ALCS Game 1, Royals vs Orioles final score: Royals hang on for 8-6 win in extra innings

By Hayden Kane | Oct 11, 2014

H. Darr Beiser-USA TODAY Sports /

7. Final. 6. 11. 8

The Kansas City Royals defeated the Baltimore Orioles in extra innings to steal Game 1 of the ALCS on the road on Friday night thanks to extra-inning home runs from Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas.

Raindrops fell. The Seven Nation Army chant was unrelenting. The men in both dugouts watched intently. Under the bright lights of Game 1 of the ALCS, it was Alex Gordon who came through with a solo home run in the 10th inning off Darren O’Day to give his team the lead. Mike Moustakas then tacked on two more runs with a homer of his own, and the Royals went on to win 8-6.

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The Royals had to win this game in extras thanks to the fact that they blew an early 5-1 lead. The Orioles fought to come back and had chances of their own to win this game at home, but the run prevention skills of the Royals put the clamps on things and bought enough time for Kansas City to win another tight game in extra innings.

Alcides Escobar played all 162 games during the regular season and hit three home runs. Naturally he opened the scoring in this game with a solo home run off Chris Tillman, because that’s how things have been going for the Royals this postseason. Gordon tacked on three more runs in that inning with a broken-bat, bases-loaded triple as the Royals went up 4-0.

Big Game James Shields could not make the lead stand up, however, allowing the Orioles back into the game with a three-run rally in the 5th inning. Nelson Cruz doubled off the wall to drive in a run, followed by an RBI knock from Ryan Flaherty in the 5th and a bloop single just past the mound from Alejandro De Aza the 6th to tie things up.

The Royals had a number of chances in the late innings of this game, with one rally thwarted by an odd caught-stealing for Jarrod Dyson in which his foot came off the base and another bases-loaded rally coming up empty in the 9th. Their bullpen held the fort all night like they have all season, waiting for the Kansas City offense to come through. They did once again thanks to those home runs from Gordon and Moustakas.

As usual, Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis, and Greg Holland were called on out of the Royals’ bullpen, with Herrera and Davis both working 2.0 innings before seeing Holland register the save. Holland did allow a run and then bring the winning run to the plate in the form of Nick Markakis before recording the final out.

Another game, another extra-innings victory for the Royals. That makes it four this postseason, with Gordon the latest to blast a winning home run in extra frames. The Royals are now 5-0 in the 2014 postseason.

Both teams have multiple heroes and their share of mistakes, but in the end this game is about Gordon. The former first-round pick balled out, with the deciding home run came after he took a pitch to the neck but stayed in the game anyway. Gordon played like the team’s MVP at the plate with three hits and four runs batted in and in the outfield with his gold glove defense.

Thanks to those efforts, the Royals have stolen away home-field advantage from the Orioles and are one step closer to the World Series.

Here is the home run from Gordon:

And here is the two-run shot from Moustakas, which proved to be necessary for the Royals to hang on:

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