Royals rally for 5 in 6th, lead Giants 7-2

Oct 23, 2014 - 2:59 AM Kansas City, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - Omar Infante's two-run homer punctuated a five-run sixth inning that gave the Kansas City Royals a 7-2 lead over the San Francisco Giants in Game 2 of the World Series.

The Royals fell behind early on Gregor Blanco's leadoff home run in the first inning, but led 2-1 after two innings. The Giants tied it in the fourth and San Francisco starter Jake Peavy retired 10 in a row before Lorenzo Cain led off the sixth inning with a single.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy brought in Jean Machi after Peavy walked Eric Hosmer, and Billy Butler lined a 2-0 pitch into left-center to give the Royals a 3-2 lead.

Javier Lopez came in to retire Alex Gordon on a fly ball for the first out but the Royals rally continued against Hunter Strickland, who surrendered a two- run double to Salvador Perez and Infante's homer over the left-field wall.

Strickland and Perez exchanged words as the Royals catcher trotted down the third-base line and crossed home plate, leading to some brief drama but nothing more.

Royals starter Yordano Ventura came out in the top of the sixth after giving up singles to Buster Posey and Hunter Pence. Kelvin Herrera got two straight outs to escape the jam for the rookie.

Blanco hit the first leadoff homer by a Giants player in World Series history, pushing his team's streak to eight straight Series games in which they scored the first run.

They won the previous seven, including Tuesday's Game 1, which began with a three-run rally against James Shields in the first inning, leading to a 7-1 San Francisco win.

The Giants, seeking a third World Series title in the last five years, are 5-0 this postseason when crossing the plate first.

The Royals got to Peavy in the first inning, tying the game on Butler's hit. Their three-hit rally began with a leadoff single by Alcides Escobar, who was thrown out trying to steal second base by Posey before Cain doubled.

Infante doubled with one out in the second inning and scored on Escobar's hit into the right-field corner for Kansas City's 2-1 lead but the Giants tied it after Pablo Sandoval led off with a double in the fourth and scored on Brandon Belt's double.

The Royals haven't lost back-to-back games since Sept. 19 and 20 to Detroit. Their last World Series win was an 11-0 victory over St. Louis in Game 7 in 1985, the last time they made the playoffs.