3/3 Cactus League Recap

When the Kansas City Royals traded away their top prospect, Wil Myers, to Tampa Bay, most people focused on the fact that James Shields was headed to Kansas City.  The "lesser known" player that the Royals acquired was pitcher Wade Davis.

Davis has a career 28-22 record with a 3.94 ERA.  He won 12 games in 2010 and 11 games in 2011, but was moved to the bullpen for the 2012 season, appearing in 54 games for the Rays, going 3-0 with a 2.43 ERA.  2013 will be Davis' fourth full season in the major leagues after he pitched in six games in 2009 and then was with Tampa Bay for good starting with the 2010 season.

Davis was back on the mound Sunday for the Royals, starting against the Reds, pitching three scoreless innings and giving up just two hits and striking out three Reds.  So far Davis has pitched five scoreless innings this spring, only allowing three hits.  More importantly, Davis has issued no walks and has struck out three hitters.  Davis has earned the win in both of his spring starts.

I made mention just a couple of days ago that Kansas City is closer to the top of the division now than the bottom, and if the Royals get a solid season from Davis at the bottom of the rotation, this team could move even closer to the top of the American League Central.

Scores from Sunday:

San Francisco 5, Arizona 3
San Diego 4, Chicago White Sox 0
Chicago Cubs (SS) 4, L.A. Angels 2
L.A. Dodgers 5, Cleveland 1
Kansas City 8, Cincinnati 1
Milwaukee 4, Chicago Cubs (SS) 3
Oakland 7, Colorado 2

Notes from Sunday:
The Giants earned a 5-3 win over Arizona in part due to Francisco Peguero's big day at the plate.  Peguero went 3-4 with a double and three RBI for San Francisco.  Barry Zito started for the Giants, pitching three innings, allowing just two hits and no runs while striking out two hitters.  Jaff Decker hit a solo home run and Nick Hundley had an RBI double for San Diego in their 4-0 win against the White Sox.  The Padres got to White Sox starter, and former teammate, Jake Peavy early.  Peavy started and went three innings, allowing five hits and three runs while striking out two.  A split squad Cubs team took down the Angels on Sunday behind a pair of solo home runs from Brian Bogusevic and Brad Nelson.  Bogusevic finished 3-3 on the day with the homer and a double.  Carlos Marmol pitched one inning in relief for the Cubs, allowing two hits and one run.  Josh Hamilton and Mark Trumbo each tallied a hit for the Angels, while Mike Trout and Peter Bourjos both went 0-3.  The Dodgers got a three run homer from Yasiel Puig in the seventh inning of their 5-1 win over Cleveland.  Puig entered the game for Matt Kemp and went deep in his lone at-bat.  Josh Beckett started for the Dodgers, pitching three scoreless innings while recording three strikeouts.  Kansas City continued their hot start to Spring Training, beating Cincinnati, 8-1.  Xavier Nady and Christian Colon each drove in a pair of runs, while Alex Gordon launched a solo home run for the Royals.  The Royals did not start off strong however, as Reds starter Homer Bailey went two innings allowing just one hit and striking out five Royals to start the game.  Carlos Gomez of the Brewers hit a solo home run in Milwaukee's 4-3 win over a split squad Cubs team.  Logan Schafer and Taylor Green also drove in a run each for the Brew Crew.  Edwin Jackson, the starter the Cubs signed during the off-season, pitched two innings and allowed two hits and two runs while walking three hitters.  And finally, Oakland got an RBI from seven different players in their win over Colorado on Sunday.  Scott Sizemore went 2-2 with an RBI while Athletics starter A.J. Griffin allowed one run on three hits in three innings of work to start the game.  Colorado got another solo home run from Nolan Arenado, his second in as many days.