Jacob Stallings has 19 hits in parts of three major league seasons

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mike Marjama Jersey , and the rookie third-string catcher has made a some of them count.Stallings hit a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth inning to rally the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 7-6 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Monday night.It was Stallings’ second career game-ending hit. The catcher also had one on Sept. 23, 2016, against Washington as a pinch hitter.After Jordan Luplow grounded into a double play, Kevin Kramer walked and moved to second on Kevin Newman’s single. Stallings then singled into left field off Ben Lively (0-3) for his third hit of the game, scoring Kramer.Stallings was not in the original lineup. He was told 2½ hours before the game he would be subbing for ailing Francisco Cervelli.“It was pretty similar to my other one, same spot and same kind of pitch,” Stallings said. “It was good to help the team on short notice. It was fun to come through for the guys.”Stallings has spent the last three years shuttling between Pittsburgh and Triple-A Indianapolis while stuck on the organizational depth chart behind Cervelli and Elias Diaz.“The biggest thing for me is staying ready,” said Stallings, whose father, Kevin, was the University of Pittsburgh’s basketball coach for two seasons before being fired in March. “On a day like today http://www.marinersfanproshop.com/authentic-mitch-haniger-jersey , when I’m not ready to play, I’m still ready. You get paranoid because you never know what might happen.”Stallings has made a good impression on Pirates manager Clint Hurdle.“He puts his foot down early and hits the ball hard where it’s pitched. Old-school hitting,” Hurdle said. “He’s done a very professional job on everything he’s done.”The Pirates scored twice with two outs in the eighth inning to tie the game at 6-all. The first run scored when first baseman Ryan O’Hearn failed to handle a throw from third baseman Hunter Dozier on a grounder by Pablo Reyes. Starling Marte followed with an RBI triple.Newman had three of Pittsburgh’s 16 hits as the rookie shortstop extended his hitting streak to six games and helped the Pirates win for the ninth time in 12 games.Edgar Santana (3-3) pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.O’Hearn led off the top of the eighth with his 11th home run in 36 games since making his debut July 31 and gave the Royals a two-run lead.Josh Bell drew Pittsburgh to 5-4 in the seventh with a run-scoring single.O’Hearn’s RBI double capped a four-run fifth inning and put the Royals on top 5-3 following consecutive run-scoring singles by Adalberto Mondesi, Alex Gordon and Salvador Perez.Gordon doubled in the game’s first run in top of the third inning and Corey Dickerson countered with an RBI single in the bottom half. Adam Frazier’s two-run single in the fourth gave the Pirates a short-lived 3-1 lead.Kansas City’s Brad Keller allowed four runs and 10 hits in six-plus innings. Pittsburgh’s Joe Musgrove also pitched six innings, giving up five runs and eight hits.Keller got his first major league hit when he singled off Musgrove to lead off the fifth inning. It came in Keller’s second career at-bat after he struck out in the second.Keller was in line for his team-high ninth win until the Royals squandered the lead. He was selected from the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Rule 5 Draft in December after having never pitched above Class A.“He got us into the seventh and did a great job of doing that,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. “He threw the ball really, really well. He put us in position to win.”O’Hearn’s homer to right field off Steven Brault was the first allowed by the left-hander in 117 career plate appearances against left-handed batters.TRAINER’S ROOMPirates: 2B Frazier (right knee discomfort) left for a pinch-runner immediately after hitting his double. . Cervelli (flu-like symptoms) was on deck ready to pinch-hit when Stallings delivered the game-winning hit. . Diaz (strained right hamstring) has been cleared to play after sitting out since Aug. 31. . Pitching coach Ray Searage underwent cervical surgery and assistant pitching coach Justin Meccage is taking his place.AND 31 YEARS LATER .Royals 2B Whit Merrifield played his first game in Pittsburgh. Merrifield’s father, Bill, was called up by the Pirates for one day late in the 1987 season then sent to instructional league to make the conversion from third baseman to first baseman.Bill Merrifield did not appear in a game and never returned to the major leagues.REMEMBERING MACA moment of silence was held for rapper/singer Mac Miller, who died last week. Miller was a Pittsburgh native and Pirates’ fan.UP NEXTRoyals: LHP Eric Skoglund (1-5, 6.19) makes his third appearance and second start Tuesday night since being sidelined from May 26-Sept. 6 with a sprained ligament in his left elbow.Pirates: RHP Jameson Taillon (13-9 Edwin Diaz Jersey , 3.37) has allowed three earned runs or less in 19 straight starts. OAKLAND, Calif. — The top two teams in the American League wild-card race meet in a possible postseason preview when the New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics hook up in a three-game series starting with a holiday matinee Monday afternoon.San Francisco Bay Area native CC Sabathia (7-5, 3.36 ERA) of the Yankees and fellow 30-something Trevor Cahill (5-3, 3.60) of the A’s draw the starting assignments in the opener of a series that could go a long way toward determining who hosts the AL wild-card game in October.The Yankees (86-51) will take the field with a 4 1/2-game lead over the A’s (82-56) for the top AL wild-card spot with four weeks remaining in the regular season.Article continues below ...New York took two of three from Oakland in an earlier series in May in which neither Sabathia nor Cahill pitched. The A’s blew a 6-2 lead and lost 7-6 in 11 innings in the turning point of the series after having won the opener 10-5.While the A’s were splitting a key four-game series against the Seattle Mariners, the Yankees on Sunday were completing a disappointing 3-4 homestand against the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers.Sabathia pitched one of the losses, allowing three runs and five hits in six innings in a 4-1 loss to the White Sox on Wednesday.The 38-year-old, who attended the same high school (Vallejo High, about 30 miles north of Oakland) as Coney Island hot dog-eating legend Joey Chestnut, has started 31 games in his career against the A’s, going 11-11 with a 4.55 ERA.He hasn’t often been at his best in his homecomings, going 5-7 with a 5.20 ERA in 16 starts.The Yankees will feature a different look than when the A’s saw them last with the recent acquisition of Andrew McCutchen from the San Francisco Giants.McCutchen has yet to get a hit in two games since joining New York http://www.marinersfanproshop.com/authentic-alex-colome-jersey , going 0-for-7.While they await the return of injured stars Aaron Judge, Didi Gregorius and Aroldis Chapman, the Yankees will get one familiar face back in pinstripes Monday when manager Aaron Boone returns from a one-game suspension that resulted from a tirade against umpire Nic Lentz in Friday’s win over the Tigers.Cahill has never beaten the Yankees in his career, going 0-4 in six meetings, including five starts.Before watching Sunday’s 11-7 loss to Detroit from a suite, Boone noted that he’s expecting to see way more than just a starting pitcher when facing the A’s.“They’ve really bolstered their bullpen. It’s a pen that can shorten games,” Boone said of the recent additions of Fernando Rodney and Jeurys Familia to complement standout Blake Treinen. “They’ve (also) got some young players kind of take that step into stardom a little bit. We know we got our hands full.”The A’s got six solid innings from starter Edwin Jackson in Sunday’s 8-2 win over the Mariners that pushed Seattle 5 1/2 games back in the race for the second AL wild-card spot.A’s manager Bob Melvin was happy his club was able to take care of business against the Mariners, responding to losses Thursday and Saturday with wins Friday and Sunday, with the Yankees headed to town.“Certain times a split feels a little bit better than others,” he said. “This was one of them.”