AMERICAN LEAGUE
The Kansas City Royals won a second-straight extra-innings playoff game, beating the Los Angeles Angels 3-2 on Thursday to take the opening game of their American League (AL) Division Series.
Having scraped past Oakland in a dramatic wild-card playoff, the Royals — back in the playoffs for the first time in 29 years — rode their luck again and came through with a valuable road victory that positions them well in the best-of-five series.
The day’s other AL Division Series opener was less tense, with Baltimore cruising to a 12-3 victory over Detroit.
Kansas City’s Mike Moustakas homered off Fernando Salas leading off the 11th inning to not only clinch the win, but also provide the first extra-inning homer in Royals playoff history.
“It’s probably the biggest one I’ve ever hit so far,” said Moustakas, a Los Angeles native who had dozens of friends and family members in the stands. “It felt really amazing.”
Game 2 in the best-of-five series was scheduled for yesterday in Anaheim, with Angels 16-game winner Matt Shoemaker set to take on fellow rookie pitcher Yordano Ventura of Kansas City.
Alcides Escobar had an early RBI double for the Royals, and that was countered by early homers for LA from Chris Iannetta and David Freese.
Winning pitcher Danny Duffy worked the 10th for Kansas City, and Greg Holland picked up the save after arriving at the ballpark at about the fourth inning, having traveled to North Carolina to attend his child’s birth.
Angels’ start Mike Trout was 0 for 4 with a walk in his playoff debut. The favorite for AL MVP grounded into a fielder’s choice in the 10th before Albert Pujols popped out to end his 0-for-4 Angels playoff debut. Josh Hamilton popped out to end the game, capping his 0-for-5 return to the lineup.
“We had some guys in scoring position, just couldn’t get that one hit, especially late,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “Those guys hung in there and got the big outs and got the big hit late. So we hit two home runs to keep ourselves in the game, but outside of that, we didn’t really pressure those guys very much.”
Angels pitchers Jered Weaver, Joe Smith and Huston Street combined to retire Kansas City’s final 15 batters before extra innings — and that was when the Royals went to work. Kevin Jepsen allowed two runners on base in the 10th, but retired two batters to escape.
Salas was not as lucky, giving up a homer to No. 9 hitter Moustakas.
“We’ve been doing it any way we can,” Moustakas said. “It’s somebody different every night.”
Baltimore set a club playoff scoring record by hammering Detroit 12-3.
Nelson Cruz and J.J. Hardy homered, while Jonathan Schoop and Alejandro De Aza each had two hits and two RBIs for the Orioles, who turned a close game into a rout with an eight-run eighth inning.
The 12 runs set a postseason record for Baltimore, who are making only their second playoff appearance since 1997.
Game 2 of the best-of-five series was scheduled for yesterday, again at Camden Yards, when Detroit’s Justin Verlander — the second of three straight Cy Young winners the Tigers are to put on the pitching mound in this series — was set to go up against Baltimore’s Chen Wei-yin.
Detroit’s intimidating depth of starting pitchers had led many to think the Tigers would be too strong for Baltimore in this series, but No. 1 starter Max Scherzer was beaten, allowing five runs in 7-1/3 innings.
“I just left too many pitches up,” Scherzer said. “This is a great-hitting ballclub. You give them a chance to extend their arms, they can really hit it. I’ve got to find a way to get the ball down. I wasn’t quite able to do that tonight, and I paid for it.”
Cruz led the majors with 40 homers during the regular season, a good portion of Baltimore’s big league-best 211 long balls. His first-inning drive off Scherzer put the Orioles up 2-0. It was his 15th career postseason home run, tied with Babe Ruth for 10th place on the career list.
Detroit’s Victor Martinez and J.D. Martinez connected off Chris Tillman in the second to tie it.
Baltimore edged back ahead in the bottom of the second, with Nick Markakis hitting an RBI single to make it 3-2. It stayed that way until Hardy homered leading off the seventh for a 4-2 lead. Cruz added his third RBI with a single during a decisive eighth inning.
“The one that stings is that J.J. Hardy home run,” Scherzer said. “That home run really changed the game in my eyes, gave them that insurance run. It was too good of a pitch for him, and he’s a great hitter and so he put a great swing on it and hit it out of the ballpark.”
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