Royals use long ball to win opener

Chicago Tribune

BALTIMORE

It may have been force of habit, but Baltimore Orioles fans started booing Friday night when the public address announcer began the pregame introductions for the Kansas City Royals.

The American League Championship Series that no one saw coming last March suddenly had become a reality, and it was time to build up some animosity.

But how could anyone really dislike the Royals, a group full of nobodies that look like a throwback team in modern day uniforms? They imitated the Walking Dead before coming back to beat the A’s in extra innings the AL wild-card game, then tossed back Mike Trout and the Angels in a three-game sweep to advance to their first ALCS in 29 years.

The Royals’ charmed life continued on a rainy night at Camden Yards, where they wound up with a wild 8-6 victory over the Orioles in 10 innings to take the series opener.

After they failed to score in the ninth after loading the bases with no outs, reliever Wade Davis struck out the side in the bottom of the inning to bring up Alex Gordon leading off the 10th.

The left fielder homered to right field on Darren O’Day’s third pitch. Salvador Perez then walked and one out later Mike Moustakas took Brian Matusz downtown for a three-run lead that held up after the Orioles scored once in the 10th.

As usual, the Royals made everyone sweat, going into their default mode. They scored four runs in the third inning off Chris Tillman and led 5-1 in the fifth with “Big Game” James Shields on the mound.

Over? Not quite.

Shields failed to make it into the sixth, making him fortunate he wasn’t named “Doak.” The Orioles tied it off rookie Brandon Finnegan in the sixth on Alejandro de Aza’s RBI blooper that dropped in front of a diving Alcides Escobar behind the mound. And that’s when the fun really started.

The ALCS is being hyped as a matchup of power vs. speed, with the Orioles leading the majors in home runs and the Royals in stolen bases. The Royals hit only .198 average in their three-game sweep of the Angels, but held their foe to a .170 average and somehow found a way to win. Could they possibly keep it up and still win a best-of-seven series?

It looked like a Royals’ rout early on. Escobar, who had three home runs all season, cranked a solo shot off Tillman to kick-start the four-run third. After Billy Butler’s infield hit loaded the bases with two outs, Alex Gordon followed with a broken bat blooper into right field that turned into a bases-clearing double, making it 4-0.

The Orioles broke through off Shields in the bottom of the third on Adam Jones’ RBI single, but Gordon saved another run with an inning-ending, diving catch of Steve Pearce’s drive to deep left.

Butler’s sacrifice fly off Tommy Hunter made it a four-run game again in the fifth, and with the Royals’ bullpen well rested, the Orioles seemed to be in dire straits. That was when Shields’ nickname betrayed him. And RBI double to Nelson Cruz and a two-run single to Ryan Flaherty made it 5-4, and the ballpark was rocking.

With two on and no outs in the sixth, catcher Salvador Perez had Jonathan Schoop picked off between second and third. But Escobar’s throw to third deflected off Schoop’s back, leaving runners on second and third. De Aza followed with the blooper heard ’round Baltimore, knotting the game.

The teams remained tied into the ninth, where the Royals had the bases loaded with no outs but failed to score. Darren O’Day induced Butler to end the inning with a double play grounder, setting up the wild ending.