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Royals come through late again to grab 2-0 ALCS lead

Oct 12, 2014 - 3:22 AM Baltimore, MD (SportsNetwork.com) - This time, the Kansas City Royals didn't wait until extra innings to use their late-game magic.

Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain came through with run-scoring hits in the top of the ninth to lift the ever-resilient Royals to yet another narrow postseason win, a 6-4 Game 2 verdict over the Baltimore Orioles that gave Kansas City a commanding lead in the American League Championship Series.

One night after recording their third extra-inning triumph of this postseason, the Royals scored twice in the ninth to break a 4-4 deadlock and grab a 2-0 series advantage as it shifts to Kansas City for Monday's Game 3.

Cain's late RBI single was his fourth hit of the game, while Eric Hosmer went 2-for-4 with two RBI in the Royals' sixth consecutive victory of the 2014 playoffs.

Mike Moustakas, who belted a huge two-run homer in the 10th inning of Game 1, cracked a solo shot on Saturday as part of a 2-for-3 day at the plate.

Adam Jones had a two-run homer and finished 2-for-5 for the AL East champion Orioles, with Nelson Cruz, Alejandro De Aza and Caleb Joseph also collecting a pair of hits in the potentially crushing defeat.

"It's another challenge in our face," said Jones of his team's 0-2 hole with the next three games to take place in Kauffman Stadium. "That's how we're going to look at it. That's how you've got to look at it."

Darren O'Day (0-2), who served up Alex Gordon's go-ahead 10th-inning solo homer in Friday's opener, was the losing pitcher for a second straight night after yielding Omar Infante's infield single to begin the ninth.

Closer Zach Britton then came on for Baltimore and was greeted by a bunt from Moustakas that pushed pinch-runner Terrance Gore to second. Escobar socked the next pitch inside the first-base bag and into the right-field corner to send the Royals in front.

Two batters later, Cain shot a ground ball through the left side of the infield to drive in Escobar, and Greg Holland yielded just a Cruz single in the bottom of the ninth to protect the two-run lead and notch his second save of the series.

Cain also came up with a terrific diving catch to rob J.J. Hardy of extra bases with the game still tied in the sixth inning.

"He had a great day today," said Royals manager Ned Yost. "Four hits, made great plays in the outfield -- none bigger than the one J. J. Hardy hit down the right field line. I thought for sure that ball was going to drop when it first left the bat. And then all of a sudden here he comes and makes the play. The country is seeing a very exciting player in Lorenzo Cain."

Wade Davis (2-0), also the winning pitcher in Game 1, preceded Holland with a scoreless eighth, prior to Kelvin Herrera getting out of a major jam in the seventh to keep the contest knotted at 4-4.

Herrera missed the bag on a toss from first baseman Hosmer to allow Nick Markakis to reach, then walked De Aza to put two runners on with none out. Cruz singled soon after to load the bases with one away, but Steve Pearce's short fly to left wasn't deep enough for Markakis to tag and Hardy lined out to end the threat.

"We've been coming through all year in those kind of situations," said Pearce. "That was a great opportunity for us and we didn't take advantage of it."

The Royals jumped on Baltimore starter Bud Norris for a pair of first-inning runs and never trailed, though the O's tied things up on two different occasions.

After Nori Aoki singled with one out in the first and Cain followed with a double to right, Hosmer's jam shot landed just out of the reach of a diving Hardy and into short left-center field to plate both runners.

Baltimore cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the second, during which rookie starter Yordano Ventura walked three of the first four batters prior to Joseph bringing in Pearce with a sacrifice fly.

Billy Butler knocked in Cain with a two-out double in the third to restore Kansas City's two-run margin, but Jones followed a De Aza double in the bottom of the inning by drilling Ventura's down-the-middle fastball into the seats in left to even the game at 3-3.

Moustakas' fourth homer of this postseason and second of the series, a towering blast over the right-field scoreboard on a spinning slider from Norris, sent the Royals back in front an inning later.

Ventura allowed back-to-back singles from De Aza and Jones in the fifth, however, placing runners at the corners before Cruz just beat out a potential double-play ball as De Aza crossed the plate to forge a 4-4 tie.

Ventura got the first two batters out in the sixth but was then removed from the contest due to tightness in his shoulder. The young right-hander was charged with all four runs and permitted five hits and three walks.

"I don't anticipate him missing this next start," said Yost. "We'll see how it goes day-to-day, but I think it will be all fine."

Norris lasted just 4 1/3 innings and was tagged for four runs on nine hits.

Game Notes

The Royals set an MLB postseason record by putting a runner on base in each of the first 17 innings of the series, breaking the mark of 15 innings set by Oakland against Minnesota in the 2002 ALDS ... Kansas City has now won its last nine postseason outings, having taken the final three games of the 1985 World Series prior to its 2014 streak ... Moustakas' four homers tied a franchise record for a single postseason, also held by Willie Aikens in 1980 ... Cruz recorded his sixth straight multi-hit game in postseason play, a new major-league record ... The Orioles dropped back-to-back home games for the first time since June 28-29 against Tampa Bay ... Joseph entered Game 2 hitless in his last 33 at-bats.