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Royals complete sweep of Angels to reach ALCS

Oct 6, 2014 - 4:23 AM Kansas City, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - The Kansas City Royals didn't need extra innings on Sunday to complete an impressive sweep of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the American League Division Series.

Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer homered as the Royals beat the Angels, 8-3, in Game 3 to gain their first ALCS berth in 29 years.

Kansas City hit the fewest amount of home runs of any team in the majors during the regular season. The long ball, though, has lifted the Royals into the American League Championship Series, where they will face the Orioles. Baltimore finished off an eye-opening sweep of the Detroit Tigers with a 2-1 Game 3 win on Sunday.

The Royals hit 95 homers during the year, but won the first two games of this series on the strength of two extra-inning home runs. After Moustakas delivered an 11th inning home run to carry Kansas City to a win in Game 1, Hosmer gave the Royals the lead on Friday with a two-run home run in the 11th.

"Well, you know, it was huge. Won us two games," said Royals manager Ned Yost of the power hitting. "Coming into this game, we were hitting .162 as a team, they were hitting .141, but the difference were the two big home runs. That gave us the edge. Tonight the power was huge again."

Kansas City's first playoff appearance since 1985 started with a 9-8, 12- inning victory over the Oakland Athletics in the wild-card game on Tuesday. The Royals became the first team in major league history to win three-straight extra-inning games to open a postseason.

James Shields (1-0), who got a no-decision in the wild-card game, gave up two runs on six hits while striking out six over six innings for Kansas City, which will travel to Baltimore for Game 1 of the ALCS on Friday.

Alex Gordon knocked in three runs for the Royals, who have now won seven straight postseason games dating to Game 5 of the 1985 World Series.

Mike Trout and Albert Pujols homered for the Angels, who ended the regular season with the best record in baseball.

"Well, right now it's tough. It stings. You know, we're all feeling this," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia. "We expected better results, but as disappointing as the series was and is right now with us, those guys in that clubhouse had a terrific season."

Los Angeles starter C.J. Wilson (0-1) failed to make it out of the first inning. He allowed three runs on three hits while recording just two outs.

It was all Royals after Trout hit his first career postseason homer in the top of the first.

Nori Aoki and Lorenzo Cain singled before Billy Butler walked to load the bases with two outs in the bottom half of the frame. Gordon followed with a three-run double to left-center field, chasing Wilson from the game. Vinnie Pestano got the final out to keep it a 3-1 game.

Friday's hero, Hosmer, hit a two-run homer off Hector Santiago in the third. Aoki led off with a walk and crossed the plate on Hosmer's blast to left- center field.

Pujols' leadoff homer in the fourth got the Angels within 5-2. Los Angeles stranded runners on the corners later in the inning when C.J. Cron struck out swinging.

Moustakas answered with a blast to right with one out in the home half. Alcides Escobar then singled, moved to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on Aoki's single and crossed the plate on Cain's sacrifice fly.

Cain then made two great defensive plays in the fifth. With runners on first and second and one out, Cain made a diving catch on a liner by Pujols. Howie Kendrick followed with a liner to center that resulted in a sliding catch by Cain.

"I tipped my cap to him after the inning was over just strictly because I'm a fan," said Shields. "I'm a fan of watching that. It's pretty special."

The Royals took an 8-2 lead on Aoki's RBI single in the sixth.

Josh Hamilton's RBI groundout in the eighth accounted for the final margin.

Game Notes

Shields improved to 3-4 lifetime in the postseason ... Royals pitcher Kelvin Herrera pitched a scoreless seventh inning. He left Thursday night's series opener with a strained right forearm ...The Angels went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight ... It was the third time the Angels had been swept in the postseason.