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Royals eye sweep of Angels and first ALCS berth in 29 years

Oct 5, 2014 - 3:03 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Kansas City Royals hit the fewest amount of home runs of any team in the league this season. The long ball, though, has them on the cusp of sweeping the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and advancing to the American League Championship Series.

On Sunday, James Shields tries to pitch Kansas City to its first ALCS berth in 29 years when the ALDS moves to Kauffman Stadium for Game 3.

History is firmly in the Royals corner, as 44 teams have gone ahead 2-0 in a Division Series since the current divisional format began in 1995 and only five have lost the series.

"We're going home and we've got James Shields on the mound for us on Sunday," Royals manager Ned Yost said after Friday's thrilling 4-1, 11-inning win. "We're going to take every day like we've taken it so far. Our mindset is to go and win today. So we're going to take a day off tomorrow, rest up and be ready to go on Sunday."

Kansas City has won five of Shields' six starts since the start of September, including Tuesday's wild card win over the Oakland A's. Shields gave up a two- run homer in the first inning of that one, but held the A's off the board the next four innings.

However, he was lifted after a single and a walk to start the sixth. He wound up surrendering four runs in that one and would have been on the hook for the loss had the Royals not rallied.

While Shields may have the "Big Game James" moniker, he has been anything but in the postseason, going 2-4 with a 5.26 ERA and is 1-2 with an 8.04 ERA in three Division Series starts.

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

"I just knew I got a good swing on it and it felt good," Hosmer said. "These games have been back-and-forth the whole playoffs for us so it's a huge sigh of relief."

It was the third straight postseason extra inning win, which is a major league record. The Royals, who have now won six straight postseason games, are also the first team in American League history to play three consecutive extra- inning postseason games.

"This isn't a fluke," said Royals outfielder Alex Gordon. "We're getting it done. We're not an uptight ballclub. We leave it on the field every night."

Mike Trout remained hitless in the series for the Angels, who will now try to join the 2001 Yankees and 2012 Giants as the only teams to rally back to win a Division Series after dropping the first two games at home.

"It's tough," said Trout. "We're having good at-bats, we're just missing pitches. They have a good staff over there but we can't hang our heads."

Getting the call for the Angels on Sunday will be lefty C.J. Wilson, who has struggled on the road this season. In fact, in 16 starts away from Angel Stadium this season, Wilson has a 5.31 ERA, the worst among all qualifying pitchers in the AL.

"I know C.J. is having a tough season, but he's a gamer," said Angels first baseman Albert Pujols, who has the club's lone hit with a runner in scoring position this series (1-for-13). "He's going to go out there, pretty pumped up. Hopefully we can give him a little bit of cushion so he can go out and execute his pitch."

Overall, Wilson was 13-10 with a 4.51 ERA.

Wilson has made 17 career appearances (7 starts) against Kansas City and is 4-0 with six saves and a 3.20 ERA.

Los Angeles split six games with the Royals during the season with each team taking two of three in their ballpark.

This is the first postseason meeting between the Angels and Royals, former division rivals in the American League West from 1969-93.