Colon, Gordon, O'Hearn lift Royals in slugfest
PHOENIX -- Ryan Braun and Manny Pina both hit their first spring home runs for the Brewers, and Christian Colon went deep for the Royals as the teams combined for eight runs in the first inning and a half Friday at Maryvale Baseball Park, where the Royals emerged 8-5 victors.Alex
PHOENIX --
Both teams wore bright green caps for the occasion, which will be auctioned at MLB.com.
The Royals jumped to a 3-0 lead with a quartet of well-placed doubles against Brewers starter Jimmy Nelson in the top of the first inning before Braun and the Brewers answered with four runs in the bottom of the frame against
"Tip your cap to Braun," Karns said. "He sat on a first pitch curveball, just got it out enough."
The Royals knotted the game again in the second with Colon's leadoff homer, and took the lead in the fourth with a rally against Nelson and lefty reliever Andy Oliver that began with back-to-back infield hits. Nelson was charged with five earned runs on six hits in three-plus innings, with one walk and six strikeouts in an outing that began with a bloop double by
"Apparently I'm not Irish," Nelson joked.
He was pleased, though, with the action on his offspeed pitches.
"They squared up a couple of balls, for sure, but overall I felt really good about my offspeed, especially," Nelson said. "[Catcher
Another Brewers starter,
Karns worked four innings and was charged with four runs (three earned) on seven hits. He walked two and struck out four.
"Today was a little warm, but it was nice to get out there and work through that," Karns said. "Seventy-five [pitches], and I still felt like I had energy to go. That's a positive I take out of it. I worked ahead, but I think my finishing pitches I left out over the plate at times, and they were able to put it in play."
Royals Up Next: The Royals host the American League champion Indians on Saturday for a 3:05 p.m. CT game live on MLB.TV.
Brewers Up Next:
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Adam McCalvy has covered the Brewers for MLB.com since 2001. Follow him on Twitter @AdamMcCalvy, like him on Facebook and listen to his podcast.