Kansas City Royals advance to ALDS; defeat A’s in 12 innings
Sep 30, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; during the 2014 American League Wild Card playoff baseball game at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
As someone who watches A LOT of AL Central baseball, it was great to see the Kansas City Royals play small ball, and do the little things right to win in 12 innings against the Oakland Athletics, 9-8 in the AL Wild Card game.
If this doesn’t prove the AL Wild Card game was a great idea, then nothing will. Even though this was around five hours of baseball, it was a very exciting game, especially after it seemed the A’s had this game in the bag.
Sep 30, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals center fielder
Jarrod Dyson(1) steals third base against Oakland Athletics third baseman
Josh Donaldson(20) during the eighth inning of the 2014 American League Wild Card playoff baseball game at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
The game-winning hit came when Salvador Perez batted in Christian Colon in the bottom of the 12th with two outs. Perez was 1-for-6, but that hit all that will be remembered, giving the Royals their first postseason win in 29 years.
It was good to see the Royals advance to the ALDS to represent the AL Central along with the Detroit Tigers, but let’s be honest we aren’t cheering for the Tigers in the postseason. OK, at least I’m not.
Anyways, not to get into great specifics of this game, all you need to know is the Royals trailed 7-3 after six innings. They battled back with small ball with a three-run eighth and one run in the ninth to force extra innings.
KC had seven stolen bases.
The A’s again took the lead in the top of the 12 with a run, and what did the Royals do?They scored twice in the bottom of the 12th to win by one run.
I can’t state this enough … WHAT. A. GAME.
Games like the one on Tuesday night is a reason to love postseason baseball, even if our Chicago White Sox aren’t involved.
One thing that I wish that could have happened was seeing Adam Dunn get an at-bat with the A’s, in his first chance to play in the postseason after 2,0001 regular season games. Dunn never got that at-bat in what might be his final game of his career.
Dunn played nearly four full seasons with the White Sox before being traded to the A’s on the last day of August for a minor leaguer. Dunn has a total of 14 years in the majors.
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Looking at the A’s box score, they totaled 13 hits, with five players having two hits each, including Brandon Moss hitting two home runs, for five total RBIs. On the other side, the Royals had 15 hits, with Eric Hosmer having three hits and four others having two hits each.
Jason Frasor ended up being the winning pitcher for the Royals, pitching 0.2 innings of relief. The loss went to Dan Otero had the loss for the A’s.
The starting pitchers of Jon Lester (A’s) and James Shields (Royals) combined to allow 10 earned runs, with Lester allowing six earned runs in 7.1 innings pitched. Shields pitched five innings.
Let’s all hope tomorrow’s NL Wild Card game between the San Francisco Giants and the Pittsburgh Pirates can be at least half as good as this game was. That game will start at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
What are your thoughts on this game and win by the Royals of the AL Central?