Gästebereich » He knows what he wants to do with every pitch.

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Kansas City Royals will try and continue their dominance of the Minnesota Twins when the teams play the second of a three-game series on Saturday night at Target Field.Kansas City is 6-1 against Minnesota this season, including a 7-3 victory in the series opener here on Friday.The main reason for Kansas Citys success has been the play of catcher Salvador Perez, who has been a Twins killer over the years and was again on Friday.Perez had just one hit on Friday, but it was an important one, muscling through a Kyle Gibson curveball that snapped his bat and blooping it into shallow left, scoring two runs and giving Kansas City a lead it wouldnt relinquish.For the season, Perez is hitting .519 against the Twins and has a .322 career mark against them.Those are the kind of breaks that have been going against us a little bit, said Royals manager Ned Yost. To finally take the lead back, that was a big hit. But thats what happens when you put the ball in play. You got guys in scoring position and you find ways to put the ball in play. It doesnt have to be pretty, it just has to be effective and that certainly was effective.Minnesota got home runs from Miguel Sano and Brian Dozier on Friday. Both players have been red hot of late, but other than those two, the Twins have struggled to score consistently.Sano has five home runs in his last seven games and reached the 20 home-run plateau for the first time in his career.Doziers 17 homers since June 19 are more than any other player in baseball.Its unfortunate that (Dozier and Sano) has been the majority of our output it seems as of late, said Twins manager Paul Molitor. Runners in scoring position, opportunities, some of those things are still areas that need improvement.We like the home runs, they play for sure, but we need to find some other ways to score.Kansas City will turn to Dillon Gee in game two of the series, three days after he pitched two innings and earned the victory in the Royals 14-inning win over the Chicago White Sox. Gee had his worst outing of the season in a start against the Twins on May 25, allowing six runs (five earned) on 10 hits and a walk in five innings.Tyler Duffey will try for his third consecutive victory for Minnesota. He allowed just one run on four hits and a walk with eight strikeouts in six innings against Houston on Monday. Tomas Tatar Jersey . Isner, ranked No. 14, won his eighth career singles title and took the title in New Zealand for the second time after his victory in 2010. The match was similar to Isners quarterfinal victory over fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber which went to three sets, all tiebreaks and contained no breaks of serve. Tomas Tatar Canadiens Jersey . -- Kyrie Irvings last-minute 3-pointer helped seal another victory for Cleveland -- and the Cavaliers longest winning streak since LeBron James left. http://www.canadienssale.com/authentic-brendan-gallagher-canadiens-jersey/ .com) - The red-hot Los Angeles Kings will try to extend their winning streak to a season-high seven games when they visit the Edmonton Oilers for Sundays clash at Rexall Place. Guy Lafleur Canadiens Jersey . Toronto has dropped games to Indiana and Miami since a five-game winning streak and closed out a three-game road trip at 1-2. Victor Mete Jersey . The 15th-ranked Canadian men lost the opening two games of their European tour: 19-15 to No. 17 Georgia and 21-20 to No.NEW YORK -- Not a bad way to bust out of a slump. Ike Davis finally snapped his prolonged funk at the plate with a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning, and the New York Mets rallied past the Atlanta Braves 4-2 on Sunday night to end an eight-game losing streak at home. Before the game, Davis had a meeting with manager Terry Collins and GM Sandy Alderson, who also spoke to reporters and addressed weeks of speculation about whether the first baseman should be demoted to the minors. Alderson said there was no deadline for such a decision, and hours later Davis delivered his biggest hit of an agonizing season. "They wanted me to have fun again. Smile more, laugh on the field. I know that the fans may hate that, but I wont perform any better by being miserable," Davis said. "And I am now 1 for 1 with the new approach. The meeting today helped." Shaun Marcum struck out a career-high 12 and Lucas Duda homered for the Mets, who stopped Atlantas eight-game winning streak and avoided a three-game sweep. The Braves had won 15 of 18 against New York and five in a row at Citi Field. Pinch-hitter Justin Turner led off the eighth with a single against Cory Gearrin (1-1). David Wright struck out but Duda punched a ground-rule double to left for his third hit, and John Bucks run-scoring single tied it at 2. Pinch-hitter Mike Baxter was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Davis. "The first thing I thought of was, get a hit," Collins said. "I said to the baseball gods that this kid needs a base hit." He got one, pulling a two-run single through the right side for a 4-2 Mets lead. "I went up wanting a sacrifice fly and not to ground into a double play," Davis said. "Hes a nasty pitcher with sinking movement and I wanted to stay through and hit right through the sinker." After the game, the affable Davis cracked a smile when he found a crowd of reporters waiting at his locker. "Im popular," he said, with more than a touch of New York sarcasm. "Greeaaaat." Davis began the night batting .148 with nine RBIs. He finished 2 for 3 with a walk after entering in a 2-for-44 slide that included 19 strikeouts. It was his first hit in his last 27 at-bats with runners in scoring position. "Just a sinker. He got under it enough and got it out there," Gearrin said. "Youve got to tip your hat a little bit to those guys. They put the bat on the ball and made something happen." LaTroy Hawkins (1-0) worked a scoreless inning and Bobby Parnell struck out two in the ninth for his seventh save. It was a spirited and heartening win for the Mets heading into their Subway Series against the crosstown-rival New York Yankees beginning Monnday night.dddddddddddd Marcum, still winless with the Mets, went seven innings for his longest outing in six starts with New York. His only costly mistake came on Dan Ugglas two-run homer in the seventh that put Atlanta ahead 2-1. Duda hit a leadoff shot to right off Julio Teheran in the fourth, giving him nine home runs and 16 RBIs this season. It also extended his career-best hitting streak to 10 games. Marcum allowed a leadoff single in the first to Andrelton Simmons, quickly erased on a hard-hit double play, and didnt permit another hit until the sixth. The only baserunner the Braves managed during that stretch came when Uggla was hit by a pitch in the second. After that, Marcum retired 13 straight batters before Simmons reached down and floated a flare over shortstop with two outs in the sixth. Hustling all the way out of the box, Simmons legged it out for a double. He was stranded when Jason Heyward took a called third strike. Relying on an effective slider and changeup to go with his 85 mph fastball, Marcum cooled off the Atlanta bats with finesse. He struck out slumping B.J. Upton looking to end the seventh, surpassing his previous career high of 11 strikeouts set on June 16, 2007, with Toronto against Washington. It was the right-handers fourth career double-digit strikeout game and first since July 20, 2010, with Toronto against Cleveland. "You dont have to light up the radar gun to be successful," Uggla said. "Marcum really knows how to pitch -- every aspect of the word pitching. Hes very patient. He knows his strengths, knows his weaknesses, and he had just unbelievable command. Not just his fastball, but of everything. He knows what he wants to do with every pitch. So he was good tonight, man. He really kept us off balance." Freddie Freeman fanned all four times up for the Braves, who lead the NL by a wide margin with 448 strikeouts. Upton and Heyward each whiffed three times. NOTES: Braves RHP Jordan Walden (shoulder inflammation) threw a bullpen before the game and was expected to start a rehab assignment Monday with Triple-A Gwinnett. ... Mets reliever Scott Atchison (right elbow inflammation) could be ready to come off the disabled list after one more minor league rehab outing, Collins said. Atchison is eligible to return Wednesday. ... The Mets play the AL East-leading Yankees four straight times beginning Monday night, with the first two games at Citi Field and the next two in the Bronx. LHP Jonathon Niese (3-5, 4.80) starts the opener for the Mets against RHP Phil Hughes (2-3, 5.51). ... The Mets donated more than 5,000 tickets to the USO for Military Appreciation Night. Representatives from each branch of the military threw out a first pitch. ' ' '