Royals beat Giants 7-2 in Game 2 of World Series

HOWIE RUMBERG
AP Sports Writer

Greg Holland strikes out three in a one-hit ninth to close out the Royals’ 7-2 victory that evens the bets-of-seven World Series 1-1.

See you Friday night in San Francisco for Game 3.

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Holland is on for the ninth. He saved all four games in the ALCS. But he has a five-run cushion here.

Earlier in the day Commissioner elect Rob Manfred presented Holland with a new award named after Mariano Rivera for best reliever in the AL.

Atlanta’s Craig Kimbrel was given the NL award named for Trevor Hoffman.

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Uh, oh. Tim Lincecum appears to have hurt himself on a pitch in the eighth inning. He leaves the game and Santiago Casilla gets all the time he needs to warm up.

Why not? The game has already taken about 3 hours, 15 minutes.

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Wade Davis entered in the eighth 2-0 with a 0.96 ERA this postseason (one run in 9 1-3 innings). Add a perfect inning to his five scoreless in the ALCS as he set down the Nos. 3-5 batters in the Giants’ order.

Will manager Ned Yost finish it off with Greg Holland even though the Royals are leading by five? Would make sense with Holland not having pitched since the ALCS clincher on Oct. 15. And Thursday is a travel day as the Series shifts to San Francisco.

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A Freak sighting. With the Giants trailing 7-2 in the bottom of the seventh, two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum makes his first appearance this postseason. He tosses a 1-2-3 inning.

And here comes Wade Davis, the second of the Royals’ three-headed bullpen monster, for the eighth.

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Giants match a World Series record by using five pitchers in an inning that started with Jake Peavy on a roll. The 32-minute bottom of the sixth ended with the Royals having scored five times to take a 7-2 lead.

The other teams that used five pitchers in one World Series inning: The St. Louis Cardinals in a Game 7 loss to the Royals in 1985, and the Orioles in a Game 7 loss to Pittsburgh in 1979, according to STATS.

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The Royals are feasting on the Giants’ bullpen.

Billy Butler comes through again. He rips a pitch from reliever Jean Machi into left field. Lorenzo Cain gets a great jump and Royals third base coach Mike Jirschele doesn’t hesitate to wave the speedster home against Travis Ishikawa’s weak arm. Cain scores standing up, the white towels are twirling and KC is up 3-2.

Salvador Perez drills a pitch from rookie Hunter Strickland to center field, scoring two. Omar Infante connects for the fifth homer of the postseason off Strickland, a two-run shot. Strickland stomps behind the mound, yelling into his glove.

And things get testy.

It appears that Perez thought Strickland was yelling at him and the Royals catcher stood at home plate questioning the Giants right-hander after rounding the bases on Infante’s homer. Some shouting between the two players ensued while plate umpire Eric Cooper kept Perez at bay.

Players from both teams wandered out of their dugouts but all stayed calm.

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Lorenzo Cain ends Jake Peavy’s run of 10 straight outs with a single to start the bottom of the sixth. Cain surprisingly stays put on first as Eric Hosmer works a four-pitch walk.

And that’s all for Peavy. Giants manager Bruce Bochy brings in Jean Machi to face Billy Butler, who had an RBI single in the first.

In his second career World Series start, Peavy is out after five-plus innings.

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And so it begins. The Royals go to their lights-out bullpen in the sixth.

Kelvin Herrera is called upon with two on and one out. He immediately throws a 101 mph pitch past Brandon Belt, who flies out on the fourth 100 mph fastball of a five-pitch at-bat. Herrera then saws off Michael Morse’s bat with another pitch clocked at 101 mph before getting him to ground to short.

Waiting at the top step, pumping his fist is starter Yordano Ventura, who gave up two runs and eight hits in 5 1-3 innings.

Game tied at 2.

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Royals manager Ned Yost chooses to shore up his outfield defense in the sixth inning. Speedy Jarrod Dyson enters and takes over in center field, pushing Lorenzo Cain to right and Nori Aoki to the bench.

Dyson is tested immediately. He tries to make a sliding grab of Buster Posey’s sinking liner leading off the inning but it drops in front.

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Jake Peavy has settled in nicely, needing only 26 pitches to retire all nine batters from the third through the fifth. He’s thrown 57 pitches overall.

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Pablo Sandoval chugs home from second on Brandon Belt’s one-out double in the fourth inning to tie it 2-all.

On a windy night, Kung Fu Panda doubled off Lorenzo Cain’s glove as the normally smooth Royals center fielder went back to the wall.

Belt then gets caught too far off second on Michael Morse’s flyout when right fielder Nori Aoki’s relay gets away from shortstop Alcides Escobar. Kansas City pitcher Yordano Ventura backs up well and throws to second for another out.

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Royals flash the defense that drove the Angels and Orioles batty during the AL playoffs. Alcides Escobar ended the third with a sleek play at shortstop. First baseman Eric Hosmer stopped a scorcher from Brandon Crawford for the first out of the inning.

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Escobar gives the Royals their first lead of the Series, slicing a first-pitch fastball into the right-field corner for a double to drive in Omar Infante in the second. Another two-out RBI for the Royals.

Jake Peavy still shouting at himself as he stomps off the mound with the Giants trailing 2-1.

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Peavy yelling at himself after bouncing a pitch to Infante with one out in the second. Infante drives the next pitch — letter high — to the left-field wall for a double.

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Billy Butler gets the Royals even in the first inning with a two-out RBI single off Peavy, ending the team’s 0-for-17 skid with runners in scoring position.

Numbers don’t lie: Butler came in 14 for 33 with three homers against the Giants’ righty.

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Royals are off and running in the bottom of the first.

Alcides Escobar led off with a sharp single to shortstop. With one out and ALCS MVP Lorenzo Cain batting, Escobar took off. But catcher Buster Posey makes a strong throw and rookie second baseman Joe Panik handles the one-hopper neatly and applies the tag.

KC manager Ned Yost gave the “hang-on-a-second” sign to Cain as he waited for word from his replay room. No go. Second base umpire Ted Barrett got it right. Still no reviews in the Fall Classic.

Cain then doubled to get the Royal-blue crowd revved up.

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Boom. The Giants strike first again. Leadoff batter Gregor Blanco takes Yordano Ventura’s eighth pitch (98 mph) over the right-field wall for the quick lead. It was the 19th leadoff homer in World Series history.

The Giants, by the way, are 5-0 when scoring first this postseason.

Ventura settles down to retire the next three batters, reaching 100 mph on his first pitch to Buster Posey.

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Two pretty popular Royals combine on the ceremonial first pitch: Hall of Famer George Brett tosses to John Wathan, who had one at-bat in the 1985 World Series win.

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Another nice fall night in Kansas City for Game 2. There’s some wind tonight — these fans dressed head-to-toe in blue are hoping this World Series doesn’t become a blowout.

No lineup changes from the opener. The Royals are looking to alter their luck against Jake Peavy. He’s hittable, unlike the pitcher who has emerged as the best October ace in baseball, Game 1 winner Madison Bumgarner.

The Royals give the ball to flame-throwing 23-year-old Yordano Ventura. Amped up? Let’s see if the rookie hits 100 mph on the radar in the first inning.

It’s about 10 minutes before the first pitch, a few Giants are already hanging over the dugout rail, taking in the scene. Seems like those guys in orange and black are here pretty often, doesn’t it?

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AP Baseball Writer Ben Walker contributed to this report.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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