HAINES CITY, FLA. Jeff Suppan, Kansas City's expected opening day starter, threw 51/3 shutout innings and Jon Nunnally homered for the second straight game in a 6-0 win over Cleveland on Wednesday.
Suppan (1-1) threw 92 pitches, allowing five hits, striking out three and walking one.
Nunnally led off the seventh inning by driving a 3-0 Sean DePaula pitch over the right-field fence.
"That's about as good a swing I've ever seen from Jon Nunnally," Royals manager Tony Muser said. "He's a man on a mission."
Indians manager Charlie Manuel said there are still vacancies in the bullpen.
"Lately, we've been trying to give jobs away," Manual said. "We want to see guys take the bull by the horns and win some jobs. We want them to show us enough that we can keep them."
The Royals have won five straight exhibition games and seven of eight.
The Royals batted around in a five-run third inning off rookie right-hander Ryan Drese, who took the loss. The inning included Dee Brown's run-scoring double and Mark Quinn's two-run single. Brown has hit safely in 11 of the past 12 games.
Carlos Febles singled, stole second base and scored on Mike Sweeney's single for the first run.
Relievers Tony Cogan, Chris Fussell and Jose Santiago held the Indians to five hits over 32/3 innings to complete the shutout, the first by the Royals pitching staff.
Royals catcher Gregg Zaun tore his left calf in pre-game drills and will be out from two to six weeks.



No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.