Royals, Orioles Sweep to Advance to ALCS
The script is far from over. The Kansas City Royals, who came back to beat the Oakland Athletics in the Wild Card Game, went on to face the team with the best record in the MLB, the Los Angeles Angels, headlined by the best player in baseball, Mike Trout, who was playing in his first postseason. In Game 1, the Angels put their ace out, Jered Weaver, to face the Royals Jason Vargas. After both teams scored a run in the 3rd and 5th innings, the score was tied 2-2 and the game went into extra innings. Then, in the top of the 11th inning, the Royals’ Mike Moustakas came up to the plate. Moustakas belted one over the right field fence, and he put the Royals up 3-2. Then their closer Greg Holland came in, and he got all three out in order and the Royals went to a 1-0 series lead. Then in Game 2, it was Yordano Ventura against Matt Shoemaker, both young and upcoming rookies. This game, like the last one, was at a tie going in to extra innings. Then this time, the Royals’ hero was Eric Hosmer. With a runner on first and one out, Hosmer hit a 2 run home run off of Kevin Jepsen to put the Royals up 3-1. The Royals added another run to make it 4-1 and the score stayed that way, as the Royals got out to a 2-0 series lead. Then it was the series deciding Game 3. The Royals put their ace James Shields on the mound against C.J. Wilson. This game was dominated by the Royals. They out pitched and out hit the Angels, and ended up winning the game 8-3, completing the sweep of the top seeded Angels to move on to the ALCS.
The other series was the Baltimore Orioles against the Detroit Tigers. Game 1 was a matchup of two aces. It was Chris Tillman against Cy Young award winner Max Scherzer. This was a good game until the 8th inning came. In the top of the 8th, the Tigers were down 4-2, then Miguel Caberera hit a solo home run to make it a one run game. Then the terrible Tigers bullpen came in. The Orioles ended up scoring 8 runs in the bottom of the 8th to take a 12-3 lead, and the score stayed that way and the Orioles took Game 1. Game 2 was a tough one to swallow for the Tigers. Justin Verlander and Anibal Sanchez combined to hold the Orioles to only 3 runs heading in to the 8th. Then, the bullpen haunted them again. Steve Pearce hit a single to cut the lead to 6-4, then Delmon Young came up huge hitting a 3 run double to give the Orioles a 7-6 lead. Then Zach Britton closed it out and they took a 2-0 series lead. Game 3 was the series ending game. This was a pitchers duel between David Price and Bud Norris, but Price was the first to give in. He gave up a 2 run home run to Nelson Cruz in the 6th inning, and that’s all they needed. The Orioles won 2-1 and swept the Tigers to advance to the ALCS to play the Royals.
Game 1 of the ALCS is Friday at 8:07 p.m. EST in Baltimore.
