1-0) pitched his first game for the Royals and got off the hook several times, even getting out of a one-out bases loaded jam. Rick's mix of fastballs and off-speed curveballs had the Phils going nuts. The Phillies out hit the Royals 8-2, many of those 8 hits going off the wall, but could not bring those runners around to score when it counted. The Rick accounted for both of the Royals' hits.
Submitted: HRL
Jun 17, 2004