Royals: Revisiting the 2015 World Series, Game 5

Surviving a blow in Game 3, the Kansas City Royals won Game 4 and now try to end the series before it can go back to City of Fountains.

Since the 1969 season, the World Series has ended in five games or less nineteen times out of forty-five. Hard to believe but the contest between the American League and National League pennant winners was essentially not close 42 percent of the time. Would this be another yawner or can the New York Mets rally against the Kansas City Royals and keep their hopes alive?

As great as it would be to win the trophy at Kauffman Stadium you know the Royals organization and, if answering honestly, the majority of fans would prefer to end it here and not take the chance of extending the series.

The last time Kansas City was the best team in baseball was in 1985, and they had to rally from dropping the first two contests at home and being down three games to one. They are very aware that winning three in a row is possible.

The Mets have to ask themselves what they have to do to keep the Royals down. By giving up late leads in both Game 1 and Game 4, New York could easily be the ones looking to clinch the title this crisp November night. The Kansas City Royals hope to put a dagger in the hearts of Mets fans by winning the title at Citi Field.

On tap is a rematch from Game 1 with Matt Harvey and Edinson Volquez taking the bump. The lineups for both teams stay essentially the same with neither manager breaking from the norm to pull off a victory.

For all the losses Ned Yost oversaw during his managerial career, he enters this game with a 21-9 postseason record. That is good for a .724 winning percentage and best ever for any skipper who managed at least 17 playoff games. One more victory and he would be able to hoist the World Series trophy.

As the game moves on through the middle innings, the Kansas City Royals cannot seem to fire up the bats.

Harvey comes out firing bullets in the fourth not only striking out the side but doing it to the heart of the Kansas City Royals lineup.  Cain, Eric Hosmer, and Moustakas all take a seat.  The only negative could be it took the Dark Knight 15 pitches to do so.

Volquez walks Daniel Murphy with one out but thanks to another double play escapes with no runs allowed.  Havey again strikes out the side in the fifth, with a walk to Alex Gordon mixed in.  Another 19 pitches are expended to get out of the inning.

The unpredictability of locating his pitches hits Volquez as he puts Duda on with a free pass.  A couple of outs are recorded and then Wilmer Flores is intentionally walked to get to the pitcher’s spot in the batting order.  With Harvey cruising on the mound he is left in to bat and ends the inning with a ground out to Escobar.

Ben Zobrist gives the Royals another baserunner with a line-drive single to right field but again Kansas City can not advance him any further.

Granderson leads off with another walk which the Royals probably view as a better option than hitting it out of the park.  After a single to David Wright, Hosmer makes another unexpected error and now the bases are loaded.

Volquez stays in the game and pops Cespedes to pop to short which is the best outcome possible.  Duda hits a ball deep enough to center field that chases Granderson home and d’Arnaud grounds out to Moustakas to end the inning.  One run in but it could have been much worse.

Hosmer makes a dash home that ranks in the top plays in Kansas City Royals history.

More of the same from the Kansas City Royals in the seventh inning.  A leadoff single to Moustakas but no one can push him further down the base paths.

The book is closed on Volquez with six innings pitched, five walks, five strikeouts, only two hits but two earned runs surrendered.  Kelvin Herrera gives up a single to Michael Conforto but he is erased on a double play hit into by Flores and then Harvey grounds out.

As we start the eighth the Royals are running out of time to rally and Harvey continues to dominate setting them down in order.  Herrera strikes out the side in his half of the inning and we now go to the ninth with Kansas City needing two runs to keep the game alive.

With Harvey pitching well and Jeurys Familia already blowing a save in the series, the starter heads to the mound.  Cain draws a walk and promptly steals second base.  Hosmer then strokes a double to left field and with no outs and a runner on second Kansas City finds themselves close to tying the contest.

Familia now comes in and Moustakas gets the best kind of out, one that advances Hosmer to third.  And then the dash heard around the baseball world takes place.

Salvador Perez squibs a ball to Wright at third who freezes Hosmer with a glance back at him.  As soon as he turns to throw to first, Hosmer speeds home.  Duda, perhaps surprised at the boldness of the “Wizard of Hos”, sails his throw to the plate and we are now tied.

Herrera gives the Kansas City Royals an unheard-of third inning of relief and faces the minimum nine batters.  Once again we are headed to extra innings in this World Series.

The tenth and eleventh frames are scoreless and pretty much uneventful with neither team threatening.  Addison Reed goes to the rubber in the top of twelfth and Perez greets him with a single.  Jerrod Dyson pinch runs for Salvy and immediately steals second.  Gordon grounds out to the right side of the infield putting Dyson on third with one down.

You cannot make this stuff up.  Christian Colon pinch-hits for his first at-bat in the 2015 postseason and smokes a line drive to left to give the Royals their first lead of the game.  Paulo Orlando reaches on an error and then Escobar doubles in Colon.  Zobrist is intentionally walked and Bartolo Colon relieves Reed.

Cain makes them pay with a double of his own scoring two.  The next two batters are retired but somehow the Royals now have a 7-2 lead.

Wade Davis comes in to close out the game, albeit not in a save situation.  Duda and d’Arnuad strikeout and then Conforto singles.  Davis punches out Flores and for the second time in their history, the Kansas City Royals are the World Series champions!

What an amazing run for this group between 2014 and 2015.  Two trips to the World Series with a loss in Game 7 in ’14 but a gutsy victory the next year.  For fans who had waited 30 years to see a champion again or those who had never been able to experience this, it was a fantastic feeling.

An estimated 800,000 fans packed the parade route and rally to let the team know how much they appreciated them.  What a sight it was to see.