It took a lot longer than the many thought for the Kansas City Royals to put away the Detroit Tigers. With the game knotted at one each in the bottom of the ninth, the rain hit. It poured down on and off for an hour and 43 minutes on Sunday.
Eventually, the two teams started up again. The Royals won Game 3 of the series with a tenth-inning sacrifice fly. With the 2-1 win, the Royals took the series, two games to one.
Chris Young got the start for the Royals and was dominant. He went 6.0 innings and gave up one run (zero earned runs) on three hits. The former comeback player of the year struck out three and thew 83 pitches. Young has a 0.78 ERA on the 2015 season.
Reliever Jason Frasor got the win for the Royals after pitching a decent ninth inning of baseball. He walked two and gave up a hit, but he did not yield any runs to the offensively-talented Tigers squad, earning him a win. He is 1-0 with a 0.79 ERA on the season.
"I thought the rain was conspiring to beat us," Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. "We had Luke [Hochevar] up, and then he was done before he ever throws a pitch, and then Frasor is hot because they have the tarp off, and it starts raining again so we almost lost him."
Greg Holland came in for the bottom of the tenth and recorded his sixth save of the season. Things got a little shaky after he gave up three walks and one hit, but a double-play wiped away his troubles. Holland has not yet given up a run this season.
"I just didn't have any command of my pitches, so I was really working hard out there," Holland said.
The Royals got things started in the second as Kendrys Morales doubled. That set the table for Alex Gordon, who doubled to deep left center to score the veteran from second. That gave the Royals a 1-0 lead.
In the third, the Tigers got on the board with an Ian Kinsler single to left to score Anthony Gose on a wild overthrow. That knotted the game at one run each.
The game stayed a pitchers' dual until the tenth inning, and the Tigers bullpen was finally outmatched. Former Tiger Omar Infante hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Gordon. That gave Kansas City the 2-1 lead.
The Tigers lost because of the lack of production from the heart of the order. Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez, Yoenis Cespdes and J.D. Martinez struggled a ton against the Royals pitching staff.
Combined, the four went 2 for 11 with two walks. The Tigers were hoping for a much better performance. At the top of the order, Gose and Kinsler were on four times between themselves, but the middle could not drive them in, which did not help the Tigers in pursuit of victory.
Shane Greene, the Tigers starting pitcher, struggled early, but he turned his outing into an outstanding one. Greene went 8.0 innings and gave up one earned run on just four hits. The youngster struck out three on 96 total pitches. He got the no decision and has a 4.71 ERA on the season.
Detroit decided to use rookie Angel Nesbitt in the top of the tenth because he was healthy and had not pitched in quite some time. Nesbitt gave up one hit and one walk, which resulted in the sacrifice fly to win the game.
If Nesbitt had not hit Gordon early in the tenth, the game would have been a different story. But, after looking at different angles, he may not have even hit him. However, the game is over and nothing can be reversed.
"Certain angles it may look like it missed him, but you can clearly see it when it slows down: It hits the jersey and it snaps back to the left, after being hit," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. "So there was no phantom hit-by-pitch."
The rookie relief pitcher needs to continue to work on his command and not allow himself to get out of control in pressure situations. The nerves may have gotten to him during that short outing.