Swing and a miss, 2 out. A Sunday afternoon game in August, forget about it, but Sunday in April, nice. Ground ball with 1 on by Hunter and the inning is over with only 13 pitches. As Denny says, "After half an inning, the Angels nothing, the Royals coming up".
Mike Aviles leads off and is nicked by the pitch and is on first base. After a steal and ground out, Aviles is at 3rd with one out. Critical situation for a good team, score the run from 3rd with less than one out. And Alex Gordon comes through with his first RBI of the season. BALK ? Boy the Angels seems to be struggling. Gordon at 2nd with 1 out. Billy Butler hits it hard but at somebody, runner on 2nd with 2 out. Kila Ka'aihue works a 3-0 count and you can hear the crowd buzz. Ball 4. Jeff Francoeur has a chance to add to the 1-0 lead as $12 million dollar pitcher Scott Kazmir struggles. Base hit! Royals up 2-0.
In the bottom of the first, the Royals are making contact putting the ball in play, being aggressive and Kazmir has thrown 26 pitches, many not even close to a strike. Wilson Betemit hopes to keep it rolling as it looks like the Angels will get into their bullpen early today!! Another stolen base by Frenchy, I like this. Ball Four and the bases are full. Alcides Escobar grounds to first for the 3rd out and Kazmir throws 36 pitches. Nice.
After 1 inning - Angels 0 Royals 2
Now a critical inning for Bruce Chen and the Royals. After a long inning, it will be key for the Royals to shut them down again and get Kazmir back out there as quickly as possible. A lead off walk is not the way to kick that off. A double play right here would be nice, but a little pop up works, 1 out and no runner advance. Double down the line, runners at 2nd and 3rd and Jeff Mathis fouls out. 2 out and close to getting out of it. Swing and a miss, inning over. Well done.
BOMB, Melky Cabrera ! Then Gordon drills one off the wall and he is at 2nd with 2 out and Kazmir is up to 58 pitches on the 2nd inning. Might be a long day. Wind blowing out, we'll need more than 3 to win this one. And like last year, Billy get beaned, again. Think it would be nice to see Kila pound one and he does... Vernon Wells could not hold on to a drive over his head and the Royals are up 5-0. Still probably not enough. But Angels manager Mike Scioscia has seen enough. Pitching change! Holy cow, a BALK before the replacement throws a pitch. Easy pop fly out and the inning is over. Again 5 will not be enough today.
After 2 innings - Angels 0 Royals 5
Ok, 3 batters into the 3rd, it's 5-2 after back to back home runs and a walk. Chen needs a double play very badly, but Tori Hunter is up and this could get ugly fast. After a doubling Bobby Abreu off of first on a pop up, Chen and the Royals are out of the inning......... after losing my internet, it is now 5-4 Royals and Chen seems like a different pitcher than he was in the first 2 innings. Then after a MUCH too quiet inning for KC, the Royals.....scratch that, I spoke too soon as Butler Pounds one out with 2 outs and it's 6-4 Royals. 426 feet.
After 4 innings - Angels 4 Royals 6
And after taking some care of some things at home, the Angels have the lead in the bottom of the 9th 9-7. Lead off walk to Gordon, Butler at bat and the Angels closer seems to be a little wild and almost blew the save on opening day. Fernando gets some help on a hard line drive that was headed towards the gap that was picked off my the shortstop. 1 on and 1 out, and the tying run standing in the box. Could Kila do it again? Not this time, but he does work a walk to put 2 on with only 1 out.
Here we go kids.... showtime !! Betemit lines one that is almost caught. Key word "almost" but 2 runs score and the game is tied with the winning run at 3rd and one out.
Escobar is up with the chance to be a hero and accepted as part of the future in KC. First pitch ball, then a strike. Then 2-1 count and he squared to bunt and took a strike. 2-2 count, fans on their feet. Angels have 5 infielders hoping to cut off a grounder. Ball 3, this is getting FUN! The 3-2 pitch is fouled off... would be great to be in the ballpark right now! Shock.. another walk and the bases are loaded again. Last minute roster addition Matt Treanor is up now. He grounds into a force out at home after Callaspo bobbles it to lose the chance at an inning ending double play. Next pitch is grounded right at third. 3 outs and after 9, it's even at 9. The Royals missed a golden opportunity to take a gift win and will now rely on the bullpen for the hold.
After 9 innings - Angels 9 Royals 9
Soria gets a ground out on his second pitch thanks to a good play by second baseman Aviles. Tough part of the order for the Angels. A base hit by IzturisIzturis and a walk to Kendrick but then Abreu singles. Angels have 1st and 3rd but Soria makes a great pitch to end the inning, still tied. An uneventful bottom of the 10th and we are on to the 11th.
After 10 innings - Angels 9 Royals 9
Tim Collins comes in for the 11th. And he is throwing strikes, working fast but after getting a strikeout, he gives up a single. Now would be a good time for another couple of strikeouts. A good test for a rookie reliever and he is passing so far. Short foul pop up and he has 2 outs. The bullpen for the Royals has been very good so far this short season. The 2-2 pitch to Mathis is swung on and missed and Collins continues his 1+ strikeout per inning.
This is exhausting... Betemit walk and steals 2nd, then for some unknown reason tries to advance to 3rd on a pitch in the dirt. Then 2 walks and the Royals have 2 on with 2 out. Can we end it here men? Of course not, Aviles strikes out. Painful.
After 11 innings Angels 9 Royals 9
Collins starts off the 12th with a strikeout, what else! A ground out and ANOTHER strikeout and Kendrick and the Angels are done in the 12th. Now that was efficient, hopefully the offense will respond. But nope...
After 12 innings Angels 9 Royals 9
Lead off single is cleaned up with a double play and another strikeout by Collins and time for the bottom of the 13th. This has become one of those games you are stuck following. After about 11 innings you have to stay tuned in to see how it ends.
Top of 13th uneventful... In the bottom half, Getz tried to take the game over with a walk, stolen base and boldly advanced on a ground out to 3rd. But we was caught in a run down after a tap to the pitcher. But then, it was WALK OFF time again... Treanor slams a game winning 3 run home run and the Royals are 3-1. Second best story of the game is the performance of Tim Collins... check this line out. 3 IP, 2 hits, 5 k's and the WIN.
Great job in this first series by the bullpen... or what MLB.com reports, they are called the Fauxhawks !!
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| photo from MLB.com |
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