ROYALS SWEEP O'S IN ALCS, CLINCH WORLD SERIES BERTH
The brooms came out to play once again on Wednesday afternoon as the Kansas City Royals swept the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Championship Series, clinching their first World Series berth since 1985. Leading the pack, former 2012 Northwest Arkansas Natural, by way of rehab assignment, Lorenzo Cain won the ALCS MVP Award by going 8-15 during the Series with five runs scored.
Earning the sweep on a 2-1 victory over Baltimore in Game 4, the Royals essentially cruised from the second inning on. After Alcides Escobar reached on a high bouncing infield single over Orioles' starter Miguel Gonzalez to lead off the bottom of the first, and Norichika Aoki, a 2014 Natural, also by way of a rehab assignment, was hit by a pitch, the MVP Cain laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position. And then, destiny took its Natural course. Former 2010 Natural Eric Hosmer hit a grounder to first, during which, Baltimore first baseman Steve Pearce elected to throw home for the fielder's choice. Escobar would score safely after a feet first slide knocked the ball loose from Orioles' catcher Caleb Joseph's glove, all the way back to the backstop, allowing Aoki to come around as well for the 2-0 lead.
While Baltimore cut the lead in half after Ryan Flaherty hit a solo home run in the third off Royals starter LHP Jason Vargas, the Orioles would only put one runner in scoring position throughout the entire game. In what has become habitual for the Royals, may in fact have turned nightmarish for Orioles Manager Buck Showalter as Kansas City's trio of Wade Davis and former Naturals Kelvin Herrera and Greg Holland in the bullpen once again made a nine inning game look like six. After Herrera relieved Vargas in the sixth, he along with Davis and Holland would each allow just one base runner a piece to close the game and seal the sweep.
Through eight postseason games, all of which the Royals have won, Holland and Davis have pitched in all eight, while Herrera has pitched in seven. In addition, Holland has recorded a save in six of the eight games, and recorded a save in all four games of the ALCS. Placing Holland's historical feet in perspective, Mariano Rivera, Major League Baseball's all time saves leader with 652, never notched more than two saves in any American League Championship Series, and never recorded more than six saves in a single postseason, despite 19 trips to the postseason. Dennis Eckersley, in the 1988 ALCS, is the only other closer to record four saves in a Championship Series.
In addition to Cain and the bullpen trio, the Royals roster, including 13 former Naturals, has produced from top to bottom throughout the postseason. Hosmer has hit .448 throughout the postseason in 29 at-bats, including 6-15 in the ALCS. Meanwhile, 2009 Natural Alex Gordon, by way of a rehab assignment, played exceptional defense in left field, while also hitting a solo home run in Game 1 to give the Royals a 6-5 lead, at the time, in the top of the 10th.
The Royals await their "to-be-determined" guest, either the San Francisco Giants, leading 3-1 in the Series, or St. Louis Cardinals, for the 2014 MLB World Series set to begin Tuesday, October 21 from Kansas City's Kauffman Stadium. With a 7:07pm CST first pitch for Game 5 of the National League Championship Series set for tonight, the Giants can clinch their berth to the World Series with a victory in front of their home town crowd at AT&T Park. A World Series berth for either team will mark their third World Series appearance in the last five seasons.
Follow all the former Naturals playing for Kansas City this post-season on Twitter @nwanaturals using the hashtag #TheNatural13 for all the up-to-date highlights, statistics and information.
Season 8 of Naturals baseball will begin with a six-game road trip to Midland and Frisco before returning to Arvest Ballpark for their home opener on Thursday, April 16 against the Midland RockHounds (Double-A Affiliate of the Oakland Athletics).
The Season 8 promotional schedule, game times and other details on discounted ticket plans as well as group information will be made available throughout the off-season. For any questions regarding our 2015 season, please give us a call at (479) 927-4900.
The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are the Double-A Texas League Affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. The Naturals play at state-of-the-art Arvest Ballpark in Springdale, Ark. For more information including statistics, ticket options, and more, please visit NWANaturals.com, and follow us on Twitter @NWANaturals and Facebook.com/Naturals.
-Naturals-