It took 14 innings and over five hours, but the Kansas City Royals finally prevailed over the New York Mets 5-4 to take Game 1 of the World Series Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium.
Eric Hosmer came up to the plate with the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the 14th just looking to push across the winning run. He delivered an RBI sac fly to deep right to take care of the win and atone for an error he committed that gave the Mets the lead in the eighth.
Hosmer misplayed a bouncer at first base in the 8th in a play very reminiscent of the error committed by Bill Buckner, which gave the Mets a 4-3 lead. Luckily teammate Alex Gordon picked him up with a booming home run to deep center off Jeurys Familia, marking the first run the Mets closer had allowed all postseason.
That also was Familia’s first blown save since July 30 to show you how outstanding he had been.
Both starters were solid in Game 1. Matt Harvey and Edinson Volquez each allowed three runs and a home run in the contest and left with the game tied. The Royals’ bullpen shut out the Mets from the ninth on, with starting pitcher Chris Young picking up the win after not allowing a hit over the final three innings of the game. The Mets’ bullpen was nearly as sharp, but Familia allowed the solo shot and Bartolo Colon was unable to wiggle out of a jam in the 14th.
Game 2 is on Wednesday night, so the players won’t have a lot of time in between playing a five hour, nine minute Game 1, which tied a record for the longest World Series game in history. Johnny Cueto and Jacob deGrom are the scheduled Game 2 starters.
