Kansas City just keeps rolling along in the postseason. They haven't made the playoffs since 1985. Now that they are back for the first time in 29 years, they just want to make sure they get to win it all for the first time in 29 years. It's somewhat crazy to consider the fact that the Royals have missed the playoffs for this time and now they are 8-0 and heading back to the World Series.
In this clinching game of the Championship Series, the Royals sent Jason Vargas to the mound while the Orioles countered with Miguel Gonzalez. Vargas started the first inning going three up and three down, and he had a lead from there. That is because in the bottom of the inning, Alcides Escobar started things off for the Royals with an infield single. Then Gonzalez hit Norichika Aoki with a pitch to put runners on first and second. Surprisingly, Lorenzo Cain was directed to sacrifice the ball to first which advanced both runners to second and third respectively. That was a gutsy move by Ned Yost on that play. Eric Hosmer grounded into a fielder's choice, but there was an error on Catcher Caleb Joseph of the Orioles, and both runners scored and Hosmer was safe at second. That would be all the runs for the Royals on the evening, but it was also all they needed.
That was because the Royals pitching did everything that was needed to get a win with low scoring in the game. The only run allowed was when Vargas gave up a solo home run to Ryan Flaherty to start the top of the 3rd. Vargas actually didn't give up any more hits after that in his 5.1 innings of work on the night, striking out 6 Orioles batters. He would walk two more men, one of them being Jonathan Schoop to lead off the top of the 6th, he would eventually advance to third on a Adam Jones single, but there were two outs and Nelson Cruz lined out to second to end the inning.
The bullpen only gave up one hit and one run in the final three innings, stopping the Orioles from building any momentum to build a rally. Nick Markakis had a single off of Wade Davis in the 8th inning, and Adam Jones walked off of Greg Holland in the 9th inning. Neither runner got past first base though as the Royals bullpen crew of Kelvin Herrera, Davis, and Holland just shut down the opposition.
One thing is for certain, the Royals will have some time to rest again to determine their lineup as the NLCS has at least one more game to go. Also, given how recently the other two teams have been in the World Series, the Royals are still likely to go in as an underdog. Whether it's the Cardinals or the Giants, many fans with no allegiance to the Royals will probably be cheering for them.