Alcides Escobar doubled in the go-ahead run in the ninth inning and Mike Moustakas extended his home-run binge as Kansas City remained perfect in the playoffs, beating the Baltimore Orioles 6-4 on Saturday for a 2-0 lead in the American League Championship Series.
Now, the Royals head back to Kansas City with the knowledge that no team has ever lost a best-of-seven championship series after winning the first two games on the road.
Lorenzo Cain had four hits, scored twice and drove in a run for the wild-card Royals, who are 6-0 in the playoffs this year, including 4-0 on the road. The Orioles had not lost two in a row in Baltimore since June 29, but Kansas City found a way to quiet the towel-waving, screaming crowds.
Moustakas homered for the fourth time in five games as the Royals won their ninth straight in the post-season, a string dating to the 1985 World Series.
Game 3 is today at Kauffman Stadium. Former Oriole Jeremy Guthrie is to start for the Royals against either Chen Wei-yin or Miguel Gonzalez.
Manager Buck Showalter’s team have lost two in a row at Camden Yards for the first time since June 29, and now the Orioles must buck history to earn their first pennant since 1983. No club has ever won a best-of-seven championship series after dropping the first two games at home.
After squeezing out an 8-6 win in 10 innings on Friday night, the Royals again took apart the Baltimore bullpen with a late uprising.
With the score tied at 4-all in the ninth, Omar Infante beat out an infield roller off Darren O’Day, the losing pitcher for the second straight day.
Zach Britton entered and Moustakas laid down a bunt that moved pinch-runner Terrance Gore to second. Alcides then sliced an opposite-field grounder inside first base to bring home Gore.
Two batters later, Cain hit an RBI single.
In St Louis, Missouri, Madison Bumgarner pitched shutout ball into the eighth inning and the San Francisco Giants combined just enough hitting with a couple of defensive errors by St Louis to beat the Cardinals 3-0 in the National League Championship Series (NLCS) opener.
Bumgarner set a major league post-season record with 26-2/3 consecutive scoreless innings on the road.
The left-hander, already a key part of two World Series championship teams in San Francisco, was in complete command.
However, 20-game winner Adam Wainwright made another early exit for the Cardinals. In his two playoff outings this month, he has failed to last even five innings.
Pablo Sandoval got three hits as San Francisco won for the 12th time in their past 13 post-season games, including three straight victories to erase a 3-1 deficit in the 2012 NLCS against St Louis.
Bumgarner, who began the playoffs by throwing a shutout at Pittsburgh in the wild-card game, gave up four hits in 7-2/3 innings.
Bumgarner bested the mark of 23 straight post-season scoreless innings on the road set by Art Nehf of the New York Giants from 1921-1924.
The Cardinals threatened against him only in the seventh on consecutive one-out singles by Yadier Molina and Jon Jay, but Kolten Wong tapped out and pinch-hitter Tony Cruz fanned.
The Giants’ bullpen finished with hitless relief as Sergio Romo got the last out in the eighth and Santiago Casilla closed for a save.
The Cardinals twice failed to seal the deal defensively in the Giants’ two-run second.
Third baseman Matt Carpenter’s fielding error with the bases loaded on Gregor Blanco’s soft one-hop liner at his feet was their first error of the post-season.
Sandoval doubled to start the inning when rookie right-fielder Randal Grichuk gloved the ball, but could not hang on as he ran into the wall. Travis Ishikawa, 0 for 5 with five strikeouts and a walk against Wainwright, had an RBI single on a jam-shot bloop just over Carpenter’s head in shallow left.
Wong misplayed a double-play ball at second base in the third, and Brandon Belt’s sacrifice fly made it 3-0.
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