Royals crush Giants to send World Series to Game Seven

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/oct/29/royals-crush-giants-to-send-world-series-to-game-seven

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The Kansas City Royals awoke from their hitting slumber in a 10-0 thrashing of the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday to stave off elimination and force the World Series to a decisive seventh game.

After a 162-game regular season and three rounds of postseason action, the MLB championship will come down to one game with the Giants chasing a third title in five years and the never-say-die Royals looking to end a 29-year championship drought.

The Royals entered the contest trailing the best-of-seven series 3-2 and having not scored a run in 15 innings. But Kansas City batters rediscovered their groove in the second inning of Game Six when they exploded for seven runs on eight hits to chase Giants starter Jake Peavy after just 1-1/3 innings and set the stage for a comprehensive rout. Game Seven is on Wednesday in Kansas City.

Before the end of the third inning every member of the Royals starting line-up had at least one hit, Mike Moustakas leading the hit parade with a double and a home run. In contrast, San Francisco bats went quiet with inspired Royals rookie Yordano Ventura pitching seven shutout innings.

The 23-year-old, wearing handwritten tributes on his cap, glove and shoes in tribute to compatriot Oscar Taveras, the St Louis Cardinals outfielder who was killed in car accident on Sunday, was brilliant allowing just three hits while striking out four with five walks.

Moustakas sparked the second inning burst with a sharply hit double down the right field line that cashed in Alex Gordon with the game’s first run. With the bases loaded Nori Aoki singled to left driving in a second run to bring Peavy’s night to a quick end, the right-hander surrendering five runs on six hits.

The pitching change did nothing to slow down the rampaging Royals, Lorenzo Cain welcoming Yusmeiro Petit to the game with a bases-loaded looper to centre field that scored two more runs. Eric Hosmer added to the assault with a two-run double before Billy Butler capped off the big inning with an RBI double to whip the capacity crowd into a frenzy.

The Giants looked poised to hit back in the third after loading the bases only to watch Buster Posey hit into double play to end the threat. The Royals, however, were far from done, Cain adding an RBI double in the bottom of the third and Alcides Escobar cracking another run scoring double in the fifth followed a by Moustakas solo home run in the seventh.