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Alex Gordon connects on a 1-1 pitch from Jeury Familia for a solo home run in the ninth inning of Game 1 of the 2015 World Series. Gordon tied the game at 4-4, and the Kansas City Royals went on to defeat the New York Mets 5-4 in 14 innings in what tied for the second-longest World Series game ever at the time. (YouTube screen grabs)
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By Phil Ellenbecker
Roundly recognized as the impetus for the Kansas City Royals' Cinderella run to a near-World Series title in 2014 was Salvador Perez's hit that won the 12-inning wild-card game with Oakland. Magic ensued.
The Royals' 2015 run to the World Series title didn't have such a defining moment, largely because unlike '14, they were expected to do well coming into the postseason.
But it still had its share of magic, and once the Royals got back to the World Series against the New York Mets, they had what I would nominate as a defining moment in Game 1.
Alex Gordon's solo homer to center field with one out in the ninth inning kept the Royals alive and made possible their eventual 5-4 victory in 14 innings at Kansas City. It was the first game-tying or go-ahead home run in the Series since Los Angeles’ Kirk Gibson hit one off Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley in the Dodgers' 5-4 1988 Game 1 victory. And just as the Dodgers took that momentum and swept the A's, K.C. ran with its opening-game triumph to win the Series in five games for their first world title since 1985.
The game tied a record for longest by innings in a World Series, since topped by an 18-inning 3-2 Los Angeles win over Boston in 2018. Making it historic on another note was Alcides Escobar's inside-the-park homer to center leading off the bottom of the first. It was the first inside-the-parker in Series play since 1929.
Not to be lost amid the other excitement and the history was Gordon's bomb. Sure, it took a lot more to win this game and this Series, but Gordon's homer seemed to lift a load off the Royals and keep alive the possibilities that had kept arising for them in the postseason the past two years. It had the Royals magic of 2014-15 written all over it.
The Mets had taken a 4-3 lead in the top of the eighth inning on an error by Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer, and Kansas City came up empty with runners at first and third in its half of the eighth. The Royals got a boost in the ninth when a replay overturned an out call on David Wright trying to steal second.
Jeury Familia, who'd been third in the National League with 43 saves during the regular season, had come on with two out in the eighth looking to seal the deal for the Mets, and Mike Moustakas grounded out to shortstop leading off the ninth. But Gordon, who'd made a sparkling, sliding back-handed catch in left field in the third inning, made it a new game by lining a 1-1 pitch over the center-field fence for the first run Familia had given up in the postseason.
A second Royals hero emerged when Chris Young took over as their seventh and final pitcher beginning the 12th inning. He allowed no hits and no runs in three innings, striking out four, with a walk being the only base runner he allowed.
And then he emerged the winning pitcher, as Hosmer made amends for his earlier error with his sacrifice fly to right that scored Esobar with the bases loaded and none out to end the game in the 14th.
An error also proved pivotal in the winning run, as third baseman Wright booted Escobar's grounder off Bartolo Colon leading off the 14th. Ben Zobrist followed with his third hit of the night, a single to right. Lorenzo Cain was intentionally walked, bringing on Hosmer.
Colon, in his 18th year in the major leagues and first year in a World Series, was saddled with the loss in the only Series decision he had in his 21 years. The last of six Mets pitchers, "Big Sexy" allowed three hits and the one unearned run with three walks in his 2 1/3 innings, the second-longest Mets mound stint on the night behind starter Matt Harvey's six innings. (Colon had two more appearances in the Series and had a 0.00 ERA in three innings.)
Long before the late drama, Escobar lit an early charge into the Kauffman Stadium crowd of 40,320 with an inside-the-park homer leading off the bottom of the first after the Mets had gone in order against Edison Volquez starting the game.
Center fielder Yoenis Cespedes and left fielder Michael Conforto hesitated going after Escobar's drive, neither one calling for the ball as it fell shy of Cespedes' back-hand stab and rolled to the wall. Escobar sped around the bases for the 20th leadoff homer in Series history.
Beyond that, it was the first inside-the-parker in a Series game since Hack Wilson lost a ball in the sun and Mule Haas got a three-run trip around the bases in the middle of a record-setting 10-run inning for the Philadelphia Athletics in Game 4 of the 1929 World Series. It was only the second-ever inside-the park leadoff homer in the Fall Classic, Patsy Dougherty hitting the first in the very first Series in 1903, in Game 2.
It also marked the first time the Mets had trailed in the 2015 postseason since tying Los Angeles in Game 5 of their NL Division Series, a sweep of the Cubs following in the Championship Series.
Following Escobar's early splash, the Mets pulled ahead 3-1 with single runs in the fourth through sixth.
New York tied the game in the fourth when Daniel Murphy singled, went to third on Lucas Duda's single and scored on an infield single by Travis d'Arnaud.
Curtis Granderson put New York ahead by clearing the right-field fence for a line-drive homer with one out in the fifth.
Duda figured in the middle of a run again in the sixth when he beat out a single to third, with Yoenis Cespedes advancing to third on the play after Cespedes had led off with a single. One out later Michael Conforto plated Cespedes with a sacrifice fly to left, Duda going to second on the throw home.
Moustakis warded off further damage when he made a diving back-handed stop on a shot down the third-base line by Wilmer Flores. "Moose" threw to Hosmer at first for the third out.
The Royals pushed across two runs to tie it in their half of the sixth.
Zobrist, a veteran, multi-position catalyst acquired July 28 in a trade with Oakland, set the table with the first of his two doubles in a 3-for-6 night. Cain's single put runners at first and third. The first of two sacrifice flies by Hosmer, this one to center, scored Zobrist.
Cain stole second, and after Kendrys Morales grounded out, Moustakas singled to center, plating Cain to make it 3-3.
The Mets regained the lead against Kelvin Herrera with two out in the eighth. Juan Lagares, pinch hitting for Conforto, singled and stole second, and scored when a hard grounder by Flores skipped past Hosmer as he was attempting a backhand stop and was charged with an error.
“I thought it was going to be an out,” Flores told Michael Powell of The New York Times, as quoted in a Society for American Baseball Games Project article by Thomas J. Brown Jr. “I thought he was going to get in front of it and that was it. It's a routine groundball.”
When Gordon worked the count to 1-1 on Familia with one out in the ninth, the Mets pitcher tried to slip over a quick pitch. But Gordon, who'd shown a knack for hitting homers in the clutch, was ready, capitalizing on the opportunity to keep the game alive.
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| Alex Gordon jumped on quick-pitch from Jeury Familia and delivered a game-tying homer in the ninth inning of the Kansas City Royals' 5-4 win over the New York Mets in Game 1 of the 2015 World Series. |
“He tried to quick-pitch me and left the ball right there to hit,” Gordon said. “With a guy like that, you can’t miss pitches that he gives you to hit.”
Familia knew it was an oops.
“As soon as I let that pitch go, I say, ‘Oh man,’” he told Powell.
Wade Davis, the Royals' deluxe set-up man who'd taken over as closer after Greg Holland was lost for the season in September, came on starting the 10th and struck out the side, setting the tone for a wipeout performance by the K.C. bullpen. Ryan Madson, signed in January by the Royals after being out of baseball since 2011 because of Tommy John surgery, got two strikeouts to get around a mild Mets threat in the 11th that included an infield single by Lagaras. That made Lagaras 2-for-3 for the night. Young fanned the side in the 12th in the first of his nearly perfect three-inning stint.
Jon Niese was virtually as dominant for the Mets, retiring five of six Royals with three strikeouts in the 10th and 11th.
The Royals began knocking on the door in the 12th and 13th against Colon, who'd been mainly a starter during the regular season but now used strictly in relief. K.C. loaded the bases in the 12th on an infield single by pinch hitter Paulo Orlando, an Escobar sacrifice and intentional walks to Zobrist and Hosmer. But Jarrod Dyson, who'd run for Morales and replaced him in the lineup in the eighth, flied out to end the inning. Moustakas singled leading off the 13th, making him 2-for-6 on the night, and went to second on a Gordon ground out to first, but he was stranded.
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| The second of Eric Hosmer's two sacrifice flies drove in the deciding run in the Kansas City Royals' 5-4 14-inning victory over the New York Mets in Game 1 of the 2015 World Series. |
The Royals, following their motto "Next man up," made the extra steps toward home in the 14th. It started when Wright had trouble picking up Escobar's grounder that hit off his wrist. Escobar went to second when Wright's sidearm throw pulled Duda off the bag at first.
“I got an in-between hop and the ball came up on me,” Wright said. “I tried to rush the throw a little bit.”
The seemingly ever-present Zobrist followed with a single to right, Escobar stopping at third. Cain was intentionally walked. Ducks on the pond again for Hosmer.
After fouling off a pair of Colon pitches, Hosmer lifted a 2-2 pitch to right deep enough to plate the game-winning run. Escobar, who'd given the Royals the early lead, now gave them the late, late and final lead as he scored standing up. Game over in 5 hours, 9 minutes.
And then it was off to the Series title for the Royals, their first since winning their first in 1985. The Mets were left looking for their first world title since 1986.
Game notes
--Volquez could have taken the mound to start the game with a heavy burden, but he didn't, thanks to his family and Royals manager Ned Yost.
"Several hours before the game, Yost learned that Volquez’s father had died," Brown wrote, according to Vahe Gregorian of The Kansas City Star. "Volquez’s family sent him a request: 'Don’t tell Eddie; let him go out and pitch Game One of the World Series.' Yost honored their request although he worried about word getting to Volquez during the game."
--Colon, 42 years and 157 days old, became the oldest losing pitcher in a World Series game, topping the mark of Grover Cleveland Alexander in Game 2 of the 1928 Fall Classic, according to an article by Ted Berg in USA Today. "Ol' Pete" was 41 years and 231 days old when he lost to the New York Yankees while pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals.
--Besides playing in the longest World Series game at the time, the Royals later took 12 innings to beat the Mets 7-2 in their clinching Game 5 win. That game is tied with seven others for the fifth-longest game.
Other 14-inning games included Brooklyn's 2-1 win over the Boston Red Sox in 1916 (with the losing pitcher being Babe Ruth, who went all 14 innings), and a 7-5 win for the Chicago White Sox over Houston in 2005.
As noted at the top, the Dodgers and Red Sox took over the longest game by innings with Los Angeles' 3-2 win in Game 3 in 2018.
Sources:
Play-by-play: https://www.
World Series inside-the-park homers: https://www.
Longest World Series games: https://www.cbssports.
Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szZbFBI2qX0
Additional background came from various sources on the Retrosheet and Society for American Baseball Research's Biography Project and Games Project websites, as well as baseballreference.com
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