DETROIT -- Have no fear. The Fighting Okra is here.
That's the Royals' left-handed rookie pitcher, Dusty Hughes, who played at Delta State University in Mississippi, where the teams are known by two names: the Statesmen and, ta-da, the Fighting Okras.
Hughes spent three years playing at Delta State, where the baseball program rolled up 50 or more victories each season and twice went to the Division II World Series.
Pretty good for a school whose teams are sometimes known by the name of a tall annual herb of the mallow family that is cultivated for its mucilaginous green pods used especially in soups or stews (thank you, Webster's).
"Supposedly when they built the stadium for the football team, they had to clear out an okra field to build it. That was a long time ago," Hughes explained. "But our baseball coach hates the Fighting Okras, so we've got Statesmen on our jerseys. He doesn't claim it."
And, by the way, if you think the Royals are the only Major League club that has a former Fighting Okra or (sorry, coach) Statesman on the team, you'd be wrong. Astros infielder Edwin Maysonet, Dodgers pitcher Brent Leach and Giants catcher Eli Whiteside all played for Delta State, Hughes said.
So far Hughes, in his first exposure to the Majors, has done Delta State proud. Going into this series at Chicago, he has pitched four games in relief and three of the outings were scoreless. He broke in with a flourish -- 4 1/3 shutout innings in relief of Luke Hochevar -- against the Angels. That's the longest outing by a Royals reliever this year.
In his eight innings so far, he has a 3.38 ERA with nine strikeouts, three walks and six hits given up. The only three runs came in his third game, against the Indians.
"That outing it was 5-3 when I came in, and I tried to keep us in it, but it didn't work out so well," he said. "I just couldn't find the strike zone very often, so I knew going into this [last] outing I needed to build on that, and I threw a lot more strikes."
He did that in Tuesday night's 11-1 win over the Tigers, with two scoreless innings -- no walks, just one hit and three strikeouts.
Hughes, 27, was in his seventh season in the Royals' organization before finally reaching the Majors this September. He missed all of 2006 while recovering in Surprise, Ariz., from Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery. That wasn't easy.
"It's mentally challenging, I can tell you that much," he said. "Being in Arizona for seven straight months. My wife was pregnant, and I was rehabbing."
Things have worked out well. He and his wife, Jennifer, had their daughter, Kaylen, now 3, and dad has reached the big leagues.
Hughes is from Horn Lake, Miss., where he was a high school star in soccer, football and baseball. He was a soccer-style placekicker in football and, oh yes, was an 11-3 pitcher and .429 hitter in baseball.
"Soccer was definitely my first love. Baseball was secondary," he said. "I guess my body build would fit better as a soccer player, though, right?"
Hughes is 5-foot-9, 185 pounds. Through most of his Minor League career, he was a starter, although he was used primarily in relief this year for Triple-A Omaha.
"I haven't been a reliever much in my career, but it really doesn't matter to me," he said. "I like both of them actually, I like to come out of the 'pen and get brought into situations. But starting obviously you have the routine of getting ready. But just staying here is fine with me."
About that other nickname: There's no big mystery why Hughes called Dusty. His given name is Dustin.
Pitching matchup
KC: RHP Luke Hochevar (6-10, 6.23 ERA)
Big innings have done Hochevar in all year, and Saturday's loss was no different. Hochevar pitched well for the first three innings, but a two-run fourth and a three-run fifth did him in. He gave up five earned in five innings in all. It was his ninth straight start without a win. Hochevar had trouble tipping his pitches earlier in the year, but he said that wasn't the reason for his latest bad outing. He just couldn't locate his pitches when it mattered. He will try to regroup against the White Sox, whom he is 1-2 against with a 4.82 ERA in his career.
CWS: LHP Mark Buehrle (12-8, 3.73 ERA)
Buehrle needs to work two innings against the Royals to reach 200 for a ninth straight season as a starter, and he needs two strikeouts to reach 100 for the eighth time in his career. Buehrle also will be looking for his seventh season as a starter in which he posted an ERA under 4.00. In his 10 starts since throwing the 18th perfect game in Major League history on July 23, Buehrle has won just once, but against the Angels on Sunday, Buehrle certainly pitched well enough to win. He gave up just two earned runs on five hits over seven innings, but Torii Hunter's home run in the seventh was the margin of difference in a 3-2 loss. It was the 26th home run Buehrle gave up in the 2009 campaign. He has a 1-0 record in four starts this season against the Royals, and is 20-8 lifetime vs. Kansas City.
Crown points
Third baseman Alex Gordon and his wife, Jamie, are co-chairmen of the sixth annual Royals Coat Drive on Sept. 24-25 at Kauffman Stadium. Royals wives and volunteers will collect new and gently used coats before each game at the Outfield Experience or outside of Gate B. The items collected will be distributed to needy residents of the Kansas City area by the Johnson County Christmas Bureau. ... Statistical leaders for the Rookie classification Idaho Falls Chukars included: Salvador Perez, .309; Deivy Batista, 13 homers, 56 RBIs and 50 runs; Hilton Richardson, 20 stolen bases; Pernell Halliman and Patrick Keating, five victories; Santiago Garrido, 5.01 ERA; Richard Folmer and Keating, eight saves.
