Manage Delivery
CLEVELAND — Royals icon George Brett turned to Twitter on Tuesday night after his dog, Charlie, went missing from the family’s home in Mission Hills.
Brett sought help through the social media and even offered a reward. His effort resulted in #FindCharlie becoming a trending Twitter topic in Kansas City.
All turned out well.
Charlie, a Labradoodle, is back with the family.
“We got him!” Brett tweeted at 8:23 a.m. Wednesday. “Thank you for all the support! It is so touching to see how many people care! You all were a big help! Thank you.”
Extending Broxton
Jonathan Broxton struggled in the ninth inning Wednesday before closing out the 6-3 victory over the Indians, but his difficulties had nothing to do with any lingering concerns regarding his elbow.
“He never lost his velocity,” catcher Brayan Peña said. “That’s a good thing, especially with an aggressive team like Cleveland. He kept firing, and it happened for us.”
The Royals, in fact, are no longer restricting Broxton to pitching no more than two days in a row. Manager Ned Yost said he planned to use him Monday had a save situation presented itself – that would have been three straight days.
“Our plan was to take him into June and then go,” Yost said. “We’re not in June yet, but we’re close enough.”
Broxton said he has no concerns regarding his elbow, which required surgery last Sept. 19 to remove a bone spur and other loose bodies.
“My elbow has been bouncing back fine,” he said. “I’m just going to continue to work on it every day and go from there.”
Broxton, 27, was a free agent last November when he agreed to a one-year deal to serve as a setup reliever for Joakim Soria. That plan ended when Soria suffered a torn elbow ligament in spring training that required season-ending surgery.
A scoreless inning Wednesday lowered Broxton’s ERA to 1.83 through 20 appearances. He also recorded his 11th save in 13 opportunities.
Pitching plans
Left-hander Jonathan Sánchez will “probably” get at least one more rehab start at Class AAA Omaha after working 51/3 innings Tuesday before getting a no-decision in a 5-4 loss to Iowa.
“He was OK,” Yost said. “He’s making progress. He’ll probably have one more rehab start. Probably.”
Yost said he is “leaning” toward starting right-hander Vin Mazzaro on Sunday in the series finale against Oakland at Kauffman Stadium and using rookie lefty Will Smith on Monday in the series opener against Minnesota.
All subject to change.
Yost said Luis Mendoza will likely remain in the bullpen as a long reliever.
Sánchez retired the first 13 hitters Tuesday before exiting after allowing one run and three hits. He struck out five and walked one, but he topped out around 91 mph – a concern – and threw first-pitch strikes to only 11 of 21 hitters.
Betancourt’s return
Infielder Yuniesky Betancourt could be activated from the disabled list as soon as this weekend, Yost said. Betancourt is seven for 19 through five games of a minor-league rehab assignment to test his recovery from a high right ankle sprain.
The corresponding roster move would likely involve Irving Falu or Johnny Giavotella.
The Royals promoted Falu from Omaha on May 3 to serve as their utility infielder after placing Betancourt on the disabled list. They recalled Giavotella on May 9 in an effort to replace Betancourt’s run-production potential from the right side.
Fish in the pen
Bill Fischer, 81, will return to uniform Friday and Saturday as the Royals’ bullpen coach when Steve Foster shifts to the bench to replace an absent Dave Eiland as pitching coach.
Eiland will miss the two games in order to attend the graduation of his daughter, Nicole, from high school in Florida.
Fischer currently serves as senior pitching advisor for the organization’s minor-league staff. He pitched nine seasons in the big leagues from 1956-64 and subsequently served as pitching coach for Cincinnati (1979-83), Boston (1985-91) and Tampa Bay (2000-01).
Looking back
It was seven years ago Thursday – May 31, 2005 – that the Royals hired Buddy Bell as their new manager. The move came three weeks after Tony Peña resigned following a loss in Toronto that dropped the club to 8-25.
Bell became the 14th (of 16) full-time manager in franchise history.
The Royals opened Bell’s tenure by sweeping a three-game series from the Yankees at Kauffman Stadium. They went on to win 11 of their first 15 games under Bell before reality returned. They lost 19 straight later in the year and finished 56-106.
Etc.
• The Royals have won six three-game series this season despite losing the first game. That includes their last two stops on the just-completed road trip in Baltimore and Cleveland.
• Royals starter Bruce Chen, by improving to 4-5, pushed his career record back over .500 at 64-63.
• Johnny Giavotella went two for four and has three multi-hit games in his last four starts. He also had an error on a dropped pop after committing an error Tuesday in failing to field a ground ball.
• The Royals are 16-11 on the road and 6-2-2 in their 10 road series. They are 5-17 at home.
