Kansas
City Royals vs. Oakland Athletics
Game 1: James Shields vs. Jon Lester, Oakland Coliseum
ROYALS IMPROBABLE WINNERS IN 16-INNING MARATHON GAME 1
A’s Commit 5 Errors, Waste Lester’s Masterpiece
OAKLAND, Oct. 3 (AP) – The Kansas City Royals scored three unearned runs in the top of the 16th inning and held on to defeat the Oakland Athletics 5-2 in Game 1 of their American League Divisional Series at the Oakland Coliseum. In a game with more twists than an Agatha Christie mystery, the Royals proved to be improbable winners. With Game 2 on tap tomorrow, it remains to be seen how much the A’s will regret not winning a game they had several opportunities to put away. Oakland starter Jon Lester was masterful, throwing 7 2/3 innings of four-hit shutout ball while striking out 10. But Lester’s teammates failed to pad a 1-0 lead they established in the first inning and he ended up receiving a no-decision for his efforts.
The A’s pushed a run across in the top of the first off Royals starter James Shields. Coco Crisp led off with a base hit and was forced at second on a poor sacrifice bunt attempt by Sam Fuld. But Fuld rectified the mistake by stealing second base and, after Josh Donaldson struck out, Brandon Moss dropped a single into center field, scoring Fuld with the game’s first run.
Oakland’s first of many brushes with defensive problems came in the top of the second when Donaldson booted Salvador Perez’s two-out, bases empty ground ball. It seemed irrelevant until Omar Infante doubled to right-center, chasing Perez to third, but Lester was able to retire Mike Moustakas on a fly to right to avoid damage.
Lester had to dance out of trouble again in the third, when Alcides Escobar led off with a swinging bunt single, stole second and advanced to third on Norichika Aoki’s sacrifice. But Lester fanned both Lorenzo Cain and Eric Hosmer to strand Escobar.
The A’s put runners on first and third with two outs against Shields in the bottom of the sixth, but Derek Norris fanned to end the threat.
Lester entered the top of the eighth having retired 14 of the last 15 Kansas City hitters he faced, and he continued rolling along, setting down Moustakas on a grounder to short and Escobar on an infield pop fly, but Aoki reached when Donaldson committed his second error of the contest. With Lester a pitch away from 100 and the right-handed hitting Cain at the plate, A’s manager Bob Melvin called on Dan Otero to replace Lester, who left to a standing ovation from the sellout crowd for his efforts. The move appeared to work when Otero induced Cain to hit a routine ground ball to shortstop Jed Lowrie on the first pitch he threw. But Lowrie muffed the ball, and his throw to second in an attempt to force Aoki was late. The error—the third of the game to that point charged to Oakland—kept the inning alive and brought the lefty swinging Eric Hosmer to the plate. Melvin wasted no time calling for his closer, southpaw Sean Doolittle, recognizing that he was facing the prospect of asking Doolittle to get four outs to close the game. With Jarrod Dyson inserted in the game to run for Aoki, Doolittle calmly fanned Hosmer to pitch out of the jam.
The A’s had a chance to add to their lead in the bottom of the eighth when, facing Wade Davis, Moss drew a leadoff walk and Josh Reddick singled him to second. But Davis fanned Lowrie and Stephen Vogt, then retired Norris on a grounder to short. The runners left on base were the ninth and tenth of the game for Oakland.
Alberto Callaspo entered the game defensively in the top of the ninth, at second base, and Eric Sogard moved to short in place of Lowrie. The inning started ominously for Oakland when Billy Butler led off by grounding a single into left field and was replaced on first by pinch runner Terrence Gore. Doolittle retired Alex Gordon on a fly to right for the first out, but on the first pitch to Salvador Perez, Gore stole second. Doolittle ultimately fanned Perez for the second out, but light-hitting Omar Infante looped an 0-1 breaking ball into right field for a base hit and the speedy Gore raced home with the tying run. The home crowd, which had been on its feet and roaring, fell silent. Doolittle fanned Moustakas for the third out, but the score was now knotted at one.
The game, at this point, rapidly turned into a contest of bullpen attrition. Neither team put a runner on base after the top of the ninth until Sogard drew a leadoff walk from Greg Holland in the bottom of the 12th. But he was immediately cut down trying to steal second, and Holland blew away Crisp and Johnny Gomes on strikes to end the frame.
When Gordon drew a two-out walk from Drew Pomeranz in the top of the 14th, he became Kanas City’s first baserunner since Infante’s game-tying single in the ninth. He stole second, and Perez then drew a base on balls of his own, but Pomeranze—the seventh A’s pitcher of the game—retired Infante on a ground ball for the third out.
Oakland blew the game’s best scoring opportunity in extra innings to that point in the bottom of the 14th when Vogt led off with a double and was replaced on first by pinch runner Nate Freiman. Danny Duffy—the eighth Royals pitcher of the game—fanned Norris and retired Sogard on a routine fly to right. He walked Crisp, but then retired Gomes on a ground ball to end the inning.
Escobar reached on an infield single off Pomeranz with one out in the top of the 15th and stole second—his second steal of the contest and one of six for the Royals on the day. Dyson, who remained in the game after entering as a pinch runner back in the eighth, grounded a single through the middle, scoring Escobar to give the Royals their first lead of the game. Dyson swiped second, and Pomeranz walked Cain intentionally, before retiring Hosmer on a fly to right and Josh Willingham on a grounder to short to end the inning, but Kansas City now held a 2-1 lead.
Just when the Royals started to think they could win this game, the opportunity was taken away from them. Donaldson crushed a Duffy offering into the seats in left-center to tie the game leading off the bottom of the 15th. Duffy, to his credit, retired the next three hitters in order, but after someone finally broke through after multiple innings of failure, the game was tied again.
Then came the top of the 16th and the Oakland defense failed the team yet again. Gordon led off with a single off Pomeranz and Melvin had seen enough. He called on Jesse Chavez with Perez due up. Chavez struck out Perez, but then yielded a single to left to Infante. It appeared that the Royals would have runners on first and second with one out, but Gomes butchered the play and both runners advanced, to second and third respectively. Chavez got Moustakas to fly to shallow center for the second out. The ball was nowhere near deep enough for anyone to advance. And then, Chavez appeared to have pitched out of the jam when he induced Gordon to ground routinely to Callaspo at second, but the man brought into the game for defense seven innings earlier booted the ball. Gordon scored the tie-breaking run and Infante took third. That opened the floodgates. Dyson and Cain lined back-to-back singles, bringing home two more runs, before Hosmer finally ended the inning by flying to center. The two errors in the inning gave the A’s a total of five on the game, and it was lost on no one that without both errors committed in the top of the 16th, Kansas City would have failed to score.
It took Duffy only six pitches to retire the A’s in order in the bottom of the 16th and Game 1 was in the win column for the Royals.
10/3/2014, KC14-Oak14, The Coliseum
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2014 Royals 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
2014 Athletics 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
13 14 15 16 R H E LOB DP
2014 Royals 0 0 1 3 5 12 0 14 0
2014 Athletics 0 0 1 0 2 13 5 13 0
Royals AB R H BI AVG Athletics AB R H BI AVG
Escobar,A ss 8 2 2 0 .250 Crisp cf 6 0 2 0 .333
Aoki rf 3 0 1 0 .333 Fuld lf 3 1 1 0 .333
Dyson,J pr 4 0 2 2 .500 Gomes,J ph 3 0 0 0 .000
Cain,L cf 7 0 2 1 .286 Donaldson 3b 7 1 1 1 .143
Hosmer 1b 8 0 0 0 .000 Moss dh 6 0 1 1 .167
Butler,B dh 4 0 1 0 .250 Reddick rf 7 0 4 0 .571
Gore pr 0 1 0 0 .000 Lowrie ss 4 0 0 0 .000
Willingham ph 3 0 0 0 .000 Callaspo 2b 3 0 0 0 .000
Gordon,A lf 6 1 1 0 .167 Vogt 1b 6 0 4 0 .667
Perez,S c 6 0 0 0 .000 Freiman pr 1 0 0 0 .000
Infante 2b 7 1 3 1 .429 Norris,De c 7 0 0 0 .000
Moustakas 3b 7 0 0 0 .000 Sogard 2b 5 0 0 0 .000
63 5 12 4 58 2 13 2
Royals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Shields 6.0 7 1 1 1 5 91 63 1.50
Herrera,K 1.0 2 0 0 1 0 14 7 0.00
Davis,W 1.0 1 0 0 1 2 25 14 0.00
Collins,Ti 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 8 5 0.00
Frasor 2.0 0 0 0 0 3 26 18 0.00
Holland,G 1.1 0 0 0 1 3 20 10 0.00
Downs,S 0.2 2 0 0 0 0 6 5 0.00
Duffy,D W 1-0 3.0 1 1 1 1 2 33 20 3.00
16.0 13 2 2 5 15 223 142
Athletics INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Lester 7.2 4 0 0 0 10 99 69 0.00
Otero 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0.00
Doolittle BS 1 1.1 2 1 1 0 3 23 18 6.75
Gregerson 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 13 9 0.00
Abad 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 13 8 0.00
Cook 2.0 0 0 0 0 3 23 15 0.00
Pomeranz L 0-1 2.0 3 2 1 3 1 44 23 4.50
Chavez,J 1.0 3 2 0 0 1 21 12 0.00
16.0 12 5 2 3 19 237 155
KC : Dyson,J ran for Aoki in the 8th
Dyson,J moved to cf in the 8th
Cain,L moved to rf in the 8th
Gore ran for Butler,B in the 9th
Willingham batted for Gore in the 11th
Oak: Callaspo inserted at 2b in the 9th
Sogard moved to ss in the 9th
Gomes,J batted for Fuld in the 9th
Gomes,J moved to lf in the 10th
Freiman ran for Vogt in the 14th
Freiman moved to 1b in the 15th
E-Donaldson 2, Lowrie, Callaspo, Gomes,J. 2B-Infante(1), Vogt 2(2).
HR-Donaldson(1). RBI-Cain,L(1), Infante(1), Dyson,J 2(2), Donaldson(1),
Moss(1). SB-Escobar,A 2(2), Cain,L(1), Gordon,A(1), Dyson,J(1), Gore(1),
Fuld 2(2). CS-Crisp, Sogard. K-Escobar,A 2, Aoki, Cain,L 2, Hosmer 4,
Butler,B 3, Gordon,A 2, Perez,S 3, Moustakas, Dyson,J, Crisp, Donaldson 4,
Lowrie 2, Vogt 2, Norris,De 3, Callaspo 2, Gomes,J. BB-Cain,L, Gordon,A,
Perez,S, Crisp, Fuld, Moss, Sogard 2. SH-Aoki.
Temperature: 69, Sky: clear, Wind: out to right at 3 MPH.
Attendance: 35,067
Game Time: 5:01
Game
2: Jason Vargas vs. Jeff Samardzija, Oakland Coliseum
A’S EVEN SERIES WITH 9-RUN 7TH INNING
Samardzija Fires 8 Strong IP for ‘W”
OAKLAND, Oct. 4 (AP) – After scoring only three runs over the first 22 innings played in their American League Divisional Series, the Oakland Athletics’ bats awakened. The club scored nine runs in the seventh inning and went on to crush the Kansas City Royals 13-3 at the Oakland Coliseum. The series is now squared at a game apiece. Game 3 will be played at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City following an off-day for travel.
A’s starter Jeff Samardzija shook off a poor first frame and went on to toss eight strong innings, holding the Royals to just two runs. The Oakland staff, gassed after the 16-inning marathon that was Game 1, will benefit from a pair of days off. The only exception is Eric O’Flaherty, who didn’t appear in Game 1 and mopped up with one inning of pressure-free work in this contest.
The Royals jumped in front with a pair of runs in the opening frame. Alcides Escobar led off with a base hit off Samardzija and promptly stole second. Norichika Aoki flied to center for the first out, but Lorenzo Cain launched a triple to the gap in right-center, scoring Escobar with the game’s first run. Eric Hosmer followed by grounding a single into right field, scoring Cain and giving Kanas City a 2-0 lead. Billy Butler grounded into an inning-ending double play, but the Royals had gotten off to a quick start.
Kansas City starter Jason Vargas was brilliant. He retired the first five hitters he faced, surrendered a two-out single to Nate Frieman in the second, and then retired another 12 consecutive Oakland batters. With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Coco Crisp became just the second man to reach safely for the A’s when he launched a home run into the seats in left-center, cutting the deficit to a single run.
Samardzija retired the Royals in order in the top of the seventh, and Vargas started the bottom half of the inning by walking Josh Donaldson—the first free pass he’d issued. That was enough for Royals manager Ned Yost, who decided to lean on his three-man power bullpen, and inserted Kelvin Herrera into the game. It was at that point that everything went downhill for Kansas City. The A’s called on Brandon Moss to pinch hit for Johnny Gomes and he drew a walk, putting runners on first and second. Stephen Vogt then pinch hit for Freiman and lined a single to right, loading the bases. Alberto Callaspo became the third pinch hitter in a row, and Herrera walked him on four pitches, forcing in the tying run. Herrera then issued his third walk of the inning, this one to Jed Lowrie, which forced in the go-ahead run. The bases were still loaded with no outs. Yost pulled Herrera, who clearly didn’t have it, and replaced him with lefty Scott Downs to face Josh Reddick. But Reddick blooped a double just inside the left field line, coring Vogt and Callaspo with Lowrie advancing to third. It was now 5-2. Eric Sogard grounded to second with the infield pulled in, finally recording the first out, but Crisp laced a triple to the gap in right-center, scoring two more runs. Sam Fuld followed with a double to virtually the same spot, scoring Crisp to make it 8-2. Michael Mariot became the third Royals pitcher of the inning, and he retired Donaldson on an infield pop fly, but Moss doubled home Fuld to make it 9-2. Vogt then recorded his second hit of the inning, singling to center, plating Moss to make it 10-2. Callaspo walked for the second time in the frame before Lowrie finally ended the inning by grounding to short. Oakland had scored nine runs on six hits and four walks.
The game was effectively over at this point, but the A’s offense wasn’t. They scored three more runs in the eighth, on an RBI-double from Fuld and a two-run single off the bat of Vogt. Vogt is now 7-for-9 in the series.
A two-out solo home run off the bat of Salvador Perez in the top of the ninth capped the scoring.
Sonny Gray will be on the hill for the A’s in Game 3 and will take on Jeremy Guthrie for the Royals.
10/4/2014, KC14-Oak14, The Coliseum
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
2014 Royals 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 8 1 5 0
2014 Athletics 0 0 0 0 0 1 9 3 x 13 10 0 5 1
Royals AB R H BI AVG Athletics AB R H BI AVG
Escobar,A ss 4 1 2 0 .333 Crisp cf 4 3 2 3 .400
Aoki rf 3 0 2 0 .500 Fuld lf 5 2 2 2 .375
Cain,L cf 4 1 1 1 .273 Donaldson 3b 3 1 0 0 .100
Hosmer 1b 4 0 2 1 .167 Gomes,J dh 2 0 0 0 .000
Butler,B dh 4 0 0 0 .125 Moss ph 2 2 1 1 .250
Gordon,A lf 4 0 0 0 .100 Norris,De c 2 0 0 0 .000
Perez,S c 4 1 1 1 .100 Vogt ph 3 1 3 3 .778
Infante 2b 4 0 0 0 .273 Freiman 1b 2 0 1 0 .333
Moustakas 3b 3 0 0 0 .000 Callaspo ph 1 1 0 1 .000
34 3 8 3 Lowrie ss 3 1 0 1 .000
Soto,G c 0 0 0 0 .000
Reddick rf 3 2 1 2 .500
Sogard 2b 4 0 0 0 .000
34 13 10 13
Royals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Vargas,J 6.0 2 2 2 1 3 69 45 3.00
Herrera,K BS 1, L 0-1 0.0 1 4 4 3 0 20 7 36.00
Downs,S 0.1 3 3 3 0 0 12 10 27.00
Mariot 1.0 3 4 4 4 1 42 16 36.00
Collins,Ti 0.2 1 0 0 0 1 17 10 0.00
8.0 10 13 13 8 5 160 88
Athletics INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Samardzija W 1-0 8.0 7 2 2 1 2 102 68 2.25
O'Flaherty 1.0 1 1 1 0 1 18 11 9.00
9.0 8 3 3 1 3 120 79
Oak: Moss batted for Gomes,J in the 7th
Vogt batted for Norris,De in the 7th
Callaspo batted for Freiman in the 7th
Vogt moved to 1b in the 8th
Callaspo moved to 2b in the 8th
Soto,G inserted at c in the 8th
Sogard moved to ss in the 8th
E-Cain,L. 2B-Hosmer(1), Fuld 2(2), Reddick(1), Moss(1). 3B-Cain,L(1),
Crisp(1). HR-Perez,S(1), Crisp(1). RBI-Cain,L(2), Hosmer(1), Perez,S(1),
Crisp 3(3), Fuld 2(2), Lowrie(1), Reddick 2(2), Moss(2), Vogt 3(3),
Callaspo(1). SB-Escobar,A(3). K-Gordon,A 2, Moustakas, Donaldson, Gomes,J 2,
Sogard, Moss. BB-Aoki, Crisp, Donaldson 2, Lowrie, Reddick, Moss, Callaspo 2.
GWRBI: Lowrie
Temperature: 66, Sky: clear, Wind: out to right at 6 MPH.
Attendance: 35,098
Game Time: 3:08
Game 3: Sonny Gray vs. Jeremy Guthrie, Kauffman Stadium
MOOSE HOMERS TWICE, LEADS ROYALS PAST A’S
K.C. Bullpen Fires 4 Scoreless Frames
KANSAS CITY, Oct. 6 (AP) – Mike Moustakas hit a pair of home runs and Salvador Perez went deep as well, leading the Kansas City Royals to a 6-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics in Game 3 of the ALDS at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals lead the series, two games to one, and can punch their ticket to the American League Championship Series with a victory in Game 4 tomorrow. The Royals bullpen tossed four shutout innings in relief of starter Jeremy Guthrie, who was credited with the win. Sonny Gray had a rough outing for the A’s and absorbed the defeat.
The A’s scored first, on Stephen Vogt’s solo home run in the top of the second.
But the Royals claimed the lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third. Moustakaas led off with a home run to right-center, knotting the score, and Alcides Escobar followed with a base hit. Norichika Aoki’s groundout advanced Escobar to second and he took third on Lorenzo Cain’s grounder. Eric Hosmer then doubled down the right field line, plating Escobar to give Kansas City a 2-1 advantage.
The A’s tied the game in the top of the third when Josh Reddick drew a two-out free pass from Guthrie and scored on Jed Lowrie’s double off the right field wall.
But the Royals immediately answered in the bottom of the inning. Perez drew a leadoff walk and, after Omar Infante struck out, Moutakas crushed a two-run homer to straight away right field, putting Kansas City on top 4-2.
Guthrie left after yielding a leadoff single to Josh Donaldson in the top of the sixth, but Tim Collins came on and set the next three batters down in order. Only one Oakland baserunner advanced past second base for the rest of the game, and that came against Wade Davis in the eighth. Sam Fuld lined a leadoff base hit and a walk to Donaldson put the tying runs on base with no outs. But Davis induced Brandon Moss to hit into a force at third, retired Reddick on a fly to shallow center and ended the inning on Lowrie’s fly to right.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Royals essentially put the game away. Alex Gordon drew a leadoff walk from Fernando Abad and then, after Luke Gregorson took over on the mound for the A’s, Perez cracked a hone run into the left field seats to give Kansas City a 6-2 lead.
Greg Holland tossed a perfect ninth, including a pair of strikeouts, to close out the game.
10/6/2014, Oak14-KC14, Kauffman Stadium
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
2014 Athletics 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 8 0 7 0
2014 Royals 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 2 x 6 8 0 7 1
Athletics AB R H BI AVG Royals AB R H BI AVG
Crisp cf 4 0 1 0 .357 Escobar,A ss 5 1 2 0 .353
Fuld lf 4 0 1 0 .333 Aoki rf 3 0 0 0 .333
Donaldson 3b 3 0 2 0 .231 Dyson,J cf 0 0 0 0 .500
Moss 1b 4 0 0 0 .167 Cain,L cf 3 0 0 0 .214
Reddick rf 3 1 1 0 .462 Hosmer 1b 4 0 2 1 .250
Lowrie ss 4 0 1 1 .091 Butler,B dh 3 0 1 0 .182
Vogt dh 3 1 1 1 .667 Gordon,A lf 3 1 0 0 .077
Norris,De c 4 0 1 0 .077 Perez,S c 3 2 1 2 .154
Sogard 2b 4 0 0 0 .000 Infante 2b 4 0 0 0 .200
33 2 8 2 Moustakas 3b 3 2 2 3 .154
31 6 8 6
Athletics INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Gray L 0-1 4.2 6 4 4 4 2 83 49 7.71
Pomeranz 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 4 3 3.86
Otero 1.1 1 0 0 1 1 22 12 0.00
Abad 0.2 0 1 1 1 0 13 6 5.40
Gregerson 1.0 1 1 1 0 0 14 7 4.50
8.0 8 6 6 6 4 136 77
Royals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Guthrie W 1-0 5.0 6 2 2 2 1 74 45 3.60
Collins,Ti H 1 1.1 0 0 0 0 1 15 11 0.00
Herrera,K H 1 0.2 1 0 0 0 2 17 10 21.60
Davis,W H 1 1.0 1 0 0 1 0 18 10 0.00
Holland,G 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 15 12 0.00
9.0 8 2 2 3 6 139 88
KC : Dyson,J inserted at cf in the 8th
Cain,L moved to rf in the 8th
2B-Lowrie(1), Hosmer(2). HR-Vogt(1), Perez,S(2), Moustakas 2(2).
RBI-Lowrie(2), Vogt(4), Hosmer(2), Perez,S 2(3), Moustakas 3(3). SB-Crisp(1).
K-Crisp, Fuld, Moss, Vogt, Norris,De, Sogard, Cain,L 2, Gordon,A, Infante.
BB-Donaldson, Reddick, Vogt, Aoki, Cain,L, Butler,B, Gordon,A, Perez,S,
Moustakas.
GWRBI: Moustakas
Temperature: 58, Sky: cloudy, Wind: left to right at 16 MPH.
Attendance: 38,169
Game Time: 3:01
Game 4: Scott Kazmir vs. Yordano Ventura, Kauffman Stadium
A’S FORCE GAME 5, RETURN TO OAKLAND
Donaldson Doubles Twice, Drive in Pair
KANSAS CITY, Oct. 7 (AP) – The Oakland Athletics ran out to an early 5-1 lead and went on to defeat the Kansas City Royals 6-3 at Kauffman Stadium, setting up a winner-take-all Game 5 back at the Coliseum. Jesse Chavez took over for Scott Kazmir in the fourth, pitched out of a jam, and held the Royals to one run while pitching into the seventh. Sam Fuld homered and Josh Donaldson doubled twice and drove in two runs for the A’s. Salvador Perez hit his third home run of the series in a losing cause.
The A’s scored twice in the first off Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie. With one out, Fuld drew a walk and Donaldson hit his first double of the game, putting runners on first and third. Brandon Moss grounded to third and Mike Moustakas tried to nail Fuld at the plate, but the throw was late and everyone was safe. Oakland led 1-0 and had runners on the corners with one out. That proved important because Josh Reddick followed with a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Donaldson to give the A’s a 2-0 lead.
The Royals got a run back off Kazmir in the second when Alcides Escobar led off with a base hit, stole his fourth base of the series, and scored two batters later on Eric Hosmer’s double.
But the A’s built a significant lead beginning in the third, when Fuld hit a solo homer to make it 3-1, and then with two more runs in the fourth. Eric Sogard singled with one out and Coco Crisp walked, putting runners on first and second. After Fuld flied out, Donaldson laced a double to the gap in right-center, scoring both runners to put Oakland on top 5-2.
The Royals threatened to get back in the game in the bottom half of the inning. Hosmer singled with one out and when Crisp dropped Billy Butler’s fly ball, Kansas City had runners on first and second.
Alex Gordon followed with a base hit to right, filling the bases. It was at that point that A’s manager Bob Melvin called on Chavez, and the right-hander retired Perez on a shallow fly to right and Omar Infante on an infield grounder to escape damage.
The Royals did nick Chavez for a run in the sixth when Hosmer led off the inning with a home run, but the A’s still led 5-2 when Chavez handed the game off to Fernando Abad in the bottom of the seventh with one out and the bases empty. Abad retired Moustakas on strikes and Escobar on a roller to second to end the inning.
Oakland added a run in the eighth when Derek Norris led off with a base hit off of Wade Davis, advanced to second on Sogard’s sacrifice and scored when Crisp singled to center.
With the A’s on top 6-2 entering the bottom of the ninth, Melvin had Ryan Cook retire Butler for the first out, then called on Sean Doolittle to close out the game. Doolittle got Gordon on a ground out, but yielded a long home run to Perez to make it 6-3. But it was too little, too late, as Infante bounced to Donaldson at third to end the game.
The Game 1 starters—James Shields for the Royals, Jon Lester for the A’s—are expected to be on the mound in Game 5.
10/7/2014, Oak14-KC14, Kauffman Stadium
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
2014 Athletics 2 0 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 6 9 1 10 1
2014 Royals 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 3 7 1 5 1
Athletics AB R H BI AVG Royals AB R H BI AVG
Crisp cf 4 1 1 1 .333 Escobar,A ss 4 1 1 0 .333
Fuld lf 3 2 1 1 .333 Aoki rf 4 0 0 0 .231
Donaldson 3b 4 1 2 2 .294 Cain,L cf 4 0 0 0 .167
Moss 1b 5 0 0 1 .118 Hosmer 1b 4 1 3 2 .350
Reddick rf 4 0 2 1 .471 Butler,B dh 4 0 0 0 .133
Lowrie ss 3 0 0 0 .071 Gordon,A lf 4 0 1 0 .118
Vogt dh 5 0 0 0 .471 Perez,S c 4 1 1 1 .176
Norris,De c 3 1 2 0 .188 Infante 2b 4 0 0 0 .158
Sogard 2b 3 1 1 0 .063 Moustakas 3b 2 0 1 0 .200
34 6 9 6 34 3 7 3
Athletics INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Kazmir 3.1 4 1 1 1 2 61 39 2.70
Chavez,J W 1-0 3.0 2 1 1 0 4 35 24 2.25
Abad H 1 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 14 9 3.38
Cook 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 21 15 0.00
Doolittle 0.2 1 1 1 0 0 11 8 9.00
9.0 7 3 3 1 9 142 95
Royals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Ventura L 0-1 2.2 3 3 3 3 1 68 41 10.13
Duffy,D 2.0 2 2 2 3 1 45 20 5.40
Frasor 1.1 0 0 0 0 1 19 11 0.00
Downs,S 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 8 8 13.50
Davis,W 1.0 2 1 1 1 1 25 12 3.00
Collins,Ti 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 17 9 0.00
9.0 9 6 6 7 4 182 101
E-Crisp, Perez,S. 2B-Donaldson 2(2), Norris,De(1), Hosmer(3). HR-Fuld(1),
Hosmer(1), Perez,S(3). RBI-Crisp(4), Fuld(3), Donaldson 2(3), Moss(3),
Reddick(3), Hosmer 2(4), Perez,S(4). SB-Escobar,A(4). K-Crisp 2, Donaldson,
Reddick, Aoki 3, Cain,L 2, Butler,B, Gordon,A, Infante, Moustakas. BB-Crisp,
Fuld 2, Donaldson, Lowrie 2, Norris,De, Moustakas. SH-Sogard. SF-Reddick.
GWRBI: Moss
Temperature: 84, Sky: clear, Wind: right to left at 11 MPH.
Attendance: 37,924
Game Time: 3:22
Game 5: James Shields vs. Jon Lester, Oakland Coliseum
A’S PEN SLAMS DOOR ON ROYALS, PUNCHES ALCS TICKET
Crisp’s 3 Safeties Paces 12-Hit Attack
OAKLAND, Oct. 9 (AP) – The Oakland Athletics took an early lead and the team’s relief corps made certain that it held up in a 4-2 series clinching victory over the Kansas City Royals at the Oakland Coliseum. A’s starter Jon Lester struggled a bit, but held the Royals to two runs over five-plus innings of work. The bullpen was impeccable, as five Oakland relievers combined to toss four perfect innings to close out the game.
The A’s took a lead they would never relinquish in the bottom of the first inning, after Lester faced the minimum in the top half. Coco Crisp led off with the first of his three hits on the day, a double to right, and Sam Fuld tripled to right-center, giving Oakland a 1-0 lead. Josh Donaldson popped to short for the first out, but Brandon Moss lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Fuld to make it 2-0. Josh Reddick drew a walk from Kansas City starter James Shields and Jed Lowrie singled to left, but Shields avoided further damage when Stephen Vogt grounded to second to end the inning.
The Royals threatened with two outs in the top of the third. After Mike Moustakas struck out and Omar Infante fouled out, Alcides Escobar drew a walk. Norichika Aoki singled Escobar to second and Lorenzo Cain drew Lester’s second free pass of the inning, loading the bases. But Eric Hosmer flied to left, ending the threat.
Kansas City got on the scoreboard in the fourth when Alex Gordon belted a solo home run into the seats down the right field line, cutting the deficit to 2-1.
But the A’s rallied in the bottom of the fourth, and drove Shields from the game in the process. With one out, Derek Norris drew a base on balls and Eric Sogard reached on an infield single, putting runners on first and second. Crisp grounded into a fielder’s choice, with Sogard forced at second, but Fuld bounced a single through the middle, scoring Norris with Oakland’s third run, and advancing Crisp to third. When Donaldson followed with a base hit to center, he drove home Crisp, to up the lead to 4-1, and advanced Fuld to second while simultaneously chasing Shields from the game. He was replaced by Scott Downs who ended the inning by retiring Moss on a grounder to second. But the A’s now led by three runs.
Lester pitched around Cain’s two-out double in the fifth but ran into trouble in the top of the sixth. Billy Butler led off with a single to left and Gordon followed with a double that one-hopped the wall in right-center, leaving runners on second and third with no outs. Lester had yielded only one run to that point, but had surrendered eight hits and two walks and A’s manager Bob Melvin had seen enough. He summoned Dan Otero from the bullpen. Otero induced Salvador Perez to pop to shallow center for the first out and then retired Moustakas on a grounder to first. Butler scored on the play, cutting the lead to 4-2, and Gordon took third. Omar Infante then grounded to short to end the inning.
Otero’s outing—retiring all three batters he faced—was the vanguard of a stretch where A’s relievers retired the final 12 Kansas City hitters of the game. Ryan Cook came on in the seventh and retired Escobar and Aoki on infield grounders and Cain on a pop to third. Fernando Abad started the eighth and set down Hosmer on a ground ball to first, then was replaced by Luke Gregorson who fanned both Butler and Gordon. Finally, Sean Doolittle entered in the ninth and struck out the side—Perez, Moustakas and pinch hitter Josh Willingham—to end the game with a flourish.
The A’s will now travel to Baltimore to take on the Orioles in the first two games of the ALCS at Camden Yards.
10/9/2014, KC14-Oak14, The Coliseum
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
2014 Royals 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 8 1 7 1
2014 Athletics 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 x 4 12 0 10 1
Royals AB R H BI AVG Athletics AB R H BI AVG
Escobar,A ss 3 0 1 0 .333 Crisp cf 5 2 3 0 .391
Aoki rf 4 0 1 0 .235 Fuld lf 5 1 2 2 .350
Cain,L cf 3 0 1 0 .190 Donaldson 3b 4 0 1 1 .286
Hosmer 1b 4 0 1 0 .333 Moss 1b 3 0 1 1 .150
Butler,B dh 4 1 1 0 .158 Reddick rf 3 0 1 0 .450
Gordon,A lf 4 1 2 1 .190 Lowrie ss 4 0 1 0 .111
Perez,S c 4 0 1 0 .190 Callaspo 2b 0 0 0 0 .000
Moustakas 3b 4 0 0 1 .158 Vogt dh 4 0 0 0 .381
Infante 2b 3 0 0 0 .136 Norris,De c 3 1 1 0 .211
Willingham ph 1 0 0 0 .000 Sogard 2b 4 0 2 0 .150
34 2 8 2 35 4 12 4
Royals INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Shields L 0-1 3.2 8 4 4 2 4 81 50 4.66
Downs,S 1.1 0 0 0 0 0 12 10 8.10
Frasor 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 14 9 0.00
Herrera,K 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 21 14 13.50
Holland,G 1.0 2 0 0 0 1 14 11 0.00
8.0 12 4 4 2 6 142 94
Athletics INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Lester W 1-0 5.0 8 2 2 2 4 75 46 1.42
Otero H 1 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 6 4 0.00
Cook H 1 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 11 6 0.00
Abad H 2 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 3.00
Gregerson H 1 0.2 0 0 0 0 2 9 7 3.38
Doolittle S 1 1.0 0 0 0 0 3 15 10 6.00
9.0 8 2 2 2 9 118 74
KC : Willingham batted for Infante in the 9th
Oak: Callaspo inserted at 2b in the 9th
Sogard moved to ss in the 9th
E-Moustakas. 2B-Cain,L(1), Hosmer(4), Gordon,A(1), Crisp(1). 3B-Fuld(1).
HR-Gordon,A(1). RBI-Gordon,A(1), Moustakas(4), Fuld 2(5), Donaldson(4),
Moss(4). K-Cain,L, Hosmer, Butler,B 2, Gordon,A, Perez,S, Moustakas 2,
Willingham, Fuld, Moss, Reddick, Lowrie, Vogt, Norris,De. BB-Escobar,A,
Cain,L, Reddick, Norris,De. SF-Moss.
GWRBI: Fuld
Temperature: 66, Sky: clear, Wind: out to right at 11 MPH.
Attendance: 35,433
Game Time: 2:54