American League Division Series vs. Los Angeles
ALDS Game 1 | October 2, 2014
Royals 3, Angels 2, 11 Innings
Hometown Moose Breaks Loose
Ex-Angel Vargas, Great D Stymie L.A. in Extra Innings
With Kansas City’s dramatic win over Oakland in the wild-card game, the Royals earned the right to play the best team in baseball, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, in a best-of-five series, with the first two games in Anaheim. That didn’t seem to phase the Royals.
Two nights after beating the A’s in 12 innings, the Royals used extra frames again, this time to beat the Angels 3–2 in 11 innings.
In the top of the 11th inning—with the scored tied 2–2—the No. 9 hitter, Mike Moustakas, a Los Angeles native, belted a 374-foot home run to right field that reached the elevated seats off reliever Fernando Salas and gave Kansas City a 3–2 lead.
“It’s probably the biggest one I’ve ever hit,” Moustakas said. “It felt really amazing.”
Mike Moustakas, who hit only 15 homers during the regular season, celebrates his 11th inning home run in Game 1. The blast proved to be the game winner. (AP Images)
That was the Royals first hit since the fifth inning, when they took a 2–1 lead against starter Jered Weaver. Alex Gordon led off the fifth with a double, moved to third on a Salvador Perez fly out, and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Omar Infante.
The Angels tied the game in the bottom of the fifth when David Freese led off with a homer to left field off Kansas City’s surprise starter Jason Vargas, who was 1–5 in his last six starts and hadn’t won since September 3. Against his former Angels mates, Vargas looked more like the pitcher who had ended April with a 2.40 ERA. He gave up three hits and two runs—both on solo home runs—in six innings.
Kansas City’s defense helped Vargas’ line look better than it could have. Center fielder Lorenzo Cain made two spectacular grabs, including one at the wall in the first inning struck by Anaheim’s leadoff hitter, Kole Calhoun. Right fielder Nori Aoki got in on the action as well with two outstanding catches, including a run-saving snag against the wall in the sixth. On the play Cain and Aoki both gave chase, but after Cain missed it high on the wall, Aoki was there to record the out.
Mike Moustakas connects on his home run off the Angels’ Fernando Salas in the 11th inning of Game 1. (AP Images)
“This game was won by Kansas City with four incredible defensive plays,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “That’s what really kept those guys in the game.”
Danny Duffy, whom many thought would get the start, pitched the 10th inning and got the win. After Moustakas’ homer in the 11th inning, Greg Holland, who arrived at the stadium in the fourth inning following a trip to North Carolina for the birth of his son, shut the door on the Angels with a perfect 11th.
“This is the type of game that we play,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “We don’t score a bunch of runs…so we have a lot of confidence in our pitching.”
Center fielder Lorenzo Cain and right fielder Nori Aoki race toward the right-center field wall. Aoki’s running catch of a deep fly ball off the bat of Howie Kendrick prevented a run from scoring and ended the inning. (AP Images)
ALDS Game 2 | October 3, 2014
Royals 4, Angels 1, 11 Innings
Homer for Hosmer
Underdog Royals Eek Out 2–0 Series Lead Against Mighty Angels
For a third consecutive game, the Royals went into extra innings. For the third consecutive game, they won. For a third consecutive game, it was a homegrown player who came through in the clutch.
With Game 2 of the ALDS tied at 1–1 in the top of the 11th inning after Lorenzo Cain beat out an infield single, Eric Hosmer launched a 399-foot homer to right with a picture-perfect swing at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. It was Hosmer’s third hit of the game. Later in the inning, Alex Gordon, who knocked in Kansas City’s first run back in the second inning, scored on a base hit by Salvador Perez giving the Royals their eventual 4–1 win.
“Everyone has had their time,” Hosmer said. “They’ve had their moment when they’ve made a big play or stepped up and did something big. A lot of the times, it was with our back against the wall. Most of the time it was with our season on the line.”
The script of that streak, which Hollywood would turn down as too unbelievable, started in the wild-card game when Perez, who signed as an undrafted free agent in 2006, nearly four months after Dayton Moore became general manager, knocked in Christian Colon in the 12th inning in Kansas City. It continued in Game 1 of the ALDS, when Mike Moustakas, the Royals’ first-round pick (second overall) in 2007, launched a home run in the 11th. The blast by Hosmer, Kansas City’s first-round pick (third overall) in 2008, gave the Royals a 2–0 lead in the series.
Eric Hosmer connects on a two-run homer in the 11th inning of Game 2. (AP Images)
Besides the Royals—baseball’s lowest home run producer during the regular season—winning with another long ball, the club had another outfield play that helped preserve the game. In the bottom of the eighth with no outs and pinch-runner Collin Cowgill at second, Jarrod Dyson caught Chris Iannetta’s fly ball in left-center. Cowgill tested Dyson’s arm. Bad move. Dyson threw a strike to Moustakas, completing the double play.
“That’s huge,” Hosmer said. “That changes momentum. That changes everything in a game right there.”
Rookie Brandon Finnegan, whom the Royals selected in the first round (17th overall) in the June 2014 draft and who had an outstanding performance in the wild-card game, pitched a hitless 10th and won his first game of the postseason. For the second consecutive night, Greg Holland saved it for the Royals.
A night after the crafty Jason Vargas kept the Angels in check, the flame-throwing Yordano Ventura started for Kansas City and scattered five hits over seven innings. He struck out five and walked only one.
“His stuff was electric,” Angels third baseman David Freese said of Ventura, who eclipsed 100 miles per hour on the radar gun numerous times. “They’ve got good arms over there, and they’re making the plays, getting timely hits, and doing what they need to do to win.”
After his first of three hits in Game 2, Eric Hosmer scores on a single by Alex Gordon. (AP Images)
Rookie Yordano Ventura started for the Royals and allowed only one run in seven innings. (AP Images)
ALDS Game 3 | October 5, 2014
Royals 8, Angels 3
A Royal Sweep
No Extra Innings Needed as K.C. Roughs Up L.A.
In front of another rambunctious standing-room crowd (40,657) at Kauffman Stadium, the Royals rested the extra-inning drama for a game as they jumped on Angels starter C.J. Wilson early en route to an 8–3 win and a three-game sweep of the Angels in the American League Division Series.
Trailing 1–0 after a Mike Trout home run—the first hit of the series for the superstar—the Royals got three runs in the bottom of the first thanks to a bases-loaded double by Alex Gordon that scored Nori Aoki, Lorenzo Cain, and Billy Butler and gave Kansas City a 3–1 lead. That hit also knocked Wilson out of the game after just two-thirds of an inning.
“Trout hit that home run, and it was good for us to respond like we did,” Gordon said. “Good job by the guys getting on base and making something happen and putting me in a good situation.”
Starting pitcher James Shields reacts after striking out Chris Iannetta to end the sixth inning. Shields pitched six innings in the series clincher and gave up just two runs, both on solo homers. (AP Images)
The Royals put the game out of reach in the third when Eric Hosmer hit his second home run of the ALDS—a 427-foot bomb to center—that put the Royals ahead 5–1.
“Big Game James” Shields gave up two solo home runs but otherwise battled, pitching the type of game Royals fans expected out of him in a possible series-ending contest. Shields, who was making his first start since the wild-card game, scattered six hits over six innings. As was the case for Royals pitchers throughout the previous three postseason games, Shields was aided by his defense. Specifically, back-to-back diving catches in center by Cain in the fifth inning with two on and one out.
“You’re probably looking at a one- or two-run game if both those hits drop in, but they didn’t,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.
Things seemed to be going Kansas City’s way the entire game. Case in point: in the bottom of the third, after Hosmer’s home run, Butler walked. And, get this, Billy Butler, the man who usually runs as if he’s carrying a piano and the only lumbering hitter in a lineup full of speedsters, stole second. It was his fifth career steal and his first since July 5, 2012.
Alex Gordon clears the bases with a 3-RBI double in the first inning. During the regular season, Gordon collected 74 RBIs. (AP Images)
After Shields went six innings for the victory, the usual relief Herrera-Davis-Holland troika finished off the Angels, combining for seven strikeouts.
They—like the rest of their teammates—looked quite comfortable taking down the team with the best record in the American League.
“I’ve never seen this group of kids so confident on the big stage,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “It’s really fun to see their development and watch them come into the postseason and just really take their game to the next level.”
And, after making quick work of the Angels, the Royals were headed to the next level of the playoffs. For the first time since 1985, Kansas City was going to be playing for a trip to the World Series.
“This is a special time in this city right now,” Shields said, “and they’re enjoying this as much as we are.”
Royals players erupt from the dugout to celebrate their ALDS sweep of the Angels. (AP Images)
The Royals’ division series celebration moved from the field to the clubhouse, as Kansas City celebrated its first win in a postseason series in 29 years. The celebration continued past midnight. Eric Hosmer extended an invitation for fans to meet the team at Kansas City’s McFadden’s bar, where players reportedly picked up a $15,000 bar tab. (AP Images)