Angels swept away after Royal thumping
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals waited nearly three decades to return to the post-season. Now that they’re here, they want to stick around for a while.
Alex Gordon hit a bases-clearing double in the first inning, Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas each homered and the wild-card Royals finished off a sweep of the mighty Los Angeles Angels with an emphatic 8-3 victory Sunday night in the AL Division Series.
The scrappy team with the quirky manager, popgun offence, dynamic defence and lights-out bullpen will open the AL Championship Series against the Orioles beginning Friday night in Baltimore. Kansas City went 4-3 against the O’s this year.
The Angels, 98-64 in the regular season, became the second team in the divisional era that began in 1969 to have the best record in the majors and get swept out of the playoffs. In no small coincidence, the Royals dealt the same humiliating fate to the New York Yankees in the 1980 ALCS.
Stalking around the mound amid an electric atmosphere, James Shields lived up to his “Big Game James” billing. The Royals’ ace gave up homers to Mike Trout and Albert Pujols, but otherwise held in check a suddenly punchless Los Angeles lineup. The highest-scoring team in baseball managed six runs in the entire series.
Shields got plenty of help from the great gloves that made spectacular plays in every game.
In this one, it was Lorenzo Cain making back-to-back diving grabs in centre field in the fifth inning that ended an Angels rally and preserved a five-run lead.