Royals One Year Ago: 9-6 Game 4 Win Over Astros Featured Historic Rally

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Oct 12, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Houston Astros right fielder George Springer (4) celebrates scoring with left fielder Colby Rasmus (28) on an RBI double by shortstop Carlos Correa (not pictured) during the fifth inning against the Kansas City Royals in game four of the ALDS at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports /

A Premature Celebration

Then KC’s vaunted bullpen betrayed them. Ryan Madson replaced Kelvin Herrera after Herrera issued a walk to open the bottom of the seventh. Correa then slammed his second home run of the game, and his fourth RBI, for what appeared to be a finishing blow. With the Astros up 5-2, the Royals looked all but dead. Just to drive the stake even deeper, Colby Rasmus followed with a rainbow shot that stayed just inside the right field foul pole. Ahead, 6-2, Houston fans started to celebrate their ALDS win.

Heck, even Texas governor Greg Abbott jumped on the early celebration train:

Here's the screen cap of the Tweet deleted by TX Gov. Abbott pic.twitter.com/wYYh6WNcrO
— Cliff Saunders (@radioguycliff) October 12, 2015

Notice that neither the Rangers or Astros have won a playoff game since this premature Tweet by Abbot’s account. Both Texas and Houston failed to advance in 2015, and the Blue Jays swept the Rangers 3-0 in the 2016 ALDS despite Texas coming into the series with the AL’s best regular season record.

One thing most people forget about this game is that Ryan Madson recovered to strand runners on second and third with one out in the seventh. If he tanks, the eighth-inning comeback might not have happened. Four runs was bad enough, but five or more would have made it an even higher mountain to climb.

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