Concepcion One-Hits The Defending Champs

Yomar Concepcion had a great feeling about pitching Tuesday Night.   He texted Royals owner Shawn Fuller earlier in the day "saying Lord willing I'm going to pitch well today."  

Little did he and his Royals teammates know, but that feeling paid off in spades as the Royals blanked the defending champion Barrie Baycats behind Concepcion's complete-game one-hitter 9-0.

There was an air about the game in the fifth inning that gave fans on both sides the feeling that they were in for a special night.   Both starters were in command of their best stuff and neither wanted to be the first to give in.  

The Royals broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the 7th inning on an error by the right fielder which allowed the first run of the ball game to score.  

That marked the end of the night for Baycats starter Santos Arias (4-1) who took the loss, giving up an unearned run on four hits over seven innings. He walked two and struck out six.

The Baycats nearly broke up the no-hit bid in the top of the eighth inning when a routine ground ball just went under the glove of Royals third baseman Angel Villalona and was scored as an error.  

But Concepcion and his teammates battled out of the inning stranding the runner at first base.

In the bottom of the eighth, with Arias lifted from the ball game the wheels came off the bus for the Baycats as the Royals plated eight runs capped off by a grand slam by Josh Garton.     Ethan Hammond went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run, Darius Barlas and Brendan Keys each drove in a run and scored, and Angel Villalona added two hits and a run.

Kevin Atkinson ended Concepcion's no-hit bid with no doubt,  smashing a laser beam hit to left field to lead off the ninth inning.

Concepcion (2-2) walked six and threw 84 of 139 pitches for strikes as he helped end the Baycats' seven-game win streak.

The Royals ended their three-game losing streak to improve to 8-11 on the season.