July 30th, 2011 
Matt Loede 
Posted in 
The Good: Matt LaPorta, a guy the team sorely needs to step up and be a hitter in the last 60 days of the regular season, stepped in with a huge three-run homer with two outs in the 9th to win the game 5-2. The game seemed lost when Tony Sipp gave up a two-out hit to Chris Getz to allow a run to score to make it a 2-1 KC lead in the top of the 9th. Justin Masterson pitched amazing AGAIN, only this time to get a no-decision out of it. He went 8 innings, allowing two runs on 9 hits with a walk and five K’s. LaPorta added a double to go with his huge three-run homer. In what turned out to be his final appearance as an Indian, Orlando Cabrera scored the game-tying run in the 9th. He then was moved to the Giants for Triple-A outfielder Thomas Neal.
The Bad: Until LaPorta was able to come through in the 9th, the team again wasn’t able to do much on offense. First it was the fact they allowed another Royals pitcher, Felipe Paulino, to shut them out on four hits in six innings. Why is that so bad? Paulino is 1-8 on the season. Then again, Jeff Francis had lost 11 games before shutting out the Indians Friday night. The team needs to hit, pure and simple. They can acquire all the #1′s they want for the rotation, but until they hit, this is going to be a struggle till the final day of the regular season.
Next: Kyle Davies (1-9, 6.75) goes for the Royals in the series finale Sunday against Fausto Carmona (5-10, 5.34) at 1:05pm.
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