Turnstile count for 2014 season is the Royals’ best since 1991

The 37,212 who watched the Royals beat the Detroit Tigers 5-2 on Sunday at Kauffman Stadium brought the season final total to 1,956,482, the club’s best turnstile count since 1991. That was the last year the Royals topped 2 million.

The average of 24,154 was the best since 1994, when the team averaged 24,570 in a season that was shortened by the strike.

But the Royals could add to their total. Postseason games don’t count toward season attendance, but a tie-breaking game for a wild-card spot would.

What does the increased attendance mean to the bottom line? An estimate would be about $5 million more than 2013 based on an average ticket price of $24.73 this season.

Other final numbers

The Royals will have a winning record at home for the season, but it won’t be in the books until the suspended game with the Indians’ is completed Monday — in Cleveland. The Royals are 42-38 at home.

They’re happy to see the Tigers for the final time in the regular season. The Royals finished with a 6-13 record against Detroit, including 2-8 at Kauffman Stadium.

Davis matches record

Wade Davis struck out Nick Castellanos ending the eighth inning. It was Davis’ second strikeout of the inning and his 103th this season, tying the Royals season record for a reliever.

Greg Holland recorded 103 strikeouts last year, and that matched Jim York’s 103 total.

Davis, who has accumulated his total in 69 innings, probably will own the record himself by the end of the season.

O-fers snapped

Alex Gordon entered the game mired in one of his worst slumps of the year. He had been hitless in his last 14 at-bats and had struck out twice before stepping to the plate in the seventh.

With pinch runner Terrance Gore at third, Gordon lifted a fly ball to left field off reliever Phil Coke that, with one out, was going to score Gore.

“I’m just looking for a sac fly there,” Yost said. “I didn’t realize how hard he hit it. Then I looked up and it kept carrying and carrying. He really smoked it.”

The ball one-hopped the left-field wall, and Gordon pulled into second with his 32nd double of the season and 242nd of his career that moves him to seventh place on the team’s all-time list.

Also getting his first hit of the series was second baseman Omar Infante, who snapped a zero-for-10 stretch with a second-inning single.

This story was originally published September 21, 2014 at 7:07 PM with the headline "Turnstile count for 2014 season is the Royals’ best since 1991."