Kansas City Royals
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Kansas City Royals OFFICIAL GAME NOTES Kansas City Royals (1-0) @ Baltimore Orioles (0-1) Oriole Park at Camden Yards - Saturday, October 11, 2014 American League Championship Series - Game #2 TBS, KCSP Radio (610 Sports) & ESPN Radio UPCOMING SCHEDULE Sunday, October 12: Off day in Kansas City (Royals work out at 2 p.m.) Game #3 - Monday, October 13 vs. Baltimore Orioles: TBA vs. TBA, 7:07 p.m. (CDT), TBS, ESPN Radio & 610 Sports Game #4 - Tuesday, October 14 vs. Baltimore Orioles: TBA vs. TBA, 7:07 p.m. (CDT), TBS, ESPN Radio & 610 Sports Game #5 (if necessary) - Wednesday, October 15 vs. Baltimore Orioles: TBA vs. TBA, 3:07 p.m. (CDT), TBS, ESPN Radio & 610 Sports Thursday, October 16 -- Travel Day to Baltimore (if necessary) -- Media availability will be announced at a later date Game #6 (if necessary) - Friday, October 17 @ Baltimore Orioles: TBA vs. TBA, 7:07 p.m. (CDT), TBS, ESPN Radio & 610 Sports Game #7 (if necessary) - Saturday, October 18 vs. Baltimore Orioles: TBA vs. TBA, 7:07 p.m. (CDT), TBS, ESPN Radio & 610 Sports This series is being broadcast on KCSP Radio (610 Sports) and the Royals Radio Network with Royals’ Hall of Famer Denny Matthews, Ryan Lefebvre, Steve Physioc and Steve Stewart, while Don Free controls the dials as the producer/engineer...the ALCS is being televised nationally on TBS with Ernie Johnson Jr., Cal Ripken Jr., Ron Darling and Matt Winer...every game is also being broadcast nationally on ESPN Radio with Jon “Boog” Sciambi and Chris Singleton. THE 2014 KANSAS CITY ROYALS POST-SEASON GUIDE IS AVAILABLE ON-LINE AT MLBPRESSBOX.COM Royals vs. Orioles KC BLASTS WAY TO SERIES OPENING WIN--The Royals are quickly developing a postseason Kansas City’s first-ever postseason game against the O’s reputation of winning games with the long ball and doing so in overtime, as Kansas City clubbed a pair of resulted in an 8-6, 10-inning triumph, giving the Royals a 3-1 10th inning home runs en route to an 8-6 win over the O’s in Game #1 of the ALCS...Alex Gordon broke mark in Camden Yards this year...the regular season and now a 5-5 tie with his third hit of the night, a solo blast into the rightfield bleachers to open the 10th, and then postseason results: one-out later with a man aboard, Mike Moustakas hit his third roundtripper of the postseason for an 8-5 Date Site Score WP LP Att. 4/25 @ Bal W, 5-0 Ventura Jimenez 22,478 advantage...the O’s plated a run in the 10th before Greg Holland secured his third save of this year’s Fall Ball 4/26 @ Bal L, 2-3 (10) Britton Duffy 34,941 effort...the win was KC’s fourth extra-inning victory in five games of this postseason...Wade Davis earned 4/27 @ Bal W, 9-3 Shields Gonzalez 38,368 the victory with two dominant innings of relief, fanning four of the six hitters he faced...the Royals jumped 5/15 KC L, 1-2 Chen Ventura 12,455 5/16 KC L, 0-4 Tillman Guthrie 25,985 out to a 4-0 lead, courtesy of an Alcides Escobar solo homer in the third, followed later in the inning by a 5/17 KC W, 1-0 Duffy Norris 24,064 3-run double from Gordon...the Kansas City leftfielder became the first Royal to knock home four runs in a 5/18 KC W, 8-6 Shields Jimenez 22,692 postseason game since Jim Sundberg notched four RBI in Game #7 of the 1985 ALCS against the Blue Jays. American League Championship Series 10/10 @ Bal W, 8-6 (10) Davis O’Day 47,124 BONUS BASEBALL IN THE POSTSEASON--Last night’s 10-inning win made Kansas City the first 10/11 @ Bal team in Major League history to win four extra-inning games in the same postseason and we’re only five 10/13 KC games into it...the previous five teams to have three extra-inning wins in a postseason all went on to win the 10/14 KC World Series, the last the 2004 Red Sox...the last three extra-inning victories have been won by home runs with Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas doing the 11th inning honors in Anaheim in the ALDS, and then Alex Gordon and Moustakas providing the power here last night...according to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Royals are the first ever to have three go-ahead home runs in extra innings in a single postseason. HOME GROWN ROYALS--It was never a secret that for the Royals to contend, they’d have to do it with the combination of home grown talent and then enhance the roster via the trade and free agent route...of the 25-players on the ALCS active roster, 13 were drafted or signed originally by the Royals...the group includes (draft round-year): Terrance Gore (20th-2011), Jarrod Dyson (50th-2006), Alex Gordon (1st-2005), Mike Moustakas (1st-2007), Salvador Perez (non-drafted free agent-2006), Billy Butler (1st-2004), Christian Colon (1st-2010), Brandon Finnegan (1st-2014), Yordano Ventura (non-drafted free agent-2008), Eric Hosmer (1st- 2008), Kelvin Herrera (non-drafted free agent-2006), Danny Duffy (3rd-2007) and Greg Holland (10th-2007). AND THE REST OF THE SQUAD--The remaining dozen of the 2014 squad arrived via trades and free agency...that group includes (how acquired): Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain (trade with Milwaukee-Dec., 2010), Josh Willingham (trade with Minnesota-2014), Jeremy Guthrie (trade with Colorado-July, 2012), Omar Infante (free agent-Dec., 2013), Wade Davis and James Shields (trade with Tampa Bay-Dec., 2012), Erik Kratz (trade with Toronto-July, 2014), Nori Aoki (trade with Milwaukee-Dec., 2013), Jason Vargas (free agent-Nov., 2013), Jason Frasor (trade with Texas-July, 2014) and Tim Collins (trade with Atlanta-July, 2010). POSTSEASON WINNING STREAK--It’s been 29 years in the making, but the Royals now have an 8-game postseason winning streak, including a 5-0 mark this year...Kansas City pulled the curtain on the 1985 World Series with St. Louis by winning Game 5 in Busch Stadium and then returning home for victories over the Redbirds in the final two affairs at ‘The K’...KC opened its return to postseason play on September 30 this season with a 12-inning win over the A’s in the Wild Card Game, rebounding from a 7-3 deficit to Jon Lester in the eighth inning, and then took all three games of the ALDS over the Angels, two in extra innings. ROAD WARRIORS--The 3-0 road mark in the postseason is consistent with how the regular season went as the Royals saved their best work for the road this year going 47-34 away from ‘The K’, five wins better than Kansas City totaled at home this year (42-39)...the road year turned around in Chicago, as KC entered play on July 22 in Chicago with a 26-25 record away from ‘The K’, but then reeled off a 21-9 record in road tilts, matching the Angels for the most road wins since that date...Kansas City was 8-1-1 in its last 10 road series played...the 47 road wins were the third most in franchise history and one win behind the ‘77 club for second highest success rate away from home. TODAY’S STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Yordano Ventura (14-10, 3.20) vs. RHP Bud Norris (15-8, 3.65) 2014 2013 Career 2014 2013 Career Yordano Ventura vs. Orioles 1-1 - 1-1 Major League Record 14-10 (3.20 ERA) 0-1 14-11 Bud Norris vs. Royals 0-1 - 0-1 Major League Record 15-8 (3.65 ERA) 10-12 53-57 YORDANO VENTURA takes the hill in Game #2 of the ALCS, his third postseason appearance...the first Royals rookie to start twice in the postseason, Ventura signed a free agent contract as a 17-year-old on October 8, 2008 out of Samana in the Dominican Republic and debuted on September 17, 2013. EXCELLENT AT THE “BIG A”--Yordano was the starter in Kansas City’s 4-1, 11-inning win over the Halos in Game #2 of the ALDS in Anaheim a week ago last night...he carried a shutout into the sixth inning and wound up allowing a run on 5 hits and a walk with 5 strikeouts over 7.0 innings...he exited a 1-1 game, settling for a no decision in a bid to become the first Royals rookie to win a playoff game, with that honor going to Brandon Finnegan, thanks to Eric Hosmer’s 2-run homer in the 11th and then an insurance tally...Ventura became the fourth pitcher in team history to go at least 7.0 innings in a postseason game with no more than 1 run allowed, joining Bret Saberhagen, Charlie Leibrandt and Danny Jackson, who all did it twice. VS. BALTIMORE--“Ace” has pitched well in 2 career starts vs. the O’s, going 1-1 with a 1.26 ERA, both this year...he was a 5-0 winner here on April 25, fanning 8 over 8.0 innings, allowing 7 hits as the O’s had a baserunner in each inning...Ventura became the first Royals rookie since 2010 to record 8.0 shutout innings...he fanned 9 over 6.1 innings in losing a 2-1 decision on May 15 at home as Nelson Cruz hit a 2-run homer in the fourth.