KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Needing a win to extend the World Series to a winner-take-all contest, the Royals delivered a crushing blow in the second inning of Game 6 on Tuesday night.
Alex Gordon led off the second with a single against Jake Peavy, and scampered to third on a line-drive hit by Salvador Perez. A double down the first base line by Mike Moustakas — who was batting eighth Tuesday after hitting ninth in AL parks all month — chased home Gordon to give Kansas City its first lead since the fifth inning of Game 4.
MORE: Must-see World Series photos | Live scoreboard | Moment of silence for Taveras | World Series Journal
And then, after striking out Omar Infante, things got worse for Peavy and the Giants. Much, much worse.
Because it's October and strange things happen in October, KC leadoff man Alcides Escobar hit a chopper to first baseman Brandon Belt, who initially looked home, but Perez stayed near the third base bag. By the time Belt turned around, Escobar was nearing first base and eluded Belt's tag by sliding feet-first into the bag. That's a rare move, to say the least.
That loaded the bases, and Nori Aoki drove home Kansas City's second run with a single to left field, where Travis Ishikawa was playing very shallow, which kept Moustakas from even thinking about scoring from second.
That was it for Peavy. Still, the worst wasn't over for the Giants.
Yusmeiro Petit replaced Peavy, but was greeted by a Lorenzo Cain single that scored Moustakas and Escobar. Suddenly, the Royals were up 4-0 in the second inning of a must-win game.
And then Hosmer followed with a Baltimore-chop double to left, which plated Aoki and Cain. And then Billy Butler doubled to right-center to score Hosmer and it was 7-0 in favor of the home team.
Including playoffs, the Royals are 32-0 this year when scoring seven or more runs.
— Jesse Spector (@jessespector) October 29, 2014It was a welcome output for Kansas City. Consider this: the Royals scored as many runs in the second inning as they did in the three games in San Francisco, total.
