KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Lorenzo Cain raced in from the outfield about as fast as he had raced around the bases, hurrying to join the rest of the Kansas City Royals as they streamed onto the diamond in celebration.
There was Eric Hosmer, hugging anyone in sight. And curmudgeonly manager Ned Yost, finally cracking a smile. And stoic closer Wade Davis,
who let out a fierce roar Friday night when the Royals recorded the
final out in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, a
white-knuckle, 4-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
A win that returned the Royals to the World Series.
"We came in with one goal," Cain said with a smile, "and that was to get back."
The Royals open the World Series on Tuesday night against the New York Mets,
trying to do one win better than they did last year. In their first
trip to the Fall Classic in 29 years, they lost in Game 7 to the San Francisco Giants with the tying run standing 90 feet from home.
It
was a heartbreaking defeat that remained in the back of the Royals'
minds all season and ultimately spurred their return to the game's
biggest stage.
"Our guys, from the first day of spring training,
their focus was to get back to the World Series," Yost said, "and they
did it."
In dramatic fashion, too. Jose Bautista's
second homer of the game, a two-run shot in the top of the eighth,
lifted Toronto into a 3-all tie. Then the weather hit, a 45-minute rain
delay that sent fans scurrying for the concourses and threatened to put a
damper on what had been a festive night for K.C.
After the delay, Cain calmly worked a leadoff walk from Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna, and Hosmer followed with a clean single that Bautista fielded down the right-field line.
Rather
than hit the cutoff man, though, Bautista threw to second. That gave
Cain, running full speed and waved home by third-base coach Mike
Jirschele, just enough time to beat the relay throw from second base
with a textbook slide that ignited a sellout crowd.
"I felt like I
cut it off quick enough to where if I threw to second I could prevent
him from going to second and Cain from scoring," Bautista said, "but I
was wrong."
Jirschele had noticed all series that Bautista usually threw to second in those situations.
"As soon I saw him release the ball to second," Jirschele said, "I had Lorenzo coming in."
Then it was up to Davis, who got the Royals out of a jam in the eighth, to finish it off.
The closer gave up a single to Russell Martin and walked Kevin Pillar, ratcheting up the tension, before fanning pinch hitter Dioner Navarro. Then, after stolen bases put runners on second and third, Davis struck out Ben Revere and got Josh Donaldson on a bouncer to third.
"At
that point, it was about as bad as it could get, a man on third with no
outs," Davis said. "Just hoping for some magic and get out of it."
It's getting hard to believe the Royals still have magic left. Ben Zobrist and Mike Moustakas homered, and Alex Rios also drove in a run for Kansas City, while shortstop Alcides Escobar was voted MVP after going 11-for-23 in the series.
For
the Blue Jays, it was a frustrating ending to a late-season surge that
ended their own postseason drought dating to 1993. They had rallied from
a 2-0 series deficit against Texas in the divisional round, then staved
off elimination against the Royals in Game 5 in Toronto.
They simply couldn't win their fifth straight elimination game.
"They
made a run at it," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "I really
couldn't be more proud of our guys. They laid it out every day. They're
great competitors and a fun bunch."
The Royals never trailed in the game, although it was never easy.
Zobrist pounced on Blue Jays ace David Price
in the first inning, pulling a 1-1 pitch from his old Tampa Bay
teammate down the left-field line. Zobrist's second home run of the
series gave Kansas City the lead and sent a capacity crowd of 40,494
into a towel-waving frenzy.
They hardly stopped by the time Moustakas came to bat in the second.
After
scrawling the initials of his late mother, Connie, into the dirt with
the end of his bat, Moustakas sent a 1-2 pitch from Price screaming over
the fence in right. The ball was caught by a fan, 19-year-old Caleb
Humphreys of nearby Blue Springs, Missouri, and the umpires briefly
reviewed whether fan interference should be called on the play.
The
review lasted 1 minute, 47 seconds, before crew chief John Hirschbeck
announced that replays were inconclusive. The home run stood, and Kansas
City had a 2-0 lead.
Rios added an RBI single in the seventh, but
only after two marvelous plays by Toronto limited the damage. Revere
made a leaping grab at the fence to rob Salvador Perez of a two-run shot to left, and second baseman Ryan Goins made a sliding grab to rob Alex Gordon of a single.
The defensive plays proved critical when Ryan Madson came on to pitch the eighth.
Madson
allowed a leadoff single to Revere and then struck out Donaldson,
before peering in at Bautista in the box. The home run hitter who irked
Kansas City fans all series followed his solo shot in the first inning
with a tying, two-run homer to left that silenced the crowd -- other
than the smattering of boos directed at Madson on the mound.
The home run squandered a strong start by Yordano Ventura,
who allowed only Bautista's first homer of the series and three other
harmless hits in 5 1/3 innings. But it didn't seem to dent the
confidence of the Royals, who have grown accustomed to tense postseason
games.
There's a reason they were defending American League champions, after all.
"The
story just keeps better and better," Hosmer said. "I can't waiting to
be fighting on the big stage with these guys in a couple of days."
40,494 (106.8% full) - % is based on regular season capacity
Game Time
3:42
Weather
70 degrees, cloudy
Wind
12 mph
Umpires
Home
Plate - Jeff Nelson, First Base - Jim Reynolds, Second Base - Laz Diaz,
Third Base - John Hirschbeck, Left Field - Hunter Wendelstedt, Right
Field - Dan Iassogna
CHICAGO -- Daniel Murphy
chased his son, Noah, up the third-base line at Wrigley Field. Manager
Terry Collins sprayed champagne on a small group of fans behind the
visitor's dugout. David Wright soaked in the moment he chased for so long.
A new generation of Amazins is heading to the World Series.
Murphy homered for a record sixth consecutive postseason game, and the New York Mets brushed aside the Chicago Cubs 8-3 on Wednesday night for a National League Championship Series sweep.
"I can't explain it. It's such a blessing to contribute to what we've been able to do," Murphy said. Lucas Duda
hit a three-run homer in the first inning and a two-run double in the
second at Wrigley Field, silencing a crowd of 42,227 desperately hoping
for the beginning of an epic comeback in Game 4.
Not this time. Not with New York's array of power arms and Murphy swinging a hot stick that made him the NLCS MVP.
The Mets never trailed against the Cubs and advanced to the World Series for the first time since they lost to the crosstown Yankees in five games in 2000. They will play at either Toronto or Kansas City in Game 1 on Tuesday night; the Royals lead 3-2 in the ALCS.
But the first big question for New York is the health of center fielder Yoenis Cespedes, who left in the second inning with soreness in his left shoulder. Any health issue for Cespedes could be a big factor in the next round.
"Cespedes'
shoulder is going to be OK," Collins said. "They didn't think there was
any damage. They thought an injection would calm it down in a day, so
he'll be ready."
The Cubs, meanwhile, still haven't won the crown
since 1908. Manager Joe Maddon's wild-card bunch surged into this series
but was overmatched.
"They did not let us up for air at any
point," Maddon said. "Their domination of the early part of the game and
their pitching was impressive."
When Dexter Fowler looked at a called third strike for the final out, Jeurys Familia dropped to his knees in front of the mound and then hopped up for a hug from catcher Travis d'Arnaud. They were soon joined by the rest of their jubilant teammates in the infield grass.
By wrapping it up fast, the Mets can now set up their imposing rotation how they want for the World Series. Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard will all be on full rest, and then some.
"This
is a long time coming," Wright said. "We've been through some bad
times. We've been through Septembers where you're just playing out the
schedule, and that's no fun. To be able to completely reverse that 180
and now celebrate and get a chance to go to the World Series, I wish I
could bottle it all. I really do. That's an emotion I'll never forget."
Right when it looked as if his historic streak was coming to an end, Murphy connected for a two-run homer to center against Fernando Rodney
in the eighth inning. Murphy raised his right arm as he rounded first
after his seventh homer of the playoffs and his fourth of the NLCS.
Murphy, who had been tied with Carlos Beltran for the postseason homer streak, batted .529 (9-for-17) in the series.
D'Arnaud also homered as the Mets won their fifth pennant. Bartolo Colon pitched 1⅓ scoreless innings for his first playoff win since 2001, for Cleveland at Seattle.
The 14 years, 12 days between postseason victories for Colon, 42,
snapped the major league record of exactly 14 years for Milt Wilcox,
according to STATS.
Colon, who made 31 starts this season, replaced rookie Steven Matz with two outs in the fifth and runners on first and second. He struck out Kris Bryant swinging on a 3-2 pitch, preserving New York's 6-1 lead.
Bryant
hit a two-run homer in the eighth, but it was way too late for Chicago
in its first appearance in the NLCS in 12 years. The Cubs shut out Pittsburgh in the wild-card game and eliminated rival St. Louis in the division series but were unable to mount much of a challenge against the Mets' talented pitching staff.
"I
think we're in a place nobody expected us to be, and we can be proud of
that," Bryant said. "We were four wins away from going to the World
Series. I think a lot of people didn't really expect us to be here."
The Cubs also loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth and came away with only one run, on Kyle Schwarber's grounder to first. Starlin Castro lined right to Wright at third on a hard smash for the first out.
While the Mets' pitching dominated much of the series, it was clear the Cubs were in trouble after aces Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta dropped the first two games in New York. Kyle Hendricks lasted just four innings on Tuesday night, and Jason Hammel was even worse in Game 4.
With
two outs and a runner on in the first, Hammel walked Cespedes before
Duda hit a long drive to center for his first playoff homer. D'Arnaud
followed with a shot to right for the Mets' second set of consecutive
homers in playoff history, joining Darryl Strawberry and Kevin
McReynolds in Game 4 of the 1988 NLCS against Los Angeles.
Hammel was replaced by Travis Wood
after a one-out walk in the second, and Duda drove home two more runs
with a double into the gap in right-center. Duda was just 3-for-24 in
the playoffs coming into the night.
42,227 (103.2% full) - % is based on regular season capacity
Game Time
3:32
Weather
72 degrees, cloudy
Wind
8 mph
Umpires
Home
Plate - Paul Emmel, First Base - Eric Cooper, Second Base - Bill
Miller, Third Base - Mark Wegner, Left Field - Tim Timmons, Right Field -
Ted Barrett
