ommissioner, reiterated those concerns. "It was difficult fo

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Bruce Chen will never overpower with a blazing fastball. Hell never step onto the mound and strike fear into the hearts of opposing hitters. Hes awfully adept at getting them out anyway. The veteran left-hander kept Minnesota off balance all night, outdueling Francisco Liriano and making a lone run scored in the second inning stand up to give the Kansas City Royals a 1-0 victory over the Twins on Tuesday night. "He did a great job from the first inning on. Hed speed their bats up and slow them down," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "He had good tempo and he was banging strikes." Chen (5-5) allowed four hits without a walk to win for the fifth time in six starts, which came on the heels of a miserable start to the season that made some question whether the two-year deal he was given by Kansas City was really worth it. Well, hes proving just how valuable he is to a patchwork rotation. "Pitching is contagious. You say, You know what? Lets keep it going," said Chen, who added to a pair of shutouts logged by Kansas City already on this six-game homestand. "This whole pitching staff is pushing each other." Chen was pushing Liriano, too. The Twins left-hander allowed only four hits in six innings, but three of them came in the second when the Twins failure to turn a double play proved costly. It allowed Brayan Pena to send an RBI single rolling through the left side of the infield for the games only run. Greg Holland worked around an error in the eighth for Kansas City, and Jonathan Broxton left runners on first and second in the ninth for his 14th save of the season. "Youre just out there trying to compete," said Broxton, who got some help from a couple of nifty plays by his defence. "You have to bear down and let your defence work." Chen retired the first six batters he faced, and then helped himself after Brian Dozier singled to lead off the third by catching him trying to steal. The only other hits Chen allowed were a double by Dozier and singles by Darin Mastroianni and Jamey Carroll. "He changed speeds well. He kept us off balance," said the Twins Denard Span, who went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts. "He threw a lot of different arm angles. He threw over the top, three quarters and a couple of times a sidearm with two strikes. He mixed it up. "Hes the type of pitcher when hes on, he can do what he did tonight." Liriano, who had just snapped a personal six-game skid, kept Minnesota in the game. He struck out eight while yielding only one walk in six sharp innings, even matching a major league record when he struck out four batters in the fourth -- Jeff Francoeur swung and missed at a pitch in the dirt, allowing him to reach base with the strikeout. It was the third time this season that a pitcher has fanned four in an inning. "My confidence has been there," he said. "Its all about location." The only blemish against Liriano -- the only real blemish in the game -- came in the second inning, when Francoeur singled and Eric Hosmer chopped a pitch back at Liriano. He whirled around and threw to Dozier covering second base, but his throw to Justin Morneau at first was not in time to get Hosmer hustling down the line. The double play would have ended the inning, but instead, Hosmer promptly stole second base to get into scoring position. Thats when Pena slipped a grounder between third base and shortstop for an RBI single. With Chen on the mound and one of the American Leagues best bullpens ready to work, that lone run proved to be enough for Kansas City. "The bullpen has been tremendous for us," Chen said. "Liriano did a real good job. He had great stuff. But we were able to scramble a run." Notes: Twins C Joe Mauer (sprained right thumb) was out of the lineup for the second straight game. ... The Royals optioned LHP Will Smith to Triple-A Omaha and recalled LHP Ryan Verdugo. ... Royals LHP Everett Teaford (lower abdominal strain) and 2B Chris Getz (bruised ribs) will begin rehab assignments Thursday at Omaha. ... RHP Nick Blackburn will start the series finale Wednesday for Minnesota. Paulino takes the mound for Kansas City. wholesale jerseys . Louis rotation until the beginning of July, but the right-hander has a chance to pitch the Cardinals to a playoff spot on Sunday night. cheap jerseys . And the Atlanta Hawks could be headed for a prime seed in the Eastern Conference playoff race. http://www.wholesalenfljerseysplay.com/. He lasted a little more than an inning. Beltran was injured in Game 1 against the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night when he crashed into the bullpen wall to deprive David Ortiz of a second-inning grand slam. cheap nfl jerseys . It is unclear exactly when Patterson originally sustained the injury, an ulnar collateral sprain to his shooting elbow, but after aggravating it in Fridays win over Sacramento the Raptors medical and coaching staff have decided to shut him down for the time being. cheap jerseys from china . -- Michael Hutchinson stopped 49 shots as the St. ST. LOUIS -- Missouri coach Frank Haith has been suspended for five games by the NCAA, which found he inadequately monitored his former assistants interactions with a disgraced Miami booster and then tried to cover up a five-figure hush money payment to keep potential violations hidden. The NCAA released the findings of its two-year investigation into convicted felon Nevin Shapiros relationship with Miami athletics on Tuesday and said that Haith, the former Hurricanes basketball coach, failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance with its rules. The investigation found that Haith and Miami assistant coach Jake Morton provided Shapiro $10,000 after he threatened to expose previous improper contact with high school recruits and amateur coaches, as well as other unflattering details involving a booster now serving a 20-year prison term for masterminding a $930 million Ponzi scheme. Shapiro, who had basketball season tickets with a courtside seat, initially demanded a large loan from Haith after he experienced financial trouble or the return a $50,000 donation from a benefit bowling tournament he had hosted. The coach refused. Morton, who joined Western Kentucky as an assistant coach in 2011 but resigned in April as its director of basketball operations, then loaned Shapiro at least $6,000, which he later repaid. The NCAA also said that Haith helped Morton and two other assistants pay $10,000 to Shapiros mother and "attempted to cover up the boosters threats to disclose incriminating information." Missouri plays four of its first give games this season at Mizzou Arena, starting with Southeastern Louisiana on Nov. 8. Haith will also miss home games against Southern Illinois, Gardner-Webb and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, as well as a Nov. 16 game against Hawaii at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. He also must attend an NCAA rules seminar next summer. Haith has 15 days to appeal the Committee on Infractions penalties, which dont affect Missouri as an institution. School officials did not respond to several requests for comment, though Haith, who came to Columbia in 2011 after seven years at Miami, was scheduled to meet with reporters later Tuesday. His Florida-based attorney did not immediately respond to an interview request. While much of the 102-page report focuses on the far more successful Miami football program, the NCAA inquiry also opens a rare public window into the seamier side of cultivating big-money boosters -- even those, like Shapiro, with substantial baggage.dddddddddddd Shapiro told Yahoo! Sports that he steered a $10,000 payment to secure recruit DeQuan Jones commitment to Miami in 2008 with Haiths knowledge. The NCAA said it found no evidence to support that claim. The report also said an associate athletics director in charge of fundraising guided Shapiro toward the Miami mens basketball program after the booster became disenchanted with the football teams losing 2007 season under first-year coach Randy Shannon. Haith and Morton told NCAA investigators they shared several meals with Shapiro, attended a concert together and visited a strip club "to create donor relationships." The report found that Haith provided inconsistent answers during multiple interviews with NCAA investigators, including conflicting accounts of when he reported Shapiros shakedown attempt to athletic director Paul Dee. "Because of the many inconsistencies the former head mens basketball coach reported during his interviews with the enforcement staff and the institutions, the committee does not find his version of events to be credible," the report concludes. Infractions Committee Chairman Britton Banowsky, who is also Conference USA commissioner, reiterated those concerns. "It was difficult for the committee, and maybe even the members of the enforcement staff, to know precisely what really was going on in the program, given all the conflicting information," he said. In Haiths three interviews with NCAA investigators between October 2011 and September 2012, he provided three different explanations as to why he paid his assistants $3,200 advances that they normally would have had to wait to receive from summer basketball camps. Haith requested the third interview soon after his second sit-down, citing concerns that he had given "inaccurate" information and was "confused about the timing of what (he) knew and when (he) knew it." Beyond Haiths penalties, Miamis football team will lose a total of nine scholarships and the Hurricanes mens basketball team will lose three over a three-year period starting in 2014. The school will also serve three years of probation. Two former Miami football assistants and one ex-basketball assistant received two-year show-cause bans, which effectively keep the penalized parties out of the college coaching ranks. ' ' '