Royals beat Mets, take first title in 30 years

NEW YORK -- Sparked by the most amazing rally yet in a comeback-filled playoff run, the Kansas City Royals captured their first World Series title in 30 years Sunday by defeating the New York Mets 7-2 in 12 innings.

The Royals took Major League Baseball's best-of-seven championship final four games to one after scoring twice in the ninth inning to equalize and breaking open the contest with five runs in the final inning.

Lorenzo Cain scored the Royals' first run in the crucial ninth inning and smacked a three-run double in the 12th that sealed New York's fate, ending the Mets' dream of their first World Series title since 1986.



 Instead, the Royals captured their first crown since 1985 with their record eighth come-from-behind playoff victory, including all four of their World Series triumphs. Seven of them were multi-run rallies to win.

Inspired by a seven-game loss to San Francisco in last year's World Series, the Royals became the first team since the 1989 Oakland A's to win the World Series a year after losing it. They are the first team since the 1961 Yankees to lose in a seventh game and win the title the next year.

Deadlocked 2-2 after nine innings, the game went into the 12th with the title poised on a knife's edge.

Kansas City's Salvador Perez singled down the right-field line off Mets reliever Addison Reed to open the 12th. Pinch-runner Jerrod Dyson replaced Perez and promptly stole second base, taking third when Eric Gordon grounded out to first.

Pinch-hitter Christian Colon then smacked a single to left field to score Dyson and give Kansas City their first lead at 3-2.

Brazilian Paulo Orlando then reached on a fielder's choice that advanced Colon on an error by Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy.

Alcides Escobar then stretched his playoff hit streak to 15 games with a run-scoring double to left and Ben Zobrist was intentionally walked to load the bases, setting the stage for Cain's double to left center field to clear the bases and produce the final margin.

New York's Curtis Granderson hit a leadoff home run in the first inning and scored again after walking in the fourth to give the Mets a 2-0 advantage.

Mets starting pitcher Matt Harvey, a 26-year-old right-hander, baffled the Royals for eight shutout innings, striking out nine while scattering four hits and two walks as only one runner got past first base.

- Comeback kings -

But in the ninth inning, the Royals added to their legend as comeback kings as Cain opened the ninth with a walk and stole second base, allowing him to race home on Eric Hosmer's double to left field and cut the Mets' lead to 2-1.

That prompted Mets manager Terry Collins to remove Harvey in favor of Dominican closing relief ace Jeurys Familia, who promptly surrendered a ground out to first by Mike Moustakas that advanced Hosmer to third base.

Perez then grounded out but Hosmer raced home and scored the tying run as an errant desperation throw home by Lucas Duda was way off target.

Kansas City right-handed pitcher Edinson Volquez, making his first appearance since attending his father Daniel's funeral in their native Dominican Republic, threw well over six innings.

Volquez, who drew his father's initials in the dirt on the back of the pitcher's mound, allowed two runs on two hits and walked five while striking out five.

Volquez was not told of his father's death Tuesday until after he threw six innings in Kansas City's 5-4 victory in the series opener. He was told after he left the game and flew the next day to his homeland, rejoining the team Saturday.

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Kansas City Royals one win away from World Series title

The Kansas City Royals are now one win away from becoming World Series champions after a come-from-behind Game 4 victory over the New York Mets.

Royals closer Juris Familia batted a groundball to second base, which slipped past Mets baseman Daniel Murphy and led to a tie game.


Two more hits gave the Royals a two-run lead before Wade Davis came on to lock down the victory.

The 5-3 win moves the Royals closer to their first MLB title since 1985. -- Mornings @ ANC, November 2, 2015.

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Royals rally past Mets to brink of Series crown

NEW YORK -- Salvador Perez and Mike Moustakas singled in the go-ahead runs Saturday during an eighth-inning comeback and the Kansas City Royals beat the New York Mets 5-3 to reach the brink of their first World Series title in 30 years.

The Royals seized a 3-1 lead in Major League Baseball's best-of-seven final and could win their first crown since 1985 with another road victory in game five Sunday.

Kansas City, which lost last year's World Series in seven games to San Francisco, also came from behind to win the first two games of this year's World Series and in all have fought back after trailing in seven of 10 playoff triumphs this year.

The Mets were leading 3-2 in the eighth inning when relief pitcher Tyler Clippard walked Ben Zobrist and Lorenzo Cain, prompting New York manager Terry Collins to insert closing 26-year-old Dominican right-handed relief ace Jeurys Familia.

But Kansas City's Eric Hosmer chopped an infield ground ball that went under the glove of Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy for an error that scored Zobrist to level the score.

Moustakas followed with a single just past a diving Murphy into right field that plated Cain and gave the Royals their first lead of the game at 4-3.

Perez then smacked a single to right, his third hit of the game, to score Hosmer from third to stretch the Kansas City edge.

Royals closer Wade Davis shut down the Mets in the eighth but allowed Murphy and Yoenis Cespedes singles in the ninth as the tension built.

But New York's Lucas Duda flew out to third baseman Moustakas, who quickly flipped the ball to first base to pick off Cespedes and complete a game-ending double play.

A crowd of 44,815 comprised mostly of Mets supporters was stunned by a Halloween nightmare for their team which had been only five outs from pulling level in the World Series.

New York's Michael Conforto, a 22-year-old US leftfielder batting only 2-for-22 in the playoffs, blasted leadoff homers in the third and fifth innings to power the Mets to their 3-2 lead. Hitting only 1-for-7 over the first three games, he became the first rookie since Atlanta's Andruw Jones in 1996 with a multi-homer World Series contest.

The Mets, who have not won the World Series since 1986, also scored in the third when Wilmer Flores singled, took second on a wild pitch from Royals starter Chris Young and scored on sacrifice fly outs by pitcher Steven Matz and Curtis Granderson, the latter withstanding a video replay challenge that Flores left the bag before the catch -- a reversal would have erased the run and ended the inning.

In the fifth, Perez doubled as onrushing Mets outfielder Cespedes accidentally kicked the ball away and allowed Perez to gain an extra base. Alex Gordon followed with a single to the rightfield wall that plated Perez and pulled the Royals within 2-1.

Pinch-hitter Kendrys Morales singled to advance Gordon but Alcides Escobar flew out to end the inning. Escobar had stretched his one-season playoff hit streak to a record-tying 14 games with a game-opening single.

Conforto blasted his second homer to begin the fifth inning off reliever Danny Duffy for a 3-1 Mets lead. But again the Royals responded.

Zobrist matched a major league playoff record with his eighth playoff double to start the sixth inning and Cain scored him with a single to pull Kansas City within 3-2.

Potential tying run Cain stole second base and reached third on a throwing error by 42-year-old Dominican reliever Bartolo Colon, who redeemed himself by striking out Perez to end the inning.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com