O's vs. Royals - Game One Recap

Like many other Oriole fans, I'm waking up a little late this morning. Last night's first game of the American League Championship series ended in Kansas City's favor just before 1 am. Yes, it was a indeed heartbreaking loss after Baltimore clawed their way back from an early 5-1 deficit.

While the game didn't quite work out for Baltimore, I don't think anyone can say that it wasn't exciting. The Royals' big hit came off of a broken bat double by Alex Gordon in the 3rd inning. It was one of those things. O's pitcher, Chris Tillman jammed the Kansas City left fielder with a 93-mph fastball and Gordon somehow fought it off and deposited in a vacant piece of real estate in right field. As luck would have it, the bases were loaded and all three runs scored on the hit.

The Orioles had their big inning in the bottom of the 5th when they put three runs on the board. The most disappointing thing about that inning was, even after scoring the three runs, they still had bases loaded with nobody out. They had an opportunity to break the game wide open. But Kansas City went to the bullpen and was able to escape the inning with no further damage.

However, the following inning, the O's tied the game on an infield pop-up by Alejandro De Aza that somehow dropped in front of the Kansas City shortstop. Displaying some brilliant base-running instincts, Jonathan Schoop managed to score from 3rd base on the play.

The game remained knotted up at 5-5 for the next few innings. In the bottom of the 9th, O's closer, Zach Britton took the mound. He seemed to be having serious issues with his control. It was raining pretty steadily, so maybe this had an impact? Nonetheless, most of his pitches were clearly below the strike zone. At one point, he missed the strike zone with twelve consecutive balls and he wound up walking the bases loaded with no one out. Fortunately, the next batter grounded into a force play for the first out. Fielding the ground ball, O's first baseman, Steve Pearce, made a heads-up play to force the go-ahead run at the plate.

Darren O'Day was brought in to face KC's Billy Butler with the bases still loaded and one out. As the announcers put it, "The Oriole's are going to need to perform a Houdini trick to get out of this one." Well, that's exactly what they did as O'Day got Butler to hit into an inning-ending double-play. This visibly energized the Orioles and O'Day was greeted with a hug from Zach Britton as he came off the field and entered the dugout.

But the celebration was short-lived for the O's as the Royals hit two bombs in the top of the 10th inning to go up 8-5. The O's, never giving up, made a valiant effort to come back in the bottom of 10th. But thier effort fell a little short and the game ended with Kansas City winning 8-6.

Perhaps the most ironic thing about last nights game is that Kansas City, who had the least amount of homeruns in the Major Leagues during the regular season, hit three last night. The Oriole's, who led MLB in homeruns, hit none.

Here's what you have have to remember about this series. Like the Orioles, the Royals are a scrappy team that never gives up. Neither team has been to the World Series in roughly 20 years. Now, that both teams finally have the Promised Land in their sites, they will stop at nothing in their efforts to get there. No matter who you happen to be pulling for, you have to respect the way both teams play the game. You can put up all of the impressive individual stats that you want, but it pales in comparison to a hungry team that believes in itself. For baseball fans, this year's ALCS matchup is about as good as it gets.

With that being said, Buck Showalter will have his guys geared up and ready to go for Game Two. Although it's disappointing to lose Game One on your home field, don't think for a second that O's are going to be discouraged by it. They have played with heart and tenacity all season long. That's what got them this far. Expect to see that same determination throughout the remainder of the post-season.

If last night is any prelude to what the rest of the series is going to be like, we're in for an epic contest between two teams on a mission. Go O's!

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