Kansas City Royals Bear the Crown; World Series Champions

By Francisco Romero

At the end there was one team left; the Kansas City Royals are the reigning Major League Baseball World Series Champions after beating the New York Mets 7-2 in 12 innings in the fifth game of the Fall Classic (best-of-seven).

Curtis Granderson gave the Mets a 1-0 lead with a leadoff homer in the first inning, his ninth career Postseason round-tripper.

Winning 2-0 in the top of the 9^th inning, Mets’ manager Terri Collins opted to let right-handed Matt Harvey go out to finish the game.

Harvey issued a walk to Lorenzo Cain to start the top of the 9^th inning, then Eric Hosmer sent him home with a double to cut the lead to one, the Royals scored another run in the same inning to tie the game.

The Mets failed to score in the bottom of the 9^th inning and the game went into extra innings.

Kansas City scored five runs in the top of the 12^th inning and never looked back.

Luke Hochevar took the win in relief; Royals starting pitcher Edinson Volquez pitched six innings, allowed 2 runs (1 earned) on 2 hits.

Mets’ starting pitcher Harvey took the no-decision after pitching eight strong inning, he allowed 2 runs on five hits; Addison Reed took the loss in relief.

Venezuelan catcher Salvador Perez was named the World Series Most Valuable Player. Perez hit .364 (8-for-22) in the World Series with two doubles, two RBI, three runs scored, a .391 on- base percentage and a .455 slugging percentage.

“You guys know what we do all season. We never quit. We never put our heads down. We never think about, okay, the game is over, no. We always compete to the last out. And that’s what we do tonight,” said Perez after the game.

The Royals won their first World Series in 30 years.

“To win this is very, very special, with this group of guys, with their character, with their heart, with their passion, with the energy that they bring every single day,” said Royals manager Ned Yost after the game. “They leave everything on the field. It was very, very special to be able to watch these kids grow up from A-ball to Double-A to Triple-A, get to the Big Leagues, go through their struggles, have their successes, go through their struggles, and develop the point to be world champions is extremely satisfying.”

Sunday night was the second extra-inning game of this Fall Classic (also Game 1). It marked the first time since 2001 (Games 4 and 5) that multiple games in a single World Series went to extra innings.