They drafted him for this moment, groomed him for this moment, waited
in vain for years, all through the 2014 season, for this moment. The
Kansas City Royals chose Eric Hosmer with the third pick in the 2008
draft as a cornerstone of their franchise for this exact situation, the
11th inning of a playoff game, dreaming of the day he would stand at
home plate and watch a game-winning home run disappear from sight.As
the nerves of his fan base frayed back home, Hosmer announced himself
on the national stage by crushing a two-run homer against Anaheim
reliever Kevin Jepsen in a 4-1 victory over the Angels on Friday night. At
first base, Lorenzo Cain heard the sound and he understood. Hosmer
flipped his bat, his 34-inch, 31.5-ounce Zinger bat floating in the
muggy air, the finishing touch of a three-hit night to complement his
usual sterling defense. Like fellow former first-round pick Mike
Moustakas did the night before, Hosmer erupted with a late homer, the
sort of artillery this club usually lacks, to allow the Royals to return
to Kauffman Stadium with a commanding two-game lead in the American
League Division Series.
Hosmer slumped in the summer, broke his hand in July, nearly lost his
job in August and returned as the most dangerous hitter on perhaps
baseball’s most dangerous club in October. “I know teams right now don’t want to face us,” Hosmer said. “We’re tough to put away.” James
Shields can shepherd Kansas City to its first American League
Championship Series since 1985 with a win in Sunday’s game three, part
of what general manager Dayton Moore called his team’s “best-case
scenario.” The Angels must prove they weren’t demoralized by 22 innings
of torture at their own ballpark, where they raced to the best record in
baseball during the regular season.“Confidence is high right now,” Cain said. “Momentum is definitely on our side.”
But
overtime belongs to the Royals this October. They saved their season
with a 12-inning barn burner against Oakland in the AL Wild Card Game.
They outlasted the Angels in 11 innings on Thursday. On Friday they
became the first American League team to play three consecutive
extra-inning playoff games and the first overall since the Phillies and
the Astros went four straight in the 1980 National League Championship
Series.So the circumstances on Friday felt familiar. The scoring
was limited and the tension was palpable. And the heroes standing next
to Hosmer were numerous. Yordano Ventura tossed seven innings of one-run
baseball. The bullpen dusted off its competition. In the eighth inning,
Jarrod Dyson flashed the power of his arm to save Wade Davis.
Davis
appeared on the verge of a collapse. He yielded a leadoff double to
rookie designated hitter C.J. Cron, who was replaced by pinch runner
Collin Cowgill. When catcher Chris Iannetta lined out to center field,
Cowgill broke for third. He wanted to test the arm of Dyson, who had
just entered the game as a defensive replacement. Dyson passed the test. Dyson powered a throw that drew Moustakas a step outside the
base. He scooped the ball and darted back in time to slam a tag on the
runner. The energy seeped from this ballpark’s sea of red, the sound of
silent Thunderstix. “For him to be going right there,” Dyson said, “I’m assuming they said I didn’t have a good arm.” The
scariest moment, at least for the future of this franchise, occurred in
the bottom of the fifth. Ventura was in the process of disarming the
Angels after a pair of singles. With two outs, Angels outfielder Josh
Hamilton swung through a change-up and his backswing cracked catcher
Salvador Perez above his right eyebrow.
Perez recoiled from the
blow and rolled into the dirt. Trainer Nick Kenney hustled from the
dugout to tend to the organization’s cornerstone. Perez passed an
on-field concussion test, and underwent further examinations after the
inning ended. When the sixth inning began, he was the first Royal on the
field. Ventura could not hold his team’s one-run lead through
that inning. He gave up a two-out single to outfielder Kole Calhoun and
walked Mike Trout after opening the at-bat with two strikes. As Albert
Pujols strode to the plate, Ventura showed no signs of strain, save for a
trickle of sweat tracing the side of his head. His composure did
not alter the encounter’s outcome. Pujols shot a game-tying single into
right field, preventing Ventura from securing his first postseason
victory. It was Anaheim’s first sign of life all evening. After
the first game of this series, evaluators around the game wondered if
the Royals’ style of play altered Anaheim’s tactics. Angels manager Mike
Scioscia neglected to pinch run for catcher Chris Iannetta in
Thursday’s eighth inning because he fretted about aiding the Royals’
running game. The Angels attempted 26 sacrifice bunts during the regular
season; they tried three on Thursday.
On Friday, they attempted
to run on Ventura, who possesses a sizzling fastball and a quick
delivery to the plate. Standing at first base in the first inning, Trout
could not get much of a jump. He broke for second anyway, and was
thrown out easily by Perez.Ventura was one of two rookies making
his first postseason start Friday. Matt Shoemaker, a 28-year-old
right-hander, strained an oblique muscle on Sept. 15 and did not pitch
again during the regular season. The injury often requires a month of
rest. He returned for Anaheim after fewer than three weeks. Hosmer
jumped a hanging slider in the second inning, a single that Calhoun
misplayed to yield an extra base. Alex Gordon rifled an RBI single up
the middle, and therein lay Kansas City’s last offensive salvo until
extra innings. Ventura strived to protect the lead. A day before,
he sat at a podium in Angels Stadium and shrugged off questions about
the aftershocks of his postseason debut. Shoved into the sixth inning of
Tuesday’s AL Wild Card Game, Ventura surrendered a three-run homer and
blew a lead. He hung his head, and heard messages of supports from
friends, family and even his idol from the Dominican Republic, Pedro
Martinez.
On Friday night, Ventura displayed why he is worth the
attention. He faced the minimum through four innings. He opened up
throwing in the mid-90s. His velocity jumped into triple digits in the
second inning. David Freese saw five pitches in the last at-bat of the
frame. Four pitches cracked 100 mph. The fifth was a 99-mph scorcher —
Ventura’s version of offspeed. The Angels held no illusions about Ventura’s approach. Freese illuminated this hours before the game. “He’s going to bring it,” he said. “He’s going to attack you.”
Ventura
relies on heat because his change-up and curveball can be fickle. The
pitches often bounce in the dirt, like his first curveball to Pujols in
the fourth inning. His next curve, a 1-1 bender, nipped the top of the
zone. His next crossed the middle of the plate, locking up Pujols and
ending the inning. Pujols would best Ventura in the sixth, but the
Angels could not capitalize while he hung on the ropes. The Royals’
pitching staff refused to bend. For the second night in a row, it was
the Angels who broke. “No one picked us to be up 2-0, I’ll tell
you that,” Dyson said. “We believed in ourselves, and we know what we
can do if we go out and play our game. And that’s what we did. That’s
why we’re up 2-0.”
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