By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Royals will continue in the postseason after another narrow win over the Baltimore Orioles, advancing to the American League Championship Series with a 2-1 victory, sweeping the AL Wildcard.
Kansas City got off to an early lead in the first inning as Michael Massey led off with a double, eventually being driven in on a single by Vinnie Pasquantino. From there, the Royals would turn to starting pitcher Seth Lugo to hold Baltimore off the board.
And Lugo would do just that, until the fifth inning, but did run into a jam along the way. In the fourth inning, the Orioles would get singles from Anthony Santander and Adley Rutcschman. With two runners on and one out, former Royal Ryan O'Hearn would hit a screaming ground ball towards second base, where Massey would dive to keep the ball in the infield, throwing O'Hearn out at first. Ryan Mountcastle would fly out to end the inning.
Baltimore would tie the game up with the first batter of the fifth inning on a solo home run from Cedric Mullins. The Orioles would go on to load the bases on Lugo with a single by Ramon Urias, a walk to Gunnar Henderson, and Jordan Westburg reaching on a fielding error. Santander would pop out to Yuli Gurriel before manager Matt Quatraro would come out and pull Lugo from the game.
Angel Zerpa came from the bullpen and would strike out Colton Cowser and then get Rutschman to ground out to Bobby Witt Jr who would throw to Gurriel to escape the sixth inning.
After Hunter Renfroe struck out to begin the sixth inning, Kyle Isbel would hit a hard ball into the ground and rush to first base for a single. Garcia would strike out to follow, but then Massey would hit a bloop single into right center field, with Isbel running on contact he would make it to third base. One batter later Witt Jr would hit a ground ball to a diving Westburg, who wouldn't get the ball to first in time, allowing Isbel to cross home and give the Royals the lead.
Over the last four innings, John Schreiber, Sam Long, and Lucas Erceg would combine to give up just one hit, Long allowing one walk, and striking out two batters, as Erceg earned his second save in a row.
Massey (2-for-4), Witt Jr. (2-for-5), and Pasquantino (2-for-4) were the leading hitters in the win. Zerpa pitched one inning and struck out two for his first postseason victory.
Kansas City will now head to New York on Saturday to begin the American League Division Series against the Yankees. With Michael Wacha not having to pitch, he would be the probable pitcher to open the series, while the Yankees have announced Gerrit Cole as their starter.
First pitch on Saturday will be at 5:38pm. The game will be aired on KFEQ and televised on TBS.