The Kansas City Royals win a wild Wild Card game

The Kansas City Royals defeated the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night.  The game took place at Kaufmann Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri and the final score was 9-8 in 12 innings.  It was the American League wild card game with the winner advancing to take on the Anaheim Angels in the American League Division Series.  James Shields started for the Royals against Jon Lester for the Athletics and at the end neither was a factor.  The offenses played well with the Athletics using power and the Royals using their speed. 

Shields pitched five innings giving up five hits and four runs with two walks and six strikeouts.  Yordano Ventura pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up two hits and two runs, Kelvin Herrera pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up four hits and a run with three strikeouts and Wade Davis pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout.  Greg Holland pitched an inning with three walks and a strikeout, Brandon Finnegan pitched 2 1/3 innings giving up a hit and a run with a walk and three strikeouts and Jason Frasor pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and he struck out one. 

Lester pitched 7 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and six runs with two walks and five strikeouts.  Luke Gregerson pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a walk with two strikeouts, Sean Doolittle pitched two innings giving up two hits and a run and he blew the save.  Dan Otero took the loss pitching 1 1/3 innings giving up three hits and two runs with a strikeout, Fernando Abad pitched to one batter and retired him and Jason Hammel gave up a hit without retiring a batter. 

Alcides Escobar had two hits, Nori Aoki had an RBI and Lorenzo Cain had two hits and two RBI.  Eric Hosmer had three hits, an RBI and drew two walks, Billy Butler had two hits and two RBI and Colon had a hit and an RBI.  Alex Gordon drew a walk, Salvador Perez had a hit and an RBI and Omar Infante had two hits.  Mike Moustakas had a hit, Josh Willingham had a hit and Cain hit a double.  Hosmer hit a triple and the Royals were 7-15 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.  Aoki, Escobar, Cain, Gore, Gordon, Dyson and Colon each had a stolen base.  Hosmer was caught stealing and Perez had a passed ball. 

Coco Crisp had two hits and an RBI, Sam Fuld had two hits and drew a walk and Josh Donaldson had two hits and drew a walk.  Brandon Moss had two hits, five RBI and drew a walk, Josh Reddick had two hits and drew two walks and Stephen Vogt drew a walk.  Alberto Callaspo had a hit and an RBI, Derek Norris had a hit and an RBI and Eric Sogard had a hit.  Moss hit two homeruns and the Athletics were 4-9 with runners in scoring position and left ten men on base. 

Moss hit a two run homerun in the first to give the Athletics a 2-0 lead.  Butler hit an RBI single in the bottom of the first to make it a 2-1 game.  In the third Cain hit an RBI double and Hosmer hit an RBI single giving the Royals a 3-2 lead.  In the sixth Moss hit a three run homerun, Norris hit an RBI single, Crisp hit an RBI single to give the Athletics a 7-3 lead.  In the eighth Cain hit an RBI single, Butler hit an RBI single and a wild pitch scored another run to make it 7-6.  In the ninth Aoki hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game at seven.  In the 12th Callaspo hit an RBI single to give the A's a 8-7 lead and then Colon hit an RBI single in the 12th to tie the game and Perez hit an RBI walk-off single to give the Royals a 9-8 win.  The Royals advance to the ALDS to play the Anaheim Angels in Anaheim beginning on Thursday night.