The Kansas City Royals downed the Oakland Athletics in a thriller Tuesday night, and will advance to play the Los Angeles Angels in the Divisional Series. This 12 inning affair featured 28 hits, 17 runs, and two big comebacks by the Royals. Catcher Salvador Perez provided the biggest hit, a single to left that scored Christian Colon from second, giving Kansas City a walkoff victory.
With ace pitchers Jon Lester and James Shields taking the hill, conventional wisdom suggested this would be a low scoring game. However, the A’s struck early with a two run home run by designated hitter Brandon Moss. In the bottom of the first the Royals scored a run on two singles and a walk, but the inning ended when Eric Hosmer was caught stealing home in a failed early break play with Billy Butler at first.
KC would pick up two runs in the bottom of the third with three hits, including a double by Lorenzo Cain. That would hold up until the 6th inning. After starter James Shields allowed a single to Sam Fuld and a walk to Josh Donaldson, manager Ned Yost turned to Yordano Ventura, who had been in the starting rotation during the year and was working on one days rest. Moss turned around a 98 mile per hour fastball from Ventura and drove it out to center field to give the A’s a 5-3 lead.
After two singles and a walk, Lester exited the game with a 7-4 lead, having worked 7.1 innings. Luke Gregerson allowed an RBI single to Billy Butler and a wild pitch Alex Gordon at the plate allowed another run to score. He struck out Perez and Omar Infante to stop the bleeding. But, the Royals had closed the gap to 7-6 thanks to three singles, two walks and four stolen bases.
Greg Holland worked out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the 9th, and the A’s turned to closer Sean Doolittle. Pinch hitter Josh Willingham started with a single, and Jarrod Dyson pinch ran. Alcides Escobar sacrificed him to second and Dyson proceeded to steal third, setting the stage for Nori Aoki to tie the game with a sacrifice fly.
The game remained tied at 7-7 until the top of the 12th when pinch hitter Alberto Callaspo drove home Josh Reddick with a single. In the bottom half of the inning, Eric Hosmer roped a one out triple, and Colon brought him home with an infield hit. Left-handed specialist Fernando Abad retired Gordon on a pop out. The A’s replaced him with Jason Hammel. Colon swiped second. Perez greeted Hammel with a single to left that got just past the dive of Donaldson, and the Royals walked off with their biggest win since 1985.
The end result couldn’t have been any better for Kansas City fans who have waited 29 years for October baseball. If this is any indication for the rest of the month, October should be riveting.
