As of 8PM,EDT/5PM,PDT
Sunday, October 5, 2014
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MLB Playoff Scoreboard for the NLDS games of October 4,2014 from ESPN.GO.COM
NL Playoffs
Final
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NLDS - GAME 2 Series tied 1-1
Delmon Young, Orioles pounce on shaky Tigers bullpen for another win
12:07 PM ET, October 3, 2014
Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, Maryland
Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, Maryland
Not only because the Orioles are capable of scoring in bunches, but more importantly, they were going up against Detroit's leaky bullpen.
Delmon Young drove in three runs with a pinch-hit double, and Baltimore used a four-run eighth to pull out a 7-6 victory Friday for a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five AL Division Series.
If Detroit gets bounced early by Baltimore, the Tigers' relievers will be a big reason why, writes Jerry Crasnick. "It's huge going into Detroit up 2-0," said J.J. Hardy, who scored the go-ahead run with a sweeping slide. "We've got to go over there and do our job."
A day after the Orioles battered Detroit relievers during an eight-run eighth that produced a 12-3 win, they pushed the Tigers to the brink of elimination with an uprising against the beleaguered duo of Joba Chamberlain and Joakim Soria -- the primary victims on Thursday night.
It was 6-3 with one out in the eighth when Chamberlain hit Adam Jones with a pitch and gave up a single to Nelson Cruz. Steve Pearce singled in a run, and the towel-waving, orange-clad fans among the sellout crowd of 48,058 sensed another comeback win by a team that won 10 games during the regular season during its final at-bat.
Soria entered and walked Hardy to load the bases for Young, who lined the first pitch into the left-field corner.
"We did it yesterday, we've been doing it all year against teams in our own division," Young said. "So any time we have an opportunity and get guys on, we think we can win."
Young went 10 for 20 as a pinch-hitter during the regular season. He also was the AL championship series MVP in 2012 -- for the Tigers -- when they swept the Yankees.
"It's very hard to sit around and not know where the consistent at-bats are coming," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "He has done the things that you need to do to give yourself a chance to be successful."
In the top of the eighth, baserunning was a key point. Miguel Cabrera was thrown out at the plate when he tried to score right behind Torii Hunter on Victor Martinez's double with no outs.
"I was watching the play develop and hoping they both would make it," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said.
Same Old Struggle
The
struggles of the Tigers bullpen is really nothing new in the
postseason. The bullpen is a combined 3-8 with a 5.87 ERA over the last
four postseasons.| Year | W-L | ERA |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 0-3 | 8.01 |
| 2012 | 2-2 | 3.90 |
| 2013 | 1-2 | 4.07 |
| 2014 | 0-1 | 12.27 |
| --ESPN Stats & Information | ||
Soria wound up with the loss, but Chamberlain took the blame.
"This one is on me. There's no getting around it," he said. "Obviously, if I don't put us in that situation, then we're having a different conversation."
The defeat left Detroit's bid to reach the ALCS for a fourth straight year in serious jeopardy. The Tigers wasted home runs by J.D. Martinez and Nick Castellanos, along with a solid start by Justin Verlander.
"We're 0-2. We understand it," Ausmus said. "It doesn't really affect us playing Game 3. If you win Game 3, you go on to Game 4."
Rooted on by girlfriend Kate Upton, Verlander left in the sixth with a 5-3 lead. Unless the Tigers stage a comeback, it was his last outing of the season.
"This is frustrating. This isn't easy," he said. "I don't think anybody's walking out of this clubhouse feeling great, but you've got to stay positive. We win two games and the pressure is squarely back on these guys."
Brad Brach got the win, getting two outs in the eighth after Kevin Gausman allowed one run and three hits in 3 2/3 innings.
Detroit trailed 2-0 before peeling off five straight hits against Wei-Yin Chen. Hunter singled, Cabrera doubled and Victor Martinez delivered an RBI single.
J.D. Martinez and Castellanos followed with consecutive home runs, the second day in a row that Detroit's done it.
Chen lasted only three more batters in his shortest outing since June 28 and left down 5-2.
Baltimore got a run back in the bottom half with a two-out RBI single by Hardy, and the Orioles turned a 5-4-3 double play against Cabrera in the fifth that began with a diving stop by Ryan Flaherty.
Nelson Cruz led off the sixth with a single to chase Verlander, and Anibal Sanchez held the lead through the seventh.
After that, however, Detroit's bullpen crumbled.
"Anytime you can go into the eighth inning winning by three like that, you have all the confidence in the world with Joba going out there," J.D. Martinez said. "But unfortunately it just didn't happen today."
The game started shortly after noon, and the boisterous crowd had plenty of enthusiasm left from the night before.
The volume decreased, however, after Verlander began mowing down a potent lineup that one night earlier banged out 12 hits in a lopsided victory.
He retired the first eight batters before Jonathan Schoop bounced a single up the middle. Nick Markakis then hit a 3-2 pitch off the roof of the grounds crew enclosure in right field.
A replay confirmed the drive as a home run, ending Verlander's 32-inning scoreless streak in the ALDS. Markakis' first homer off the right-hander in 50 career at-bats came on Verlander's 50th pitch.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Tigers: CF Rajai Davis (pelvic strain) was replaced in the fourth inning by a pinch-runner.
"It tightened up on him coming out of the box," Ausmus said.
UP NEXT
Tigers: Price owns a lifetime record of 7-3 against the Orioles. Cruz is 7 for 19 (.368) with two homers against the left-hander.
Orioles: Gonzalez will make his second career postseason start Sunday. He's 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA in three lifetime starts against Detroit.
Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press
MLB Playoff Scoreboard for the ALDS and NLDS games of October 3,2014 from ESPN.GO.COM
AL Playoffs
Final
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HR » DET: J. Martinez (2), Castellanos (1) BAL: Markakis (1)
ALDS - GAME 2 Baltimore leads series 2-0
NL Playoffs
Final
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NLDS - GAME 1 St. Louis leads series 1-0
Friday, October 3, 2014
Mike Moustakas' HR in 11th sends Royals past Angels in ALDS opener
9:07 PM ET, October 2, 2014
Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim, California
Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim, California
Associated Press
Holland On Pitching Performance Against Angels
"I knew I hit it pretty good, but that fence out there is pretty tall," the Los Angeles born-and-bred slugger said.
Although this group of Royals only has two crazy games of playoff history, it's becoming clear that good things happen to Kansas City in October.
The Royals went a few more extra innings, withstood a few more scares and figured out another dramatic way to win a playoff game -- thanks to the local boy.
More from ESPN.com
Returning
to his roots in Southern California, Mike Moustakas hit a huge home run
to give the Royals a win in Game 1 of the ALDS. Story
From
Mike Moustakas' home run to Danny Duffy and Wade Davis shutting down
Mike Trout and Albert Pujols, there were a number of key moments in the
Royals' Game 1 win over the Angels, David Schoenfield writes. Story
Mike Moustakas became the first Royal to ever homer in extras in the
postseason, and the Royals are the first team since 1979 to play extra
innings in consecutive games to open the postseason.
StoryKansas City had managed just two baserunners since the fifth inning when Moustakas hit the first extra-inning homer in postseason history for the Royals, a high shot off Fernando Salas that barely reached the elevated right-field stands at Angel Stadium.
"It's probably the biggest one I've ever hit so far," said Moustakas, who had dozens of friends and family members in the Royals' tiny cheering section. "It felt really amazing."
Game 2 in the best-of-five series is Friday night at the Big A, with Angels 16-game winner Matt Shoemaker taking on fellow rookie Yordano Ventura.
Alcides Escobar had an early RBI double for the Royals, and their bullpen repeatedly escaped trouble in Kansas City's first game since that spectacular, 12-inning comeback victory over Oakland in the wild-card playoff Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium.
Chris Iannetta and David Freese homered early in the Angels' first playoff game since 2009, but the majors' most productive offense stranded eight runners in the five innings before Greg Holland's perfect 11th.
"This is the type of game that we play," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "We don't score a bunch of runs ... so we have a lot of confidence in our pitching."
Winning pitcher Danny Duffy worked the 10th for Kansas City, and Holland picked up the save after arriving at the ballpark around the fourth inning. He went to North Carolina on the Royals' off day to attend his child's birth.
Mike Trout was 0-for-4 with a walk in his playoff debut. The favorite for AL MVP grounded into a fielder's choice in the 10th before Albert Pujols popped out to end his 0-for-4 Angels playoff debut.
Moustakas In Extras
Mike
Moustakas is the fifth player in Royals history with an extra-inning
RBI in the postseason and the third in the past two games. Royals Franchise History
| Date | Player | Opponent |
|---|---|---|
| Thu. | Mike Moustakas | Angels |
| Tue. | Salvador Perez | Athletics |
| Tue. | Christian Colon | Athletics |
| 1985 | Frank White | Blue Jays |
| 1980 | Willie Aikens | Phillies |
| --ESPN Stats & Information | ||
"We had some guys in scoring position, just couldn't get that one hit, especially late," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "Those guys hung in there and got the big outs and got the big hit late. So we hit two home runs to keep ourselves in the game, but outside of that, we didn't really pressure those guys very much."
Jered Weaver, Joe Smith and Huston Street combined to retire Kansas City's final 15 batters before extra innings -- and that's when the Royals went to work. Kevin Jepsen let two runners on in the 10th, but retired Salvador Perez and Omar Infante to escape.
Salas wasn't as lucky, giving up a homer to a third baseman who grew up in the San Fernando Valley before making his big league debut and hitting his first homer in Anaheim three years ago.
A raucous crowd banged balloons and cheered on the Angels throughout their postseason return after a half-decade away, but the fans got tense while the teams managed just three hits apiece in the first nine innings. Los Angeles earned home-field advantage throughout the postseason with a big league-best 98-64 record.
The Royals can't match Los Angeles' lineup on paper, but they've got some remarkable postseason mojo.
Even before Moustakas' homer, Nori Aoki made dramatically awkward catches on the right-field warning track to end the sixth and seventh, twice making up for poor routes to the Angels' drives with a last-instant stab. Lorenzo Cain also made two exceptional plays in center field in the first two innings, underlining Kansas City's stellar defense.
"Lorenzo Cain is one of the best center fielders in baseball, and Aoki made some unbelievable plays," Moustakas said. "We were able to cut their rallies down a little bit on some of the huge catches there in right field and center field, and hats off to those guys."
Weaver yielded three hits over seven strong innings for the Angels while Jason Vargas, his good friend and Long Beach State teammate, pitched six innings of three-hit ball for Kansas City.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Royals: RHP Kelvin Herrera walked Freese on five pitches leading off the seventh and then left the game with right forearm tightness. Herrera, a key member of Kansas City's vaunted bullpen, will be re-evaluated Friday.
Angels: Hamilton played left field and batted seventh after missing 21 of the Angels' final 22 regular-season games with upper-body injuries.
UP NEXT
Shoemaker (16-4, 3.04 ERA), the 28-year-old rookie who gets credit from 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.
Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press
Photo Wire
ANAHEIM, CA - OCTOBER 02: Mike Trout #27 speaks with Albert Pujols #5 of the Los Angeles Angels prior to Game One...
(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Game Information
| Stadium | Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim, CA |
| Attendance | 45,321 (99.6% full) - % is based on regular season capacity |
| Game Time | 4:05 |
| Weather | 93 degrees, clear |
| Wind | 3 mph |
| Umpires | Home Plate - Paul Nauert, First Base - Chris Guccione, Second Base - Jeff Nelson, Third Base - Jim Reynolds, Left Field - Ted Barrett, Right Field - Lance Barksdale |
Research Notes
Mike Moustakas is the 5th player in Royals history with an extra-inning RBI in the postseason, and the 3rd in the past 2 games.
[+] |
Since
the MLB strike in 1994, four different years had the team who was the
first to 90 wins, go on to win the World Series (4/20)...and both times
it was the Yankees and Red Sox...who are BOTH not in the postseason this
year.
Angels were the first to 90 wins this season and begin their postseason
journey tonight.
[+] |
MLB Playoff Scoreboard for the ALDS games of October 2,2014 from ESPN.GO.COM
AL Playoffs
Final
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HR » DET: V. Martinez (1), Cabrera (1), J. Martinez (1) BAL: Hardy (1), N. Cruz (1)
ALDS - GAME 1 Baltimore leads series 1-0
Final/11
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ALDS - GAME 1 Kansas City leads series 1-0
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