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Royals beat Giants in Game 2, tying Series

Oct 23, 2014 - 4:21 AM Kansas City, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - The Kansas City Royals needed a big inning and got it.

A day after beginning their first World Series in 29 years with a whimper, the American League champions produced a bang.

Omar Infante's two-run homer punctuated a five-run sixth inning that propelled the Royals to a 7-2 win over the San Francisco Giants in Game 2 on Wednesday.

The Royals rebounded in a big way from Tuesday's 7-1 bummer, when they were so starved for hits against Giants ace Madison Bumgarner that a 3-0 first-inning deficit looked positively insurmountable.

They trailed early in this one, too, after Gregor Blanco hit the first Giants leadoff homer in World Series history. And they faced another San Francisco pitcher who hit a groove, the veteran Jake Peavy, who had 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 (0-1) walked Eric Hosmer, and Billy Butler lined a 2-0 pitch into left-center for an RBI single that snapped a 2-2 tie.

Javier Lopez came in to retire Alex Gordon on a fly ball for the first out but the Royals rally continued against rookie Hunter Strickland, who surrendered a two-run double to Salvador Perez and then Infante's homer over the left-field wall to make it 7-2.

Strickland and Perez exchanged words after the Royals catcher trotted down the third-base line and crossed home plate, leading to some brief drama as several Royals players gathered near the on-deck circle, but nothing more.

"I think it was just frustration on his part," Bochy said of his pitcher. "I mean, it's intense out there. He's an intense kid, and it probably got away from him a little bit. But I'll talk to him once we're done here. He gave up a double and then a home run. He's a competitor, and it just got away from him, I think."

Strickland said he "wasn't too excited about me not doing my job."

"It was frustrating," he said. "My emotions got the best of me. There was some miscommunication between us, so no hard feelings."

It was a fitting scene for the Royals, as the drama so prevalent in a playoff run that began with eight straight wins, showed up once again and not a moment too soon.

Game 3 is Friday in San Francisco. Barring three straight wins by the Giants out there, the series will come back to Kansas City next week.

"Our fans were just rabid," said Royals manager Ned Yost. "They were into the game from the first pitch. You look up there, and I think there's half the crowd that doesn't sit down for the entire game. I don't know how they keep their energy going, but they sure do.

"It's a fun atmosphere. It's going to be a fun atmosphere in San Francisco, too, because they've got some great fans down there, too."

The Giants, trying to win a third title in five years, knocked around James Shields in Game 1 to quiet a Kauffman Stadium crowd that hadn't seen the Royals in a World Series game since their Game 7 clincher over St. Louis in 1985. The loss snapped Kansas City's 11-game postseason winning streak dating back to that series.

Several of the Giants' own eye-popping World Series streaks ended Wednesday.

They had been 9-1 in their last 10 Fall Classic games, including a seven-game winning streak since losing to Texas in 2010's Game 3. They were 5-0 in this postseason when scoring first.

"It's great to get a win here," Bochy said. "I mean, this is a great club. We had a tough time here in August, and for us to leave here with a split, you'd like to get greedy, but we know it's going to be a tough series."

Royals rookie Yordano Ventura started Blanco off with eight fastballs in the mid-90s and he lined the last one over the right-field wall for an early lead.

The Royals tied it on Butler's RBI single in the bottom of the first, which highlighted a rally that included three hits, beginning with a leadoff single by Alcides Escobar, who was thrown out trying to steal second base by Buster Posey before Cain doubled.

Infante doubled with one out in the second inning and scored on Escobar's double into the right-field corner to give the Royals a lead that lasted one inning.

The Giants tied it in the fourth, when Pablo Sandoval led off with a double to stretch his franchise record to 25 consecutive playoff games reaching base and scored on Brandon Belt's double to right.

Belt was later tagged out sliding back into second base after threatening to run to third on an errant throw from the outfield.

Singles by Posey and Hunter Pence in the sixth forced Yost to turn to Kelvin Herrera (1-0), who got two straight outs to escape the jam for Ventura.

Herrera stayed in, pitching out of a jam in the seventh and Wade Davis threw a perfect eighth. Greg Holland then worked around a single in the ninth to close the win.

Game Notes

Sixteen-year veteran Tim Hudson will start Game 3 for San Francisco in his first-ever World Series appearance. Fellow right-hander Jeremy Guthrie is scheduled to pitch for the Royals ... Two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum pitched for the first time since Sept. 28, throwing 1 2/3 innings for the Giants before leaving the game with lower back tightness .... Sandoval tied Baltimore's Boog Powell (1966-71) for the third-longest streak in major-league history. Only Detroit's Miguel Cabrera (31, 2011-13) and Philadelphia's Chase Utley (27, 2007-09) have longer postseason on-base streaks ... Pence has reached base safely in 15 consecutive postseason games.