MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
Ka‘aihue hopes to make best of chance
By Greg Echlin
Special to the Star-Bulletin
KANSAS CITY, Mo. » Until the first of September, Kila Ka'aihue was all set to return to the islands, despite a breakout year in the Kansas City Royals organization. But on that day, he was summoned to the manager's office and since has absorbed the experience of his first stint as a major league baseball player.
"I'm just happy to be here and I just want to, when I get my opportunity, make the best of it," said Ka'aihue, 24, who was drafted in the 15th round of the 2002 draft out of 'Iolani. Through the just completed six-game homestand, Ka'aihue played in two games, started one at first base and picked up his first major league hit - a bloop single - last Friday.
Before this year, Ka'aihue's most productive season was in 2005 at High Desert, the Royals Class A affiliate at the time, where he batted .304, slugged 20 homers and drove in 90 runs. Earlier this year, Ka'aihue was batting .314 with 26 homers and 79 RBI for Northwest Arkansas in the Texas League (Double A) prompting a July 30 promotion to Omaha (Triple A). With the O-Royals, Ka'aihue added 11 homers and 21 RBI to this season's total. In addition, he drew 104 walks at both levels.
Even as Kansas City's most productive farmhand, Ka'aihue had no indication he'd be promoted to the big leagues until he was called into the office of Omaha manager Mike Jirschele after the O-Royals' season-ending win against the Iowa Cubs. Ka'aihue booked a flight to Honolulu the week before - his first return to Hawaii since Valentine's Day - but didn't mind changing his flight plans.
"It's an easier adjustment to come up here (to K.C.) than trying to book a ticket home, so we took the precaution and it's a pleasant surprise," said Ka'aihue, who was accompanied by his wife, Blair.
Once his father, Kala, who spent 11 years in the minor leagues, found out about Kila's promotion he booked a flight to K.C. with Kila's mother, Rose. All were present when the left-handed swinging Ka'aihue singled in his first major league start.
A couple of days after the moment sunk in, Ka'aihue says now it's comparable to his call-up to the big leagues.
"Now it's really cool that I did get my first hit in front of my wife, my parents, but at the time I was just so nervous and trying to remember how to play baseball again," said Ka'aihue, listed at 6-foot-3 and 230.
Since he's been with the parent club, Ka'aihue has been given no indication on how he'll be used for the rest of the season. He was promoted the same day as Ryan Shealy, another power-hitting first baseman with major league experience. At Omaha, Shealy batted .283 with 22 home runs and 65 RBI.
The night before Ka'aihue's start, Royals manager Trey Hillman thought about starting him in the second game of a doubleheader, but changed his mind. When Ka'aihue reported to the ballpark the next day, he was surprised to see his name in the lineup for the first time.
"I called my wife to tell everybody that I was playing if they wanted to watch," Ka'aihue recalled after seeing the lineup.
"It was just an exciting day. I knew I was going to play and got myself as ready as I could to play. I tried to treat it like any normal day and I went through it as a normal day. But when the lights got on and the game went, it was like I never played before."
That feeling changed after his single dropped over the second baseman's head in right field.
"I thought it was going to get caught, but when it was over I finally felt at that point I could play baseball," he said.
Twins 7, Royals 2
For the first time in a long time, everything went Minnesota's way on Tuesday night.
A 7-2 victory over the lowly Kansas City Royals and Toronto's sweep of a doubleheader against AL Central-leading Chicago has the Twins just one game back in the division race.
Less than 48 hours after their 11th loss in 15 games had them holding on for dear life in the AL playoff picture, they are right back in the mix.
Denard Span had three hits and scored two runs and Justin Morneau homered to lead the Twins to a convincing victory over the Royals that helped relieve some of the pressure that came with their recent struggles.
Kansas City |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
BB |
SO |
Avg.
|
Dejesus cf |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.297
|
Aviles ss |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
.322
|
JGuillen rf |
4 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.258
|
Butler dh |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.276
|
Teahen 3b |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.243
|
Olivo c |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
.256
|
Shealy 1b |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
.231
|
Gload lf |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.270
|
Callaspo 2b |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.296
|
Totals |
31 |
2 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
Minnesota |
AB |
R |
H |
BI |
BB |
SO |
Avg.
|
Span rf |
5 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.306
|
ACasilla 2b |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
.294
|
Mauer c |
3 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
.324
|
Morneau 1b |
4 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
.311
|
Kubel dh |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
.275
|
DYoung lf |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.286
|
Buscher 3b |
4 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.306
|
Punto ss |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.285
|
CaGomez cf |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
.251
|
Totals |
33 |
7 |
13 |
7 |
1 |
7 |
Kansas City |
011 |
000 |
000 |
- |
2 |
6 |
0
|
Minnesota |
121 |
300 |
00x |
- |
7 |
13 |
1 |
E-ACasilla (10). LOB-Kansas City 4, Minnesota 6. 2B-JGuillen (36), Span (14), Buscher (9), Punto (18). 3B-CaGomez (5). HR-Morneau (23), off Bannister; Olivo (12), off Blackburn. RBIs-JGuillen (87), Olivo (37), Span (36), Mauer 2 (73), Morneau 2 (119), Buscher (45), CaGomez (42). S-ACasilla. SF-Mauer, CaGomez. GIDP-Butler, Gload, Punto. DP-Kansas City 1 (Aviles, Callaspo and Shealy); Minnesota 2 (ACasilla, Punto and Morneau), (Buscher, ACasilla and Morneau).
Kansas City |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
NP |
ERA
|
Bannister L, 7-15 |
32/3 |
10 |
7 |
7 |
1 |
2 |
93 |
5.81
|
Bale |
11/3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
22 |
6.05
|
Gobble |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
13 |
10.46
|
KWells |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
19 |
6.00
|
Lowery |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
12 |
0.00 |
Minnesota |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
NP |
ERA
|
Blackburn W, 10-8 |
7 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
97 |
3.67
|
DReyes |
2/3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
11 |
2.48
|
Crain |
11/3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
12 |
3.90 |
Umpires-Home, Greg Gibson; First, Charlie Reliford; Second, Brian Runge; Third, Chad Fairchild.
T-2:35. A-17,015 (46,632).