Usually, being compared to former Cy Young award winner Vida Blue is a good thing.
However, that wasn’t the company Royals right-hander Ian Kennedy wanted to keep in this instance. Kennedy was the winning pitcher in the Royals’ 10-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium, and he snapped a 17-game winless streak.
That was the second longest in the majors behind Ryne Stanek, the former Blue Valley High School star who is one of the Tampa Bay Rays relief pitchers who doubles as an “opener.” Kennedy finished one game shy of tying Blue’s 18-game winless streak in 1982-83 that remains the Royals record.