World Series Game 1: Royals beat Mets in 14 innings
If Game 1 of the 2015 World Series was an indication of what’s to come, then we are in for a great fall classic. But it’s going to be hard to top what we saw Tuesday night.
What we saw was the longest game one in World Series history. The Royals beat the Mets 5-4 in a 14 inning – five hour and nine minute marathon
This was a night filled with stories both on and off the field. As the game was about to start reports began to surface that Edinson Volquez’s father passed away earlier in the day. Initially there were reports that Volquez found out on the way to the ballpark. However, conflicting reports indicated that Volquez had not been told the news as of the start of game one. It was later revealed on the broadcast that Volquez’s wife asked the team not to inform him so that he would be able to pitch. Clearly this was a difficult situation, and there wasn’t an easy answer for how to handle this.
As the focus turned to the action on the field the Royals jumped on Matt Harvey early. Alcides Escobar led off the game with a first pitch inside the park home run (this could have easily been ruled an error on Yoenis Cespedes). The Royals were able to add two more walks and a single through the second inning, but it didn’t lead to any more runs. After the second, Harvey settled down and held Kansas City scoreless until the sixth.
Volquez cruised through his first two innings of work. His fastball was topping out in the mid to high 90’s and he was able to keep his pitch count low. In the third, he hit Kelly Johnson and walked Curtis Granderson, but the Mets were unable to capitalize.
One of the oddest moments of the night came in the fourth inning when Fox lost the power to its television truck. The network went to their studio show for a few minutes before coming back with the international feed.
New York’s bats came alive and they scored a run in the fourth, fifth, and sixth inning. In the fourth Travis d’Arnaud singled home Daniel Murphy. Curtis Granderson gave the Mets their first lead of the game with a solo shot in the fifth. Finally, in the sixth Yoenis Cespedes came home on a Michael Conforto sac fly.
Volquez finished throwing 6 innings. He gave up six hits, three runs, and struck out three.
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The Royals responded in the bottom of the sixth with two runs of their own. Ben Zobrist led off the inning with a double, and Lorenzo Cain followed up with a single. Hosmer got Zobrist home on a sac fly, then Cain made one of the biggest plays of the game when he stole second base. That allowed him to score on a Mike Moustakas single.
Harvey’s night was done after the sixth. He gave up five hits, three runs, and struck out two.
Things stay tied at 3-3 until the top of the 8th. At this point Kelvin Herrera was pitching for Kansas City. With two outs Juan Lagares singled and then stole second base. Wilmer Flores hit a ball down the first base line that Eric Hosmer was unable to field and Lageres score the go ahead run. The Mets took a 4-3 lead, and with Jeurys Familia pitching it looked like the game was done.
However, on a crazy night things were about to get even crazier. Alex Gordon stepped to the plate with one out. He proceeded hit a hanging Familia pitch over the fence to dead center field. The game would stay tied into the 14th inning.
The Royals threatened to end the game in the 12th with Bartolo Colon pitching for the Mets. Paulo Orlando led off the inning with a single. Escobar then bunted Orlando over to second, and Colon intentionally walked Zobrist. Following a Lorenzo Cain ground out the Mets opted to also walk Eric Hosmer. With the bases loaded and two outs Jarrod Dyson flied out to center to send the game to the 13th inning.
Kansas City’s game four starter Chris Young pitched three scoreless innings for the Royals as the game dragged on.
Finally, in the 14th Alcides Escobar reached first on a David Wright throwing error. Ben Zobrist responded with a single to give the Royals first and third with no one out. Colon then intentionally walked Lorenzo Cain to face Eric Hosmer. Hosmer was able to get a ball into deep right field and Escobar scored on the sac fly.
Jacob deGrom and Johnny Cueto will square off in game two at 7:30 on Wednesday night. You know, eighteen hours from the end of this game.