Angels manager: Royals defense won game

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Kansas City Royals keep finding new and creative ways to beat the odds in what looks like the beginning of a charmed run through the playoffs.

On Thursday they opened their first playoff series in 29 years with these logic-defying developments:

• The guy who was desperately trying to reach base so he could give way to a pinch-runner hit the game-winning home run.
• The outfielder who staggered under a couple of easy fly balls made two sensational, run-saving catches.
• The starter who got bumped from the rotation earned the win out of the bullpen.

For the second game in a row, the Royals pulled out an improbable extra-inning win in the postseason, this one not quite as dramatic as Tuesday's wild-card victory but every bit as meaningful, as they outlasted the Los Angeles Angels 3-2 in 11 innings in the opener of their American League Division Series.

Two nights after overcoming a four-run, eighth-inning deficit against Jon Lester, one of the premier postseason pitchers of his era, the Royals wrested away the home-field advantage from the team with the best record in the majors.

Against their ace. With only four hits. Powered by a home run delivered by a ninth-place hitter who was banished to the minors in May.

Something special may be afoot here.

Kansas City guaranteed itself the chance to close out the series at home thanks to Mike Moustakas' tiebreaking home run leading off the 11th inning against new reliever Fernando Salas, the first time a Royal has ever gone deep in extra innings in the postseason.

"He's a big-time player and he steps up when it's time to step up,'' first baseman Eric Hosmer said of his buddy Moustakas.

The blast was all the more unlikely because not only did Kansas City finish last in the majors in home runs, but Moustakas hadn't launched one since Aug. 25. Though he did hit 15 homers in the season, he batted .212, lowest among major league third basemen.

No wonder the evening's hero, a Los Angeles native with a large contingent of friends and relatives in attendance, acknowledged a home run was the farthest thing from his mind.

"I was trying to do anything in my power to make it over to first base,'' Moustakas said, "and let (pinch-runner Jerrod Dyson) come in and do what he does.''

What the Royals do these days is win in unconventional ways. They drove the Oakland Athletics batty with seven steals to beat them in the wild-card game, then put on a clinic on outfield defense to edge the Angels.

Right fielder Nori Aoki, who looked shaky in catching two routine flies early in the game, twice kept the Angels from taking the lead with remarkable catches in the sixth and seventh innings. Before that, center fielder Lorenzo Cain robbed Kole Calhoun of extra bases with a perfectly timed leap against the fence in the first, then made a sliding grab in the next inning.

"This game was not won and lost in that 11th inning,'' Los Angeles manager Mike Scioscia said. "This game was won by Kansas City with four incredible defensive plays.''

Aoki's first big catch came with two on and two outs in the sixth, as starter Jason Vargas was trying to preserve a 2-2 tie. Howie Kendrick's drive to the wall appeared to split the outfielders, and Cain actually made the more concerted effort to catch the ball. Aoki's head was turned away when the ball landed in his glove.

The next inning, Aoki pulled off another highlight-reel catch with two outs and a runner on third, denying C.J. Cron with a sprawling grab in the corner.

"I actually jumped to avoid him and I tried to catch the ball at the same time,'' Cain said of the sixth-inning gem, "so I completely missed it. I'm so happy he caught the ball. Once it got by my glove I thought it hit off the wall, then I looked down and he had it in his glove.''

Kansas City mustered two runs and three hits in seven innings against Jered Weaver, but Vargas nearly matched his former Long Beach State teammate, going six solid innings himself.

Then the bullpen took over, and few put up more zeroes than Kansas City's relievers, who combined for five scoreless innings despite losing stalwart Kelvin Herrera to a forearm strain.

Regular-season starter Danny Duffy, who took care of the 10th inning to earn the win, gave up the relievers' only hit, a leadoff single to Calhoun that the Angels could not cash in as their starting Nos. 2-7 hitters went 1-for-23. MVP favorite Mike Trout wound up 0-for-4 with a walk in his first playoff action.

The Royals' postgame clubhouse had more an air of confidence than celebration afterward, the players aware there's plenty of work ahead. Moustakas, the target of fan frustration over his seemingly endless offensive woes earlier in the season, deftly balanced the enjoyment of his biggest personal moment with the need to prioritize the team.

"It's a crazy feeling right now, but at the end of the day we're out here to win ballgames,'' he said. "Me coming back home, it's nice, it's fun, but we have a job to do and that's finding ways to win ballgames.''

That they've been doing, by any means necessary.