ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Brad Miller took a punch to the gut on Monday when told he was losing his starting shortstop role and being moved primarily to first base.On Thursday, he delivered the knockout blow in a victory.Miller hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2.I just go out there and play, Miller said. Its all I can really do. Try and get after it. I think Ive shown them all year how valuable I am, but at the end of the day, I have to go out and play. Thats all that matters.Tampa Bay acquired Matt Duffy on Monday in a four-player deal that sent left-hander Matt Moore to San Francisco. Duffy will take over at short when he returns next week from a strained left Achilles tendon.Miller connected on his 19th homer off Joakim Soria (4-5), who gave up three of the Rays overall four hits during his one inning.Were lucky to have him, and it doesnt matter where plays, Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. We know his bat plays.Kanas City dropped to 40-2 when ahead after seven innings.In my view, it was a good pitch . it was down in the zone, Soria said. He hit it out, so it wasnt a good pitch.Brad Boxberger (1-0) worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the eighth before Alex Colome got his 26th save despite giving up two hits during the ninth. Drew Smyly allowed two runs, five hits, one walk and struck out 10 in seven innings.Ian Kennedy gave up one hit, walked four and had nine strikeouts in six-plus innings for the Royals. Alex Gordon hit his eighth home.Tampa Bay won the final two games to split the four-game series. The Rays are 8-25 against Kansas City since the start of the 2012 season.Gordon had not homered or driven in a run in his previous 72 at-bats against left-handers this season before hitting a two-run drive off Smyly that put Kansas City ahead 2-0 in the fourth.Smyly has given up 23 homers, including six to left-handed hitters. He didnt allow a homer to a lefty last season.Kennedy entered tied with teammate Chris Young and Toronto knuckleballer R.A. Dickey with a major league-high 26 homers allowed but hasnt given up a long ball in three consecutive starts.TRAINERS ROOMRays: RHP Chase Whitley (Tommy John surgery) will make his fourth rehab start Friday night with Double-A Montgomery.MLB SANCTIONSRoyals DH Kendrys Morales received a one-game suspension and a fine for his actions following a ninth inning ejection, which included returning to the field, in Tuesday nights game. Morales appealed the ruling and started.FUTURE IN BLUE?Major League Baseball will hold a one-day free umpiring clinic for all ages at Tropicana Field on Aug. 20. Baseball officials, including MLB umpire supervisor Charlie Reliford, will also be looking for scholarship candidates to attend a one-day pro mini-camp in December. Umpire Carlos Torres, who worked the Royals-Rays series, is a one-time camp participant that received an umpiring school scholarship.MOVING DAYTampa Bay claimed C Bobby Wilson off waivers from Texas and optioned C Curt Casali to Triple-A Durham.UP NEXTRoyals: RHP Dillon Gee (3-5) will face recently acquired Toronto LHP Francisco Liriano, who went 6-11 with Pittsburgh.Rays: Rookie LHP Blake Snell (3-4) will go against Minnesota RHP Ervin Santana (4-9) in the opener of a three-game series Friday between the ALs two worst teams. Blaise Matuidi Jersey . 10 VCU 85-67 on Thursday night at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. The Seminoles (4-0) have scored at least 80 points in each of their games. Mattia Perin Jersey . 9. Price, heading to the 2014 Olympics for Canada, was named the First Star after posting wins in three starts with a 1.00 goals-against average and a .971 save percentage. http://www.juventusfcpro.com/Kids-Gonzalo-Higuain-Jersey/ . Houston won 3-0 to advance to face New York in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Last in the game, Di Vaio and Romero got into a shoving match with several Houston players. Romero appeared to elbow and kick Houston defender Kofi Sarkodie. Medhi Benatia Jersey .com) - The Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks both take aim at their first wins of the season on Saturday, as the Canucks open their home slate at Rogers Arena. Wojciech Szczesny Jersey . Duchene scored two goals and had an assist, helping the Colorado Avalanche beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Friday night to match the best 10-game start in team history. Harlequins lock James Horwill should face a short stint on the sidelines owing to the gruesome compound fracture of his finger suffered in Sundays 25-6 defeat at Leicester.Former Australia captain Horwill asked physios to tape up his nasty finger injury so he could keep playing, immediately inking his name into rugbys hard-man annals. Stills of the horrific injury were quickly tweeted and duly went viral.The 31-year-old had no option but to be withdrawn from the closing stages of the Aviva Premiership clash at Welford Road, and has since undergone corrective surgery.Horwills humour has remained undimmed in light of the nasty blow, as he took to social media to offer an update on his recovery.Finger is looking normal again and all good! tweeted Horwill. His message continued: Thanks to Doc @mike_hayton for seeing me on a Sunday. Appreciate all the messages. #COYQSpecialist hand and wrist surgeon Hayton is based in the north-west and was able to quickly carry out the procedures to repair Horwills awful-lookking injury.ddddddddddddTelevision cameras picked up the extent of Horwills injury during Sundays Premiership encounter, leading to immediate messages of respect from fellow rugby stars on Twitter.Former Leicester and England fly-half Andy Goode tweeted a picture of the injury with the message: Fair play to @JHorwill playing for @Harlequins, hard as nails asking the physio to tape this up to play on!Horwill later quipped back: Fair to say my days as a hand model may be over!Harlequins are continuing to monitor Horwills condition before determining when he can return to action.New Zealand full-back Ben Smith suffered a similar injury in the All Blacks 21-9 win over Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.The 30-year-old was immediately led from the field for treatment, with All Blacks boss Steve Hansen quickly ruling him out of New Zealands forthcoming Test clash with France this weekend. 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