Royals must fight against World Series history after losing game one

They knew this was coming. They knew perfection couldn’t last. The men inside the Royals’ clubhouse knew another test of will would surface at some moment in this wild October, and here it was on Tuesday night, in the opening game of the World Series.

The Royals lost 7-1 to the San Francisco Giants in Game 1 at Kauffman Stadium, falling behind 1-0 in the best-of-seven series. It was the Royals’ first loss since Sept. 27 in Chicago, a stretch of 24 days without the following scene.

Silence.

“We knew this wasn’t going to be easy,” first baseman Eric Hosmer said, standing at his locker in a mostly empty clubhouse. “So we’ll see what we’re made of.”

Before Tuesday, the Royals had spent the postseason becoming the first team in baseball to begin the playoffs with eight straight victories. In a span of 16 days, the Royals were immortal. They came back from four runs down in the American League Wild Card Game against the Oakland A’s; they dispatched the Los Angeles Angels in three games; they swept through the Baltimore Orioles in four.

Now the Royals find themselves in a heretofore unfamiliar position in this postseason. Yes, the Royals lost. Now they must somehow find a way to scratch out four victories in the next six games to hoist the World Series trophy and spray champagne again. They must, in simple terms, find a way to regroup after a night of silence.

“We’re real resilient,” said starter pitching James Shields, who took the loss after being knocked for five earned runs in three innings.

History is not on Kansas City’s side. In a short series, Game 1 is often pivotal. In the past 15 years, just two teams have won the World Series after losing the opener. In 2009, the Yankees dropped Game 1 at home to the Philadelphia Phillies — the defending champions — before rallying to win the series in six games. In 2002, the Angels lost to the Giants in Game 1 — and trailed three games to two — before winning the final two games at home.

The Royals, of course, also lost the first two games of the 1985 World Series in Kansas City. They won the series in seven games.

“It’s pretty hard to sweep through the whole playoffs,” Hosmer said. “I don’t think it’s ever even been close to being done. So you just got to bounce back.”

All season, Shields has used the word “resilience” with regularity. On the eve of Tuesday’s opener, he expressed his fondness for “amnesia,” the ability to forget and move forward. This is their fate now.

“We knew this series was going to be a battle, too,” manager Ned Yost said. “We didn’t expect to come in here and sweep the San Francisco Giants.”

This story was originally published October 21, 2014 at 11:42 PM.