Alex Gordon’s sparkling defense leads Royals in 4-0 victory over Detroit

After the baseball had fallen from the sky, after Alex Gordon had flung himself onto the warning track and laid face first in the dirt, and after Kauffman Stadium witnessed its latest moment of defensive brilliance, Detroit first baseman Miguel Cabrera moved toward home plate and decided to stop.

It was the top of the fourth on Thursday night, the middle part of the Royals’ 4-0 victory over the the Tigers, and the stadium was still roaring. The crowd of 30,763 had come to its feet and stayed there, cheering as starting pitcher Edinson Volquez raised his cap into the air and first-base coach Rusty Kuntz cracked a wide smile on the far side of the dugout.

In the deep part of left field, Gordon was staggering back into position. Back near home plate, Cabrera, the former Triple Crown winner and AL MVP, let the scene continue, delaying his trip to the plate.

Gordon had robbed the Tigers’ Justin Upton with a preposterous diving catch in the left-center gap. The Royals’ defense would win the night, carrying the club to a series victory over Detroit and pushing its record to 10-5 entering a weekend series against the Baltimore Orioles.

“One of the best plays I’ve ever seen,” Volquez said.

“At the last second,” Gordon said, “I knew I could make a play.”

On Thursday night at Kauffman Stadium, Volquez tossed seven scoreless innings, improving to 3-0 on the season and lowering his ERA to 1.46 after four starts. Mike Moustakas finished 2 for 3 with a walk and clubbed his fifth homer, a laser beam that landed 414 feet from home plate in center field. Eric Hosmer extended his hitting streak to 11 games — and a streak of reaching base to a career-high 23 games.

But on a cool night in April, the victory was defined by defense and the glove of Gordon. Hosmer added a diving grab in foul territory — before momentarily forgetting the number of outs. (“Hey Hos,” Volquez said, “we play three.”) Gordon would cut down Detroit’s Jose Iglesias in the third inning on an ill-conceived attempt to go first to third with two outs. And then, one inning later, with the Royals’ lead at 1-0, Gordon turned in the moment of the night, chasing down a ball in the spacious acreage of Kauffman Stadium.

The baseball was in the air for more than five seconds, enough time for Upton to nearly reach second base, enough time for Gordon to cover close to 40 yards. When the ball was struck, Royals manager Ned Yost believed the ball was in the gap. So did Moustakas. Gordon knew that center fielder Lorenzo Cain was shaded to the opposite field, meaning he was the only outfielder with a prayer. He took off sprinting immediately.

“I know when you hit it up in the air, the wind was kind of knocking it down,” Gordon said. “So I knew it was going to stay up there for a while, and it did.”

As the drive reached the warning track, Gordon sprawled out onto the dirt, just a few feet from the base of the wall. As the baseball finished its descent, he stuck out his glove at the perfect moment, cradling it in the webbing.

“I didn’t think he had any chance of getting to that ball,” Moustakas said, “and for him to bring it down, that was phenomenal.”

When the play was over, Gordon paused for a moment, holding up his glove with his face looking downward. Reliever Luke Hochevar, his teammate and friend, has coined a term for these moments. He calls them “Total Gordo Moves”, the act of milking a diving catch with a dramatic pause. On Thursday, Gordon called one on himself.

“It was a clean slide,” Gordon said of his catch. “I kind of laid there a little bit, pulled a ‘Total Gordo Move’ and made it look like it hurt more than it did.”

The play grew in importance when the Tigers loaded the bases in the inning. Volquez escaped the jam by striking out Detroit catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia on a 95 mph fastball. The Royals turned the inning into a springboard, scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth. After missing a chance to break the game open during the first two innings, the lineup scratched across the requisite offense for Volquez.

Moustakas sounded the most thunderous shot, hitting his fifth homer in 15 games — and his 17th in 60 regular-season games dating back to Aug. 11, 2015.

As the batters offered a cushion, Volquez worked through seven innings, his longest outing of the season. His pitch count reached 112 as he labored to finish off the final batters, but Yost was willing to loosen the leash after he kept his workload light in the early innings.

“This early in the season, we don’t want to take guys much past 115 pitches,” Yost said. “And his pitch count was so manageable up to that, he could get through that inning.”

By late Thursday night, Gordon was strolling through the Royals’ clubhouse as his son, Max, chugged a red Gatorade. As he found a spot in front of his locker, he retraced his catch and offered a short story. For the last couple years, Gordon said, he has ribbed Cain and Kuntz, the Royals’ outfield instructor, about playing center field. He is, after all, one of the best left fielders in baseball, a Gold Glover four times overs. But on a roster with Cain and Jarrod Dyson, he has never sniffed a game in center field. He likely never will. And that's fine. At the very least, Gordon can now bring up Thursday night.

“I’m always telling Rusty and Cain I need to play center sometime,” Gordon said. “I think that’s as close as I’m going to get.”

Royals 4, Tigers 0

E: Castellanos (2), A.Escobar (3). LOB: Detroit 6, Kansas City 8. 2B: Kinsler (3), A.Escobar (1), Infante (5). HR: Moustakas (5), off Pelfrey. RBIs: A.Escobar (5), Moustakas (6), L.Cain (7). SB: A.Escobar (4), L.Cain (2), Hosmer (2), J.Dyson (2). S: J.Dyson. SF: A.Escobar.

Runners left in scoring position: Detroit 3 (Saltalamacchia 2, Upton); Kansas City 6 (S.Perez 3, L.Cain 2, K.Morales). RISP: Detroit 0 for 2; Kansas City 2 for 8. Runners moved up: K.Morales. GIDP: A.Escobar, L.Cain. DP: Detroit 3 (J.Iglesias), (J.Iglesias, Kinsler, Mi.Cabrera), (Castellanos, Kinsler, Mi.Cabrera).

Umpires: Home, Larry Vanover; First, Alfonso Marquez; Second, Chris Guccione; Third, David Rackley. Time: 2:52. Att: 30,763.

This story was originally published April 21, 2016 at 9:26 PM with the headline "Alex Gordon’s sparkling defense leads Royals in 4-0 victory over Detroit."