v downed Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-4 and Croatias Ivo Karlovic defeated Dudi Sela of Israel 7-6 (4), 6-2. SOELDEN, Austria -- When Lara

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Edinson Volquez had focused between starts on doing better in the first inning.Things didnt quite pan out as Volquez allowed four of his eight runs in the opening inning of the Kansas City Royals 12-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night.Ive really struggled the first inning in my last couple outings, Volquez said. Me and (pitching coach) Dave (Eiland) tried something different tonight to take that away, but it didnt work.After Evan Longoria had a sacrifice fly, Steven Souza Jr. put the Rays up 4-0 on his three-run shot off Volquez (8-10) in the first.Souza had gone 109 at-bats without a homer after going deep June 4 against Minnesotas Ervin Santana.Hall of Fame pitchers have had issues with the first inning, Royals manager Ned Yost said. Tom Glavine and John Smoltz, they tried everything to get through the first. Once they got through the first they were unhittable, but a lot of pitchers have a little trouble finding their tempo and their rhythm. Then after the first they just roll. Thats what Edy does most of the time, but he just wasnt able to control the damage tonight.Volquez gave up 11 hits in five-plus innings. He has allowed 22 earned runs in the first inning over 23 starts, including seven in the last two outings.Jake Odorizzi had his third consecutive scoreless start for the Rays, who are 7-25 against the Royals since the start of the 2012 season.Figured out a way to beat those guys, Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said.Odorizzi (6-5) allowed two singles, walked two and had six strikeouts in six innings. The right-hander has not given up a run in 20 2/3 innings over the three-start stretch.Enny Romero and Ryan Garton completed a two-hitter.Kansas City had three errors, and has three games this season where it has given up at least 12 runs and made at least three errors. It happened once in the previous six seasons.Kevin Kiermaier hit a three-run drive off Chien-Ming Wang in a five-run sixth to put the Rays ahead 11-0.After the final six batters reached against Wang in his previous outing July 26 against the Los Angeles Angels, the first five Rays got on Wednesday before he recorded an out.MOVING DAYRoyals: OF Billy Burns, acquired from Oakland Friday, was recalled from Triple-A Omaha and RHP Brooks Pounders was optioned to the Pacific Coast League clubTRAINERS ROOMBurns will probably start Thursday because Yost does not want Lorenzo Cain to play a fourth straight game on the artificial turf at Tropicana Field. Cain returned from a left hamstring strain Friday.UP NEXTRoyals RHP Ian Kennedy (6-9) will face Rays LHP Drew Smyly (3-11) Thursday. Kennedy (26) and Smyly (22) are among the major-league leaders in home runs allowed. Custom Jerseys China . Catch all the action on TSN2 at 11pm et/8pm pt. The nine-time Big 12 champion Jayhawks are positioning themselves for another title, as they have run out to a flawless 6-0 mark in conference play thus far. Cheap Jerseys From China . PETERSBURG, Fla. http://www.jerseyscheapcustom.com/ . Reigning world champion Eve Muirhead of Scotland opened with a 12-2 rout of Winnipegs Jennifer Jones in a battle of teams bound for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Wholesale Authentic Jerseys .com) - The Montreal Canadiens will try to halt their longest losing streak of the season when they host the struggling New York Islanders in tonights clash at the Bell Centre. Wholesale Custom Jerseys . Ferrer, trying to win his fourth title on Mexican soil, will next play South Africas Kevin Anderson, who eliminated American Sam Querrey,7-6 (2), 6-4. Also Wednesday, Gilles Simon (6) of France beat Donald Young of the United States 6-4, 6-3, Ukraines Alexandr Dolgopolov downed Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-4 and Croatias Ivo Karlovic defeated Dudi Sela of Israel 7-6 (4), 6-2. SOELDEN, Austria -- When Lara Gut starts the defense of her overall Alpine World Cup title on Saturday, she will be the first Swiss skier to do so in more than two decades.Not that it puts pressure on her.I dont think I have to defend something, Gut said on Thursday, two days before the season-opening giant slalom on the Rettenbach glacier.The title that I won, is last year. Now we all start at zero points again and its just a matter of winning races again.The previous skier from Switzerland to take the biggest prize in womens skiing was Vreni Schneider in 1995, successfully defending her title from the previous season.Gut downplayed the importance of the first race.My goal is to improve every day, I have to try to be as relaxed as possible, Gut said. There is always a lot of talk ahead of Soelden but this race is also worth just 100 points.She will be the only racer on Saturday who has won an overall title. Anna Veith, Tina Maze and Lindsey Vonn are all absent, for various reasons.Guts predecessor in 2014 and 2015, Veith, needs more time to recover from the knee injury that kept the Austrian away from the slopes last season.Known under her maiden name Fenninger until she got married in April, Veith returned on skis in June but has still been lacking muscle power for the World Cup.I felt that I dont have enough strength to put enough pressure on the skis, said Veith, adding she would spend next month mainly in the gym before returning to skiing in December.The 2013 champion also wont be a threat to Guts ambition as Tina Maze announced her retirement on Thursday. The Slovenian took a break from racing last season and said she will do only one last race -- on home soil in Maribor -- before quitting the sport.ddddddddddddSo, will Vonn again become Guts main challenger?The American, hunting her fifth overall title but first since 2012, was in a neck-and-neck race with Gut until damaging her left knee in a super-G crash in February, ending her season.Though fit and ready to race, Vonn declined the trip to the Austrian Alps as she planned to concentrate more on speed races and refrain from GS, like she also dropped the slalom from her schedule years ago.Ill be back on skis soon and training here at home, Vonn wrote on Facebook recently. Im disappointed I wont be there (in Soelden) but my goals for this season are focused more on downhill and super-g races.However, Gut might face fierce competition from Vonns American teammate, Mikaela Shiffrin, who agreed.Its the first season that I think its really possible, said Shiffrin, who has dominated slaloms in recent years and vastly improved in GS. Now she will add more speed events, not just super-G but even some downhills.We have to wait to get a good grasp where I stand, Shiffrin said. If I am skiing well in slalom and GS and have some good results in speed, it looks like I am a good contender.Calling it a huge dream, Shiffrin was quick to acknowledge many rivals have the same ambition.I want to keep everything in perspective, she said. There are a lot of girls that have that dream. There are probably 20 racers out there who have the potential to win the overall globe. ' ' '