into the fire

Former Pillow Academy standout Louis Coleman is back in The Show, and he’s back at the best of times. Coleman rejoins the vaunted Kansas City bullpen in the heat of a title race; the first-place Royals lead Detroit by a half-game in the American League Central. And Cleveland, which beat KC 6-1 on Friday, isn’t out of it. Coleman worked a scoreless inning against the Indians in his first MLB appearance since July 12. Maybe that’s a good sign. The lanky right-hander, a Greenwood native who starred at LSU, pitched well for the Royals in 2011 and ’12 and was great last year, with an 0.61 ERA in 29 2/3 innings. But he has had problems in 2014, which he has spent bouncing between KC and Triple-A Omaha. His big league ERA is 7.15. In 22 2/3 innings, Coleman has yielded 31 hits (five homers) and 14 walks. His Omaha numbers have been much better: 3.86 ERA, seven saves in nine chances. Ned Yost and the Royals would surely love to see Coleman recapture that 2013 magic down the stretch. P.S. Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton swiped two bags on Friday and now has 53, one short of tying Cincinnati’s rookie record (see previous post). … Ole Miss product Phil Irwin, who was in the minors, has been released by Texas. He made one MLB appearance this season after making one last year with Pittsburgh.