Royals beat Giants 10-0 in Game 6

HOWIE RUMBERG
AP Sports Writer

It’s a rout. Kansas City beats Giants 10-0.

The Royals have to feel good about their chances tomorrow night. They sure have history on their side: The home team has won the last nine Game 7s after the “We Are Family” Pittsburgh Pirates clinched it on the road in 1979. Kansas City won the last two games at home in 1985 for their only World Series title.

The Giants’ Tim Hudson will become the oldest pitcher to start a Game 7 at 39 years, 107 days old. Roger Clemens was 15 days older when he started Game 7 for the Yankees in 2001 against the Diamondbacks. Jeremy Guthrie will get the ball for the Royals.

This Series has followed the exact pattern of the only other all-wild card matchup in 2002, when the Giants won the opener, fell behind 2-1, took a 3-2 lead and lost the last two games at Anaheim.

Thanks for following along.

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Both managers have the luxury of saving their best relievers for tomorrow’s Game 7. Royals manager Ned Yost skipped over his three stars and went with Jason Frasor in the eighth. Bruce Bochy has brought in starter Ryan Vogelsong for the Giants in the bottom half.

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Yordano Ventura: seven innings, three hits, zero runs, five walks and four Ks. He threw 64 of his 100 pitches more than 95 mph. Not bad for a 23-year-old rookie.

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Finally, a home run! Mike Moustakas goes deep in the bottom of the seventh for the first long ball in the World Series since Game 2. The three-game homer drought was the longest since the 1948 Series went three straight games without one.

It’s the sixth homer this October off Giants rookie Hunter Strickland, a single postseason record for a reliever.

Royals 10-0.

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Yordano Ventura is through seven impressive innings, with a performance that’s rivaled Madison Bumgarner’s outstanding outing in Game 5. He’s only allowed three hits and reached 99 mph on his fastball.

Wearing RIP O.T #18 on his hat in memory of his friend Oscar Taveras, who died in a car crash Sunday, Ventura walked five — three in the third — but has not been in trouble since then.

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Omar Infante runs around the stop sign from third base coach Mike Jirschele and slides headfirst into home on Alcides Escobar’s double in the fifth inning. Jirschele set up way down the line with his hands up, but Infante ran to the outside of his coach for an odd route home.

Royals are up 9-0. They are outhitting the Giants 14-2.

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Giants manager Bruce Bochy might already be thinking ahead to Game 7 tomorrow night. He lifts Yusemiro Petit after he threw only 17 pitches in relief of Jake Peavy in the seven-run second inning. Now, Petit could be an option out of the bullpen in the Series decider. Jean Machi is on for San Francisco.

Machi allows Lorenzo Cain’s RBI ground-rule double to make it 8-0. No soft hits in the third for KC.

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Yordano Ventura looks as if he was affected by that long inning. He walks the bases loaded, sending Royals manager Ned Yost into the tunnel. But the rookie gets Buster Posey to ground into an inning-ending double play.

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Yusmeiro Petit hadn’t allowed a run this postseason in 12 innings, but Lorenzo Cain hits a soft single to center on Petit’s sixth pitch to drive in two runs.

Eric Hosmer then chops a ball over drawn-in shortstop Brandon Crawford, knocking in two more runs. With the outfield playing so deep, Hosmer hustles into second for an unusual double. Royals lead 6-0.

That completes Peavy’s line — five runs in 1 1-3 innings.

And it doesn’t end there. Billy Butler doubles to right-center to make it 7-0 before the inning finally ends after 32 minutes.

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Mike Moustakas gives the Royals the early lead with a double down the first base line in the second. Alex Gordon started the inning by looping a single in front of the Giants’ outfield, playing extremely deep. Salvador Perez singles sharply and “Moose” pulls a grounder just out of the reach of diving first baseman Brandon Belt and inside the bag.

After an out, Alcides Escobar hits a slow grounder to Belt. Peavy shouts for him to throw home, Belt hesitates and, when the runner holds at third, he turns to go back to first but Escobar beats him to the bag to load the bases.

Nori Aoki, who didn’t start in San Francisco, slaps a single to left for a 2-0 lead.

That’s it for Jake Peavy after just 1 1-3 innings for the fiery Giants right-hander. In comes surprise postseason star Yusmeiro Petit out of the bullpen with the bases loaded.

Peavy’s postseason ERA this year jumps to 6.19. He has a 9.58 mark in three career World Series starts.

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Yordano Ventura eased through the first, reaching 97 mph in a 1-2-3 inning. Peavy’s showing he’s amped up, too. He struck out Nori Aoki with a fastball that had lots of movement on it. But then he issued a two-out walk to Lorenzo Cain, and Eric Hosmer singled.

Travis Ishikawa slipped and fell to the turf playing Hosmer’s hit to left field, and third base coach Mike Jirschele waved Cain home. But the speedy Cain stopped at third even though the throw went to second.

Peavy, though, got nemesis Billy Butler — 15 for 35 against the righty — on a grounder to shortstop.

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There was a moment of silence before the national anthem for St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras and his girlfriend, who were killed in a car accident Sunday. The 22-year-old Taveras was one of baseball’s top prospects. His best moment of an all-too brief career came in Game 2 of the NLCS, when he hit a tying homer in the seventh inning as a pinch hitter.

Ventura has a message written on his hat in honor of his Dominican friend: RIP O.T # 18.

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The World Series is back in Kansas City for Game 6 on another perfect night for baseball.

The Royals hope to ride that raucous wave of blue that’s filled Kauffman Stadium all postseason and the zippy arm of rookie Yordano Ventura to a Game 7. The Giants send veteran Jake Peavy to the mound, looking to clinch their third championship in five years — and perhaps solidify this club as a — can we say it? — dynasty.

No National League team has won three Series titles in a five-year span since St. Louis did it from 1942-46. And the Cardinals didn’t have to win a wild-card game and two playoff rounds.

The Royals have come back before, rallying from a 3-2 Series deficit in 1985 to win their only title. The Giants have been in this position, too. In 2002, they took a 3-2 edge into Anaheim and dropped two in a row in the only other all-wild card World Series.

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A bunch of fans in Giants orange crowded behind the San Francisco dugout as their team took the field for warmups. They hollered, but not as loudly as star Pablo Sandoval whooped as his teammates loosened up. Kung Fu Panda is pretty relaxed and ready to play.

Former Royals great George Brett was perched behind the cage as Kansas City took batting practice. He had a few laughs with Billy Butler. Of course Butler is in a good mood — with the Series back in the AL park, he has a role as the designated hitter. Plus, he’s enjoyed a lot of success against Giants right-hander Jake Peavy.

Royals starter Yordano Ventura often throws his fastball 97-100 mph, and we should all be able to tell right away whether the rookie is locked in or amped up.

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AP Baseball Writer Ben Walker contributed to this report.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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