Giants eliminate Nationals in 4

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO

Joe Panik scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning on Aaron Barrett’s bases-loaded wild pitch, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Washington Nationals 3-2 on Tuesday night to return to the NL Championship Series.

The wild-card Giants took Game 4 in the best-of-five Division Series and eliminated the Nationals by scoring on a bases-loaded walk, a groundout and a wild pitch. Hunter Pence turned in a defensive gem in right field.

Santiago Casilla put the potential tying run aboard in the ninth on a two-out walk to Bryce Harper, then retired Wilson Ramos on a grounder to end it. Casilla was mobbed on the mound as fireworks shot off from the center-field scoreboard. San Francisco travels to St. Louis for Game 1 on Saturday.

It’s a rematch of the 2012 NLCS, when the Giants rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Cardinals on the way to their second World Series championship in three years.

ROYALS

KANSAS CITY, Mo.

The expectations that accompanied Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer were largely unfair, and anybody in the Kansas City Royals front office would probably be willing to admit it.

Moustakas was the second overall pick in the 2007 first-year player draft. Hosmer went third overall the following year. Together, the third baseman and first baseman were general manager Dayton Moore’s cornerstones in his plan to build a contender.

Yet even through this summer, they struggled. Moustakas spent months trying to get his batting average over .200, even getting banished to the minor leagues. Hosmer experienced a power outage, rarely taking a pitch deep.

Perhaps now, they are finally living up to those expectations.

Moustakas hit the go-ahead home run in the 11th inning in Game 1 of their AL Division Series against the Angels. Hosmer hit a two-run shot in the 11th inning the next night. And in the clincher on Sunday night, both of them went deep in an 8-3 victory.

Friday, the Royals will open the American League Championship Series against the Orioles in Baltimore. It’s Kansas City’s first ALCS in 30 years.

“It’s times like this that we’ve been prepared for, and were preparing for in the minor leagues for a long time,” said Hosmer, who hit .270 with nine homers in the regular season.

“A big asset or a big characteristic when Dayton drafts guys is character, and I think every single person in that locker room is showing that right now with the way we’ve been battling back, the way we’ve been in some holes and we’ve had our season on the line,” Hosmer said. “It’s the guys that aren’t going to quit, the guys that believe they can do it.”