Royals: Revisiting the 2015 World Series, Game 5

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.