There is not enough you can say about Felipe Paulino since coming over to the Royals in a trade from the Rockies. Through six innings of work on Tuesday evening, Paulino allowed three on nine hits, as he picked up his first win in the blue and white, moving to 1-2 on the season. In the 120-pitch effort, he struck out nine while walking just two.
Oh and the Royals won 5-3.
The Royals scored three times in the top fo the second inning against Jake Peavy, the key hit coming on a two-run triple by Alcides Escobar. Escobar was 2-for-4 at the plate and now sits with a .252 average to go with 24 RBI. Quite an improvement over the last six weeks for Escobar at the plate.
After Paul Konerko hit his 22nd home run of the season, a solo shot, the White Sox scored two more runs in the third to tie the game at three. Eric Hosmer came up with a big play defensively in the fourth, able to save potential runs by stabbing a throw to first out of the dirt.
As Paulino seemed to get stronger as the game went on, the bottom of the order came through again as Matt Treanor drove in two runs with a single in the sixth inning as Kansas City took a 5-3 lead.
In the winning effort, Jeff Francoeur and Melky Cabrera each collected two hits and a stolen base, while Billy Butler had a single and walked three times.
Louis Coleman pitched two innings of scoreless relief, and Joakim Soria pitched the ninth in picking up his 14th save. Kansas City moves to 35-51 with the win.
Though he was 0-for-5 on the evening, please remember to vote for Alex Gordon in the 2011 All-Star Final Vote by clicking here. You can also text A1 to 89269. It appears the Royals have somewhat teamed up with the Rockies, encouraging fans to vote for both Gordon and Todd Helton.