If the rest of the Major League Baseball playoffs are like last night’s game in Kansas City, we are in for a great postseason of baseball.
The Kansas City Royals move onto the American League Divisional Series as they defeat the Oakland A’s in 12 innings 9-8. The Royals were down by 2 runs heading to the bottom of the 1st inning, down by 4 runs heading to the bottom of the 8th, 1 run in the 9th, and then again down by another run in the 12th inning. Despite always having to come from behind most of the game, the Royals pull it off and will face the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Thursday in the ALDS.
What a game as both offenses showed up. Brandon Moss came up big for the A’s as he hits a 2-run homerun as well as a 3-run homerun. The Royals looked like they were done heading to the bottom of the 8th inning as Jon Lester was pitching well for the A’s as he had only allowed 3 runs to that point, but that is when the Royals came alive as they scored 3 runs in the inning knocking Jon Lester out of the game. Catcher Salvador Perez was the hero of the game in the bottom of the 12th inning as he drove in Christian Colon. Prior to that at-bat, Perez was 0 for 5. He’ll probably remember his sixth at-bat the most.
The cool thing about the game was how the Royals were playing small ball to manufacture runs. They stole 7 runs in the game and 5 of those runners came around to score. The Royals were utilizing the sacrifice bunt to move runners. The Royals did what they had to do to win the game. Everyone steps up their play in the postseason and you could tell the Royals wanted to win the game for their fans who had been waiting since 1985 for that kind of excitement.
Not only did the offense come through for the Royals, but so did Brandon Finnegan, a 21-year-old rookie relief pitcher, who was pitching in the College World Series in June for TCU, was outstanding. He came in and pitched 2.1 innings, striking out 3 A’s batters, all in extra innings. He appeared in 7 games during the regular season for the Royals.
Congratulations to the Kansas City Royals and to the fans in Kansas City.
The National Wild Card game will be played tonight in Pittsburgh as the Pittsburgh Pirates welcome in the San Francisco Giants to PNC Park. Madison Bumgarner will get the start for the San Francisco Giants while the Pittsburgh Pirates will send Edinson Volquez to mound tonight. First pitch is set for 6:07 PM and can heard on ESPN 700.
