Moustakas hits home run in 11th inning, Royals take game one vs Angels ... The feel-good Royals continued their emotional ride through the postseason by beating the heavyweight Angels, 3-2, in their division series opener Thursday night, thanks to Mike Moustakas’ leadoff homer in the 11th inning. Moustakas, the No. 9 hitter in Kansas City’s lineup, smacked a drive just over the right-field wall off reliever Fernando Salas to provide the winning margin and quiet the red-clad crowd of 45,321 that watched a game mostly full of defense and pitching. The victory gave the Royals a 1-0 lead in the best-of-5 series. Game 2 is Friday night at Angel Stadium. Moustakas’ homer was the first extra-inning blast in a postseason game by a Royal and it was also the first hit for KC since the fifth inning. The Royals hit the fewest homers – 95 – in baseball during the regular season. Danny Duffy, a starter relegated to the bullpen for the series, pitched the 10th inning for the Royals, earning the victory while Greg Holland picked up the save. KC manager Ned Yost had hoped Duffy could play a crucial role in the series, even though he wasn’t being used the same way. The news was not all good for the Royals, however. They may have lost reliever Kelvin Herrera, a vital part of their high-octane bullpen. Herrera, who can hit triple-digits on the radar gun, faced one batter in the seventh inning and then was visited by trainers and came out of the game. The Royals later announced he had right forearm tightness. Counting their emotional comeback win Tuesday over Oakland in the wildcard game, both of the Royals’ postseason games have gone extra frames so far. Maybe all the excitement is making up for KC not making the playoffs for 29 years. The Angels, who led the majors in runs during the season, could not solve the Royals’ pitching and were done in by terrific Royals’ defense, too. The Angels were 0-for-12 with runners on base and their star, Mike Trout, was 0-for-4 with a walk in his first-ever postseason game. Both starters, Jered Weaver and Jason Vargas, were stingy. The two were teammates at nearby Long Beach State in 2004 and on the Angels last year and seemed intent on outdueling each other. Call it about even amongst friends – Vargas allowed two runs and three hits in six innings and Weaver gave up two runs and three hits in seven frames, handing the game over to the clubs’ respective bullpens. The Royals took an early 1-0 lead on an RBI double by Alcides Escobar in the third, but the Angels tied it on Chris Iannetta’s solo homer in the bottom half. Omar Infante knocked in a run to give the Royals a 2-1 lead in the fifth, but David Freese, a past postseason star, answered with his eighth career October homer to re-tie the score. The Royals blunted several Angels’ rallies with great defense. Lorenzo Cain made two remarkable catches in center field and Nori Aoki also made two sensational catches in right field, including one at the wall in the sixth inning that likely saved two saves. NOTES: *Royals RHP Kelvin Herrera walked Freese on five pitches leading off the seventh and then left the game with right forearm tightness. Herrera is a key member of Kansas City’s vaunted bullpen. *Hamilton played left field and batted seventh after missing 21 of the Angels’ final 22 regular-season games with upper-body injuries. *On Friday night, Shoemaker (16-4, 3.04 ERA), the 28-year-old rookie who gets credit from manager Mike Scioscia for saving the Angels’ season, makes his playoff debut. He hasn’t pitched since Sept. 15, when he strained an oblique muscle. Kansas City counters with Ventura (14-10, 3.20), who struggled in the sixth inning of the wild-card game, but possesses a 100 mph fastball.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 06:40:07 +0000
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