Billy Butler leads Royals to 7-2 win over Giants in Game 2

Just like that, the Kansas City Royals are back in business.

Thanks to a solid outing from Yordano Ventura, another dominant bit of work from the relief corps and a balanced offensive attack, Ned Yost‘s club pulled away late in a 7-2 win over the San Francisco Giants in Game 2 of the World Series Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium.

A five-run sixth inning broke a 2-2 tie and chased Giants starter Jake Peavy, who was pulled after allowing the first two men to each in the frame – despite being at just 66 pitches on the night. Billy Butler got things rolling from there, scoring Lorenzo Cain from second and allowing Eric Hosmer to advance to second on an RBI single against right-handed reliever Jean Machi.

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That was the end of Machi’s night, as he gave way to left-hander Javier Lopez, who retired Alex Gordon on a flight for the first out of the inning. Rookie Hunter Strickland was then called upon by San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy, and it ultimately proved to be an ill-fated move as the wheels came off quickly for the right-hander.

A Strickland wild pitch that got past catcher Buster Posey allowed both runners to move into scoring position before Salvador Perez plated both runners with a double to the left-center field gap, pushing the Royals’ lead to 5-2. The Kansas City backstop was then along for the ride as Omar Infante took Strickland deep, accounting for the final two runs of the night.

Following the home run, Strickland and Perez exchanged words, drawing members of both benches onto the field, but no punches were thrown nor ejections issued by the umpires.

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The final line for Peavy read as follows: four earned runs on six hits and two walks in five-plus innings of work. Meanwhile, his counterpart, Ventura, was hit regularly by the Giants – allowing eight hits – but limited the National League champions to just two runs in 5 1/3 innings of work, before giving way to the lights-out trio of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland, who struck out the side in the top of the ninth to give Kansas City its first World Series win in nearly three decades.

Nine different San Francisco batters tallied a base hit in the loss, but, as a team, the Giants were just 1-for-8 with men in scoring position. Meanwhile, Kansas City had just one more hit, but went 5-for-9 with runners in scoring position – a key difference in the outcome of Wednesday’s contest.

Butler, Perez and Infante each drove in a pair in the win, and four different Royals players contributed multi-hit efforts in the win. The series now shifts to San Francisco for Game 3 on Friday night at AT&T Park. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. CT. Jeremy Guthrie will take the ball for the Royals and he will be opposed by veteran sinkerballer Tim Hudson.