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SEATTLE -- Needing wins in Seattle to keep their slim playoff hopes alive, the Kansas City Royals offence went into a slump. Hisashi Iwakuma pitched eight scoreless innings in Seattles 6-0 win against Kansas City on Wednesday, eliminating the Royals from the playoff hunt. It was the second straight night the Mariners shut out Kansas City as the teams ahead of the Royals in the wild-card race -- Tampa Bay, Cleveland and Texas -- won. The Royals havent scored since the 12th inning of Mondays 6-5 win. "Back-to-back shutouts, youre not going to win any games scoring zero runs," Alex Gordon said. "Its kind of a tough way to go out." Mariners catcher Mike Zunino homered twice, Michael Saunders also homered and Kyle Seager hit a two-run double for Seattle, which has won three of four. Zunino and Saunders hit back-to-back homers with two outs in the eighth inning, the 14th time this season Mariners have hit consecutive home runs. The Royals entered Wednesday four games behind Cleveland for the second wild-card berth with five games to play and needed a victory. Iwakuma made sure they didnt get one. "We put ourselves in the situation to maybe find a way to sneak in, but we just came up a little short," Gordon said. "Its unfortunate, but weve got four more games and were going to try to finish the season strong." Iwakuma (14-6) finished his season without allowing a run in three straight starts, a streak of 23 scoreless innings. Against the Royals, he gave up four hits and never allowed more than one base runner in an inning. He didnt walk anyone until the eighth. He had nine strikeouts, the 13th time in 33 starts he struck out at least seven. "He handcuffed us, we couldnt do anything," Royals manager Ned Yost said. Iwakumas 2.66 ERA is third-best in the American League, and he finishes the season 4-0 in his final eight starts. "It sort of caps off the year he had," Zunino said. "He just keeps getting stronger. Every start is getting better and better." Ervin Santana (9-10) matched Iwakuma and kept the Mariners scoreless for the first four innings before Seattle broke through. Santana went six innings, allowing four runs and five hits with two strikeouts and four walks. Zunino broke the scoreless tie leading off the fifth inning, taking Santanas first pitch deep to left field. The blast sparked more scoring for the Mariners. With one out, Brad Miller doubled and Nick Franklin walked. With Seager at the plate, Santanas pickoff attempt to second ended up in centre field, putting runners on second and third. Seager then laced a double down the right field line to give Seattle a 3-0 lead. The Mariners added a run in the seventh. Dustin Ackley led off the inning with a double, and Yost walked out to the mound to signal Santanas night was done. "I just told him, You know Erv, you had a great year. Real proud of you. That was it," Yost said. Miller pushed a bunt up the first base line and reliever Will Smiths throw to first baseman Eric Hosmer was wide, allowing Ackley to score. The Royals best offensive chance came in the fifth, when Mike Moustakas doubled with one out and took off running when Jarrod Dyson hit a line drive which looked as if it might reach the outfield. Instead, Miller at shortstop timed his jump and snared the ball, then jogged to second to double off Moustakas and end the inning. The Royals, who were six games below .500 at the All-Star break, head to Chicago to finish up the season with a four-game series against the White Sox. Even without a shot at the playoffs, Kansas City (83-75) is assured of its first winning season in a decade, and one more win will give them their best record since they finished 84-78 in 1993. "Weve had a real good second half," Billy Butler said. "We have one more series and we get to build on this for next year. We had a good run, and the guys in here played hard." Yost said hell have a chance to give some young players an opportunity over the final four games, but doesnt expect any letdown despite no longer having a shot at the post-season. "I think weve made a lot of progress as an organization," Yost said. "It was a giant step forward for us, and it was a step we definitely needed to take this year." NOTES: Seattle manager Eric Wedge said before the game he feels like hes "hanging out there" with little clarity regarding his future with the organization. Wedges contract -- originally a three-year deal -- expires after the season and Wedge indicated hes been given no word about whether hell return for a fourth year. ... Seattle has hit 183 home runs this year, tied with Toronto for second-fewest in the major leagues. ... The last time Kansas City was shut out in back-to-back games was May 22-23, 2009, at St. Louis. Mike Ditka Bears Jersey . Defencemen Drew Doughty, Shea Weber and forward Ryan Getzlaf also scored for the Canadians, who started their gold-medal defence 2-0. Goalie Roberto Luongo, getting the call in place of Game 1 starter Carey Price, was solid when needed in making 23 saves for the shutout. Womens Dick Butkus Jersey . Defenceman Yannick Weber scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Canucks breathed a sigh of relief with a 2-1 win on Saturday night. http://www.bearsnflfansmall.com/c-44-bears-cody-whitehair-je rsey.aspx . - NASCAR announced a 33-race schedule for the 2014 Nationwide Series with virtually no changes from this years slate. Womens Gale Sayers Jersey .H. -- Matt Kenseth made it 2 for 2 in the Chase, holding off teammate Kyle Busch to win Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Authentic Dick Butkus Jersey .Y. -- Bills receiver Stevie Johnson has a bone to pick with the NFL schedule maker.TORONTO - The Raptors knocked down 10 of their first 12 shots, two days after missing 10 of their first 12 attempts. They reached the 100-point plateau for the fourth time in five games, bested the visiting Trail Blazers by 34 in the paint and scored 19 of the final 25 points in regulation. Despite all the aforementioned improvements over Fridays embarrassing defeat to the Bulls, they still picked up their seventh loss in 11 games to begin the season. The culprit of their demise on Sunday afternoon was the three-point shot. "Its tough when theyre knocking down shots like that," said Rudy Gay, after the Blazers went 15-for-32 from three-point range in their 118-110 overtime victory. "No matter how much we rotated, moved around and switched, its tough to [beat] that, when a team has it going like that." Portland entered the game fifth in three-point shooting at 41 per cent and its shooters were red-hot from start to finish. Four Blazers hit three or more treys and they outscored the Raptors, who shot 3-of-17, by 36 from beyond the arc. As a result, Portland extended its lead to as many as 17 before the home team cracked down on defence and Gay took over. Gay, who scored 30 points to go along with 10 rebounds in the game, engineered a 19-6 Raptors run to close out the fourth quarter. Gay had 10 points in that stretch, including the buzzer-beating lay-up that tied the game at 102 and forced overtime. It was his sixth go-ahead or game-tying basket in the final 10 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime in the past four seasons, passing Carmelo Anthony for most in the league. "It was go-time," Gay said of the comeback that ultimately fell short in extra time. "Of course, the whole game you have to play like its go-time but when youre backs against the wall, you have to pick it up and find a way to get the win." In overtime, the three broke Torontos back again as Portland hit three of five attempts and held the Raptors to 2-of-12 shooting overall.dddddddddddd Ball movement, or lack thereof Gay and DeMar DeRozan attempted 54 of Torontos 94 field goals - 27 each - but they combined for just three assists. Despite his game-high 30 points, Gay was held without an assist and despite Kyle Lowrys 10 dimes - to go along with 10 points - only three Raptors registered a helper. "We definitely want there to be movement," Casey acknowledged after the game. "We have out limitations from that standpoint but we want to move the ball, set screens [and] move the ball from side-to-side. Again, weve got to do a better job of that; thats where weve got to find ourselves offensively." Treading water A year ago, the Raptors dug themselves an insurmountable hole after a tumultuous early-season schedule got the best of them. By the time the schedule eased up and their fortunes began to turn, it was too late. Now, as they navigate through a similarly challenging start to the campaign, they thrive to avoid making that same mistake. "We want to make sure were at sea level when the schedule does balance out and not be so far behind that we cant catch up," Casey said Saturday following an afternoon practice. "We want to make sure were treading water and not get so far behind the eight ball while were trying to find out who we are." Fortunately for the Raptors, theyre not the only ones trying to find their identity early in the season. Heading into Sundays action, only four teams in the East (Indiana, Miami, Chicago, Atlanta) boasted records above .500, and at 4-7, Toronto finds itself in the thick of the Eastern Conference and just one game out of first in its division, where the Nets and Knicks are also struggling. "The league hasnt gone anywhere and thats what I tell our players," said Casey. "We still want to have a sense a urgency of finding out who we are offensively and defensively and make sure we find out pretty quick." Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
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