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Royals rally twice in Game 2, even ALDS with Astros

Ted Berg
USA TODAY Sports
Salvador Perez points to the sky after hitting a solo home run in the second inning.

KANSAS CITY --  Breaking down the American League Division Series Game 2 at Kauffman Stadium. 

Royals 5, Astros 4:  The series is tied, 1-1.

State of the series: After a travel day Saturday, the series resumes in Houston on Sunday with Astros ace Dallas Keuchel set to square off with Kansas City’s Edinson Volquez in Game 3.

A leading AL Cy Young Award candidate, Keuchel (20-8, 2.48 ERA) last pitched on Tuesday, when he threw six scoreless innings against the Yankees in New York to earn the win in the AL Wild Card game. A groundball machine and one of the most difficult pitchers in the Majors to homer against, Keuchel went 15-0 with a 1.46 ERA in 18 starts at Minute Maid Park during the regular season. 

Volquez (13-9, 3.55 ERA), a well-traveled, 32-year-old veteran, put together his second straight strong season in his first year with the Royals after signing a two-year, $20 million free-agent contract in the offseason. He made his last start on Sept. 30 with a six-inning, one-run effort against the White Sox, then threw two innings in relief in the Royals’ final game of the regular season.

Game 2 pivot point: The Astros got out to an early lead on a Colby Rasmus double in the first and a rather Royals-esque rally of soft hits and good baserunning in the second and held a 4-2 advantage heading into the bottom of the sixth.

But after Lorenzo Cain’s one-out double, A.J. Hinch pulled lefty starter Scott Kazmir after 97 pitches and turned to lefty reliever Oliver Perez to face lefty-hitting Eric Hosmer, switch-hitting Kendrys Morales, and left-hitting Mike Moustakas, in that order. Perez retired none of them. Hosmer stroked a single to center to score Cain, Morales pushed a grounder up the middle that snuck past the Astros’ shifted defense, and Moustakas walked.


Josh Fields, who relieved Perez, walked Salvador Perez to force in the tying run before striking out the next two batters to end the sixth. The Royals took the lead an inning later, when Ben Zobrist drove in Alcides Escobar from third after Escobar’s lead-off triple.

Man of the moment: Salvador Perez got the Royals’ scoring started with a line-drive home run into the Royals bullpen in the bottom of the second, then drew a rare walk with the bases loaded to tie the game in the sixth. For good measure, he added an opposite-field single in the bottom of the eighth. 

And though the Astros’ best baserunners did not have many opportunities to steal on Friday, no one on the Majors’ top basestealing team attempted one against Perez in the game. In Thursday night’s loss, Perez made a perfect throw to nail Jose Altuve stealing second while Chris Young was on the mound – no small feat.

Needing a mulligan: Though lefty reliever Tony Sipp doesn’t show much of a platoon split, he has been one of Hinch’s best and most reliable relievers all season long. Perez, in a tiny 12-inning sample, yielded a 6.75 ERA after joining the Astros in early August. 

Hinch’s choice to go with Perez with a runner on in the sixth is certainly defensible, given Perez’s outstanding numbers against lefty batters this season, but the manager’s hunch did not pay off on Friday. And Sipp, when he did enter the game after the damage had been done in the seventh, retired Hosmer, Morales and Moustakas in order.

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What you missed on TV: A raucous, capacity crowd at Kauffman Stadium maintaining an electric atmosphere even after the home team fell behind early. The 2:45 p.m. local start time did not appear to prevent any fan from getting to the game in time for the national anthem. The seats stayed full and the park’s concourses remained clear even with the Kansas City club down by a couple of runs heading into late innings. Once the Royals tied the game, the place exploded. 

Manager’s special: Ned Yost has been reputed – and sometimes vilified – for adhering to strict bullpen roles in the late innings. But though Yost typically used fireballer Kelvin Herrera for the eighth inning after Greg Holland’s injury forced Wade Davis into the closer’s role, the Royals’ manager opted to use Herrera in the seventh on Friday to face the top of the Astros’ lineup. 

Herrera got a weak ground ball to retire Jose Altuve then struck out George Springer. No. 3 hitter Carlos Correa lined a single to center, but Herrera got the red-hot Rasmus to pop up to end the inning. 

Ryan Madson pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning to get the ball to Davis in the ninth.

GALLERY: ASTROS vs. ROYALS

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