2014 American League Wild Card Game

2014 American League Wild Card Game

File:2014ALWClogo.png
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 R H E Oakland Athletics 2 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 13 0 Kansas City Royals 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 2 9 15 0
Date	September 30, 2014
Venue	Kauffman Stadium
City	Kansas City, Missouri
Umpires	Gerry Davis (crew chief), James Hoye, Dan Iassogna, Bill Miller, Todd Tichenor, Bill Welke, Phil Cuzzi (replay), Tim Timmons (replay)
Attendance	40,502
Television	TBS
TV announcers	Ernie Johnson Jr., Ron Darling, Cal Ripken Jr., and Matt Winer
Radio	ESPN
Radio announcers	Jon Sciambi and Chris Singleton

The 2014 American League Wild Card Game was a play-in game during Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2014 postseason played between the American League's (AL) two wild card teams, the Oakland Athletics and the Kansas City Royals. It was held on September 30, 2014. The Royals won by a score of 9–8 in 12 innings, and advanced to play the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the 2014 American League Division Series.

This was the second postseason meeting between the Athletics and Royals, having first met in the 1981 ALDS (Athletics won 3–0).

The 12-inning contest tied the record for the longest (by innings) "winner-take-all" game in postseason history, shared with Game 7 of the 1924 World Series.

The game

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	R	H	E
Oakland Athletics	2	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	1	8	13	0
Kansas City Royals	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	3	1	0	0	2	9	15	0
WP: Jason Frasor (1–0)   LP: Dan Otero (0–1) Home runs: OAK: Brandon Moss 2 (2) KC: None

The one-game playoff was touted as a duel between the Royals' James Shields and the Athletics' Jon Lester, but neither starting pitcher would earn a decision in the game. Oakland's Brandon Moss homered early off of Shields with Coco Crisp on base, giving the Athletics a 2–0 advantage; Kansas City halved the lead in the bottom of the first when Billy Butler singled to score Nori Aoki. Lorenzo Cain and Eric Hosmer had RBI hits for the Royals in the third inning, vaulting Kansas City to a 3–2 lead. In this third inning, Oakland catcher Geovany Soto left the game with a thumb injury sustained in a play at the plate. Soto had started the game because he would be more adept at controlling the running game of the Royals. This would come back to haunt the Athletics later in the game. The fourth and fifth innings were scoreless, but a big sixth inning gave Oakland a large lead. Sam Fuld singled to lead off the inning, and Shields was relieved by Yordano Ventura after walking Josh Donaldson. Ventura's first batter, Moss, belted a three-run homerun to give the Athletics a 5-3 lead. After Ventura was relieved by Kelvin Herrera, Derek Norris and Crisp singled in two additional runs.

Both Oakland and Kansas City batted fruitlessly in the seventh inning, and Royals relief pitcher Wade Davis recorded three straight outs in the top of the eighth. In the bottom of the eighth, with Kansas City six outs away from having their season ended, the Royals manufactured a productive inning of their own. Alcides Escobar singled, and then stole second base with Nori Aoki at the plate. Lorenzo Cain singled, scoring Escobar. Cain stole second base himself with Eric Hosmer batting; Hosmer was then walked, at which point starting pitcher Jon Lester was relieved by Luke Gregerson. Nerves seemed to get the better of Gregerson, who allowed Billy Butler to single and score Cain, and then allowed Hosmer to score from third base on a wild pitch. After walking Alex Gordon Gregerson struck out the next two batters to preserve the Athletics' lead, but the Royals had crept to within one run.

Closer Greg Holland took the mound for Kansas City and was somewhat shaky, walking three batters, but mustered the three required outs without major damage, and Kansas City took their one-run deficit to the bottom of the ninth.

Oakland's closer, Sean Doolittle, pitched in relief of Gregerson. Pinch-hitter Josh Willingham hit a bloop single and was replaced by pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson. Dyson moved to second base on a successful bunt from Alcides Escobar, and then stole third with Aoki at bat. Aoki hit a deep sacrifice fly to right field for the second out of the inning, but Dyson was able to jog home, tying the game at 7–7 and completing the Royals' four-run comeback. Cain lined out to end the inning for Kansas City.

Brandon Finnegan, who 3 months earlier had pitched for TCU in the College World Series, began a strong inning of work in the tenth, replacing Greg Holland and recording three outs in quick succession. The Royals advanced Eric Hosmer to third base with two outs in the bottom of the tenth, but Salvador Pérez grounded out, putting a Royals victory on hold.

Finnegan again pitched well in the top of the eleventh, allowing only one hit and striking out Brandon Moss, who had already hit two home runs. Kansas City's offense produced in the bottom of the eleventh a situation identical to that of the tenth; the winning run stood 90 feet away with two outs, but Jayson Nix struck out to end the inning. Finnegan began the twelfth inning by walking Josh Reddick, who advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jed Lowrie. Finnegan was then relieved by Jason Frasor. Pinch-hitter Alberto Callaspo of Oakland took a wild pitch from Frasor, allowing Reddick to go to third base. Callaspo then hit a line drive to left field, scoring Reddick. The new pitcher Frasor quickly stopped the bleeding by retiring Derek Norris and Nick Punto, but the Athletics had retaken the lead, 8–7.

Lorenzo Cain failed to get the bottom of the twelfth off to a promising start for Kansas City when he grounded out. The Oakland Athletics were two outs away from advancing to the ALDS. However, Hosmer nursed a lengthy at-bat into a deep hit off the left field wall that was poorly fielded, allowing him to reach third base. Christian Colon then managed an infield single to tie the game again, scoring Hosmer. Oakland pitcher Dan Otero was replaced by Fernando Abad, who threw to only one batter, Gordon, who popped out. Abad was then relieved by Jason Hammel. Christian Colon, still on first base, stole second (the 7th steal of the game for the Royals) with Pérez at the plate, after a pitchout was dropped by Derek Norris. Pérez (who was 0-for-5 at this point) then singled down the line to left field, which narrowly missed the outstretched glove of Josh Donaldson, scoring Colon and ending the marathon game with a Royals victory and a ticket to the ALDS against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Aftermath

Kansas City would go on to sweep Los Angeles in three games of a five game series and the Baltimore Orioles in four games of a seven game series before losing in seven games to the San Francisco Giants in the 2014 World Series. This victory would be the first of four extra-inning victories for the Royals in the 2014 Postseason.

After the game, many Royals fans considered it "The Best Game Ever" in their franchise history because of the incredible 4-run comeback by Kansas City. It was the Royals' first playoff win in 29 years.

The 2014 Royals were the first team in MLB history to trail going into the 8th, 9th, and 12th innings and win.

External links

• 2014 American League Wild Card Game at Baseball Reference