by Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor
(STADIA)—It’s election day in Kansas City and the future of the Royals and the Chiefs might be determined. The election is on the continuation of a special sales tax used to build, renovate, or keep up the places the Royals and the Chiefs play.
Baseball season has finally OFFICIALLY begun.
—but not well for our major league teams. Both could snag only one win in their first weekend series.
(KANSAS CITY—The Royals had three solid starts against the Twins had no offense in the first game and a blown save in the second game. But the third game was a Royals offensive display.
Starters gave up just two runs in 19 innings in the series.
Cole Ragans set a Royals record on opening day with nine strikeouts in six innings. He gave up two runs and that was one more than the Royals scored. Ragans, who was impressive after a midseason trade last year, broke the opening day strikeout record set by Wally Bunker in 1970 and tied by Danny Duffy eight years ago. But the Twins won 4-1.
The Royals wasted a good start by offseason acquisition Seth Lugo in their second game. He and Twins starter Joe Ryan hooked up in a pitchers duel through six innings. Lugo struck out four, walked one and allowed just two hits. Ryan retired the first ten Royals he faced before giving up a double to Bobby Witt Jr., in the sixth. Reliever Steven Okert gave up a single to M. J. Melendez to give the Royals a 1-0 lead. But the Twins tied the game in the eighty and got four more in the ninth to win it 5-1.
Brady Singer gave the Royals their third quality start Sunday with seven shutout innings and ten strikeouts, giving up just one walk, and three hits. Salvador Perez’s three-run homer in the first inning was all he needed but the Royals pile on eight more runs, four of them coming on additional homers, to rack up an 11-0 win, their first victory of 2024. It was the first five-homer game at home since July 22, 2017. It was the 25th game in club history to feature five home runs.
Michael Wacha’s first start for the Royals was a no-decision in which he lasted five innings and gave up only three hits. Unfortunately they all came in the fourth inning and resulted in three Baltimore runs that tied the game. The Orioles won 6-4 last night on a two-run walk-off homer by Jordan Westburg, his first career walk-off hit. Bobby Witt Jr., and Salvador Perez both homered for the second straight game.
(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals also avoided a sweep in their season-opening series against the Dodgers but could have won twice with better bullpen performance in the final game of the series. They had the Dodges down 4-1. But in the eighth, pinch-hitter Max Muncey homered with a man on to give the Dodgers the 5-4 lead that they protected in the ninth.
Center fielder Victor Scott II showed flashes of his potential in the series. He’s on the roster because of injuries to some of the Cardinals’ outfielders. In the finale of the series Sunday, he was on base three times and scored twice. Starting pitcher Steve Matz gave up only five hits in in five and two-thirds innings, to go with two runs.
The Cardinals won the middle game of the three game set with Paul Goldschmidt’s ground out in the tenth inning bring home the winner in a 6-5 game. The Redbirds had taken a 5-3 lead by scoring all of their runs in the seventh thanks to some Dodger mishaps—a hit batter, a balk, and a catcher’s interference. Lance Lynn was good for four innings in his first outing for the Cardinals in seven years. He did not return after a 35-minute rain delay.
The Cardinals opened a series last night against their former manager, Mike Schildt, in San Diego. Kyle Gibson shut down the Padres on four hits through seven innings while the Cardinals feasted on five Padres pitchers for 14 hits in a 6-2 win. Wilson Contreras and Brendan Donovan had their first homers of the season.
Cardinals officials say Lars Nootbar could be back in a few days. In a simulated game during the weekend, he batted four times and got in five innings of work. He’ll probably get some playing time at Memphis in midweek before coming off the IL Thursday.
Pitcher Sonny Gray reportedly will come off the IL in about a week.
(FOOTBALL)—The UFL season has opened in a stunning way for the St. Louis Battehawks, who lost to the Michigan Panthers on a last-second 64-yard field goal by someone who hasn’t kicked a field goal since high schools.
The Battlehawks had a comeback 16-15 lead when Michigan’s Jake Bates got a kick-three with three seconds left. The Battlehawks had scored two touchdowns in the last quarter to take the lead.
The kick by Jake Bates caused some NFL eyes to pop open. The Detroit News has reported some NFL teams already have contacted him. He can’t sign with anybody until the UFL season ends June 2.
(ATTENDANCE)—The UFL drew far fewer people to its four opening weekend games than watch NFL games. The Battlehawks-Panthers game drew 9,444 grandstand people. The other games ran the total to 45,918, a number likely to be bigger next weekend when the Battlehawks play at home. Last year St Louis led its league in attendance.
(CHIEFS)—The Kansas City Chiefs have signed a new backup quarterback—Carson Wentz, who gets a one-year deal to replace former Missouri QB Blaine Gabbert who has entered free agency after going 18 for 35 in passing with no touchdowns and three interceptions but getting his second Super Bowl ring. He got his first one as Tom Brady’s backup at Tampa Bay.
Wentz was Matthew Stafford’s number two guy with the Rams last year. He has a Super Bowl ring from his time with the Eagles.
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Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice has lawyered up after a six-car crash in Dallas during a freeway race between a Corvette and a Lamborghini. Nobody was seriously hurt but it appears Rice and the other driver ran from the scene without learning if anyone had been hurt. His lawyer says he’s cooperating and “will take all necessary steps to address this situation responsibly.” Police think Rice was driving the Corvette.
A spokesman for the Chiefs has told KCMO Radio the team will “react accordingly” after it has the facts.
(BLUES)—The St. Louis Blues are trying to put together a late-season run that will let them slip into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. But their loss to the San Jose Sharks during the weekend pushed them closer to the brink of missing them.
They bounced back last night with an overtime win in Edmonton. Brando Saad got his 25th goal of the season 2:09 into the overtime period to pull the Blues within three points of the Los Angeles Kings for the final playoff spot. The Blues have gone 8-2-1 in their season-closing rush The Blues have seven games left. The Kings lost to the Jets last night and have eight games left.
(BASKETBALL: BEARS)—Cuonzo Martin is back in Missouri, at Missouri State. He’s been there before. Martin last coached at the University of Missouri and was fired after two winning seasons out of five and a 78-77 record.
Martin led the Missouri State Bears for four years before leaving after the 2020-2011 season and a record of 61-41 that included the school’s only regular season Missouri Valley Conference championship. He has a five-year deal at $600,000 a year with bonuses.
(BASKETBALL: TIGERS)—Mizzou is keeping Robin Pingeton as its women’s basketball coach although then-Athletic Director Desireé Reed-Francois said Pingeton needed to get the Tigers back to the NCAA Tournament to keep her job.
Reed-Francois is gone. Pingeton is back for her fifteenth season although her team finished 11-19 this year.
Pingeton is paid $400,000 a year base salary. In her fourteen seasons she has taken the Lady Tigers to the NCAA Tournament four times, the last appearance being 2019, and to the Women’s NIT six times. She’s 236-200 in her tenure at Mizzou.
Now, the circle sports:
(NASCAR)—Denny Hamlin has captured his second win of the season, a second in three weeks, but he has several critics who say he cheated.
NASCAR has a line at which points the leading car can accelerate toward a green flag on a restart. Numerous observers think that Hamlin sped up before getting to the line, gaining an advantage over Martin Truex, Jr., that he was able to hold to the checkered flag.
Hamlin had taken the lead coming out of the pits after the final caution flag and said after the race, “I wasn’t going to let them have an advantage that my team earned on pit road.”
Truex had led 228 of the 407 laps including 54 in a row before the final caution with two laps left. Joey Logano and Kyle Larson slipped past him on the final laps. Chase Elliott was fifth, just ahead of Christopher Bell who had started 29th.
(INDYCAR)—More testing has been run on the hybrid power system that INDYCAR wants to start using after the Indianapolis 500. Thirteen drivers from six teams ran 988 laps, more than 2400 miles, on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Two other teams, Penske and Andretti Global, practiced with the regular powerplants, which will be used on the road course race at the start of May.
(F1)—Formula One returns to action next weekend with the GP of Japan.