DHL » turnovers, finished with a season-high 14 steals and finally

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Danny Valencia was not about to let a sore left hand keep him from finishing his at-bat in the 13th inning. He gutted it out and came up with a key hit to help the Kansas City Royals outlast the Los Angeles Angels. Valencia ignited a three-run rally with a leadoff double, before Jarrod Dyson replaced him on the bases and scored the go-ahead run on a throwing error by rookie reliever Mike Morin. The Royals went on to beat the Angels 7-4 Saturday night. "Were trying to win games and lay it all out there. Anybody else would have done the same thing," Valencia said. "Fortunately I got a hit there, because it would have looked even worse if I didnt." Valencia felt discomfort on two earlier swings and was checked out by manager Ned Yost and a trainer. After convincing them he was all right, he lined Morins 3-2 pitch off the fence in left-centre and slid headfirst into second. "There was a 3-1 pitch I fouled off and my hand slipped off the bat a little weird," Valencia said. "I told Ned: Theres no way Im coming out right now. He said: This is a big at-bat, and I said: I know its a big at-bat, but Ive got this. The first thought on my mind was not making someone come off the bench with a 3-2 count after sitting on the bench for four hours." Dyson scored when Morin (0-1) fielded Alcides Escobars sacrifice bunt and threw the ball past first base as second baseman Howie Kendrick ran over to take the throw. "I got to it quick and Howie was still getting to first base," Morin said. "I had more time than I thought I did, and I was trying to guide the ball to meet him at the bag, but it sailed on me." Nori Aoki then hit an RBI single and Billy Butler capped the scoring with his second sacrifice fly. Aaron Crow (2-1) pitched two innings for the victory and Greg Holland got three outs for the save, ending the 4-hour, 53-minute marathon. Eric Hosmer tied a season high with four hits. The Royals tied it in the seventh when Hosmer scored on a double-play grounder by Salvador Perez with the bases loaded. The run was charged to Sean Burnett, who faced only one batter and gave up Hosmers leadoff single through the box. It was Burnetts second appearance since his comeback from elbow surgery last August. Royals right-hander James Shields pitched six innings, giving up four runs and nine hits, including solo homers by Mike Trout and Erick Aybar. "Thats a good hitting team over there. They grind out at-bats and they worked up my pitch count quite a bit today," Shields said. "But our bullpen did a phenomenal job. Its been good all season long, and today they showed why theyre as good as they are." Angels rookie Matt Shoemaker was charged with three runs -- two earned -- and eight hits in five innings while striking out six. The right-hander was making his third start since he was inserted into the rotation on May 13. The Angels were trailing 3-0 when Aybar got them on the board in the fourth inning with his third homer of the season, a line drive that just made it into the first row of seats in the right field corner after a leadoff double by Raul Ibanez. Los Angeles pulled ahead 4-3 with two runs in the fifth. Trout led off with a towering drive into the rock pile beyond the fence in left-centre, and Albert Pujols followed with another deep flyball that looked like it was going out as well. Left fielder Alex Gordon leaped above the bullpen fence and got his glove on it before it bounced off his cap, shoulder, chin and arm -- then landed in his glove while he was on the seat of his pants. Third base umpire Andy Fletcher ruled it a catch, but manager Mike Scioscia challenged the call and Pujols ended up with a double after a video review. "Somebody must have seen something on one of the angles," Yost said. "But on the replays we saw on the big screen, I sure couldnt tell if it hit the fence or not." It was the 2,400th career hit for Pujols, who took third on a groundout and scored the go-ahead run on Shields wild pitch to Aybar. A two-out error by Trout in centre field led to an unearned run during Kansas Citys two-run third. Aoki and Hosmer opened the inning with singles, and Aoki scored on Butlers first sacrifice fly. One out later, Perez hit a sinking liner that broke off Trouts glove as he charged the ball on the dead run, and Lorenzo Cain hit an RBI single. NOTES: Trouts error was his second this season, matching his total in 148 games in the outfield last year. ... Escobar has been successful on 43 of his last 44 stolen base attempts, including all 22 last season. ... For the second straight year, Trouts 10th homer of the season came against the Royals in his 47th game. ... Neither starting pitcher had a 1-2-3 inning. 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Pedroia reached the milestone with a little panache, hitting a grand slam in the sixth inning and propelling the Boston Red Sox to a 7-1 win over the Oakland Athletics on Friday night.EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- No. 4 Wichita State relied on the basics Sunday: defence and ball security. Again, it was the perfect combination. The Shockers forced 18 turnovers, finished with a season-high 14 steals and finally locked down Evansvilles shooters late to pull away for an 84-68 victory that kept them one of the nations two undefeated teams. "We wanted to extend them, get their timing disrupted. I dont think we expected that many steals," Fred VanVleet said. "There were only a few times where we had breakdowns where we werent really where we were supposed to be." Few expected the Shockers (27-0, 14-0 Missouri Valley Conference) to be in this spot -- even after reaching the Final Four last April. They are one of only 21 teams in NCAA history to win their first 27 games, extended their school-record winning streak and are 14-0 in conference play for the first time in school history. And after Arizonas latest loss, Wichita State could be poised to move up another notch in the poll, getting even closer to Division Is only other perfect team -- No. 1 Syracuse. A win Wednesday at Loyola also would assure the Shockers at least a share of the regular-season conference title and the No. 1 seed in the Valley tournament -- with three league games still on the docket. How have they done it? With a balanced offence and a staunch defence that Evansville knows is the best in the Valley. Wichita State trumped the Purple Aces by outscoring them 23-2 off turnovers and 10-4 on fastbreaks. Coach Gregg Marshall didnt even need a stat sheet to tell him what had happened. He estimated that the Shockers topped the 40-deflection mark. The other numbers were just as glaring. VanVleet and Ron Baker each finished with a career-best five steals, and, not surprisingly wound up as the top scorers. Baker had a career-high 26 points, while VanVleet added 18 and eight assists and flirted with the possibility of a triple-double throughout the second half. But thats not what motivated Wichita, which lost twice to Evansville last season and fell behind by double-digits early in the first meeting two weeks ago at Wichita. They wanted to put away the Aces, and before the game, Marshall let Cleanthony Early, thhe teams top scorer, know exactly what he needed to do in front of a Pacers scout who had been asking about his defence.dddddddddddd Early responded by scoring 13 points, seven rebounds and playing his best defensive game of the year, too. "I loved his mental approach tonight and thats not always the case," Marshall said. "But tonight I thought he was very disciplined and when he does that, man, hes really good." Evansville (11-16, 4-10) learned its lesson the hard way. Despite getting 19 points from D.J. Balentine, the MVCs top scorer, and 19 points and 10 rebounds from Egidiju Mockevicius, it wasnt quite enough to prevent a fourth loss in five games or a second straight this season to Wichita. The Purple Aces did most of what they set out to do -- shooting 51.1 per cent from the field, 45.5 per cent from 3-point range, made 15 of 16 free throws, limited the Shockers to only six offensive rebounds and kept challenging Wichita State right down to the final minutes. But the turnovers, as they had all game, finally did them in. "We didnt turn it over in the press, we did it in the half-court and you have to take care of the basketball," coach Marty Simmons said. "Weve really got to learn, weve got to learn from that, and thats one of our biggest deficiencies." The Purple Aces, however, only trailed 38-32 at the half and still found a way to fight back after falling into a 55-41 deficit early in the second half. Mockevicius scored the first eight points in a 10-2 spurt that cut the deficit to 57-51 with 11:19 to go. Early answered with five straight points and Evansville rallied again, getting as close as 65-60 with 6:10 left before throwing the ball away on an inbound pass that would have cut the deficit to three. "They did a good job of changing defences and I was trying to get a timeout," Simmons said. Instead, the Shockers got the ball back and forced two more turnovers during the decisive 13-4 run that finally sealed the victory. "We were just focused on getting stops and it went in our favour," VanVleet said. "We wanted to end it right there. After that possession, I think we got back on the right track." ' ' '