Royals’ Alex Gordon went to school on Mets’ Jeurys Familia, then took him deep

Eric Hosmer sure looked thrilled.

Alex Gordon dismissed the idea that his dramatic ninth-inning home run that sent Game 1 of the World Series into extra innings brought an extra celebratory bounce to Hosmer, whose eighth-inning error opened the door for the New York Mets to take a 4-3 lead.

Gordon’s solo shot off Mets closer Jeurys Familia tied the game, which the Royals won 5-4 in 14 innings.

Gordon said afterward that when he got back to the dugout, Homser didn’t deliver a thank-you note for taking him off the hook.

“Absolutely not,” Gordon said. “We don’t do things like that. We pick each other up and we don’t hang our heads when stuff like that happens.

“We understand baseball is about adversity and overcoming it, and that’s what we did.”

Still, Hosmer said he breathed a sigh of relief.

“When Gordon hit that home run, I was the happiest person in the stadium,” Hosmer said.

Hosmer drove in two runs on a pair of sacrifice flies, including the game-winner. His fly to right field brought home Alcides Escboar with the game winner.

Gordon’s blast made that possible.

Gordon had never face Familia, but he went to school when Salvador Perez hit one spot ahead of him.

“The at-bat with Salvy, I saw him quick pitch,” Gordon said. “I wasn’t expecting that and I wanted to make sure when I got in the box I was ready to hit.

“And he tried to quick-pitch me and left the ball right there to hit. With a guy like that, you can’t miss pitches that he gives you to hit.”

Familia left a fast ball over the middle of the plate and Gordon crushed it 428 feet over the center field wall. He pumped his fist has he rounded first. This was Gordon’s first World Series home run, his third in two years of postseason play.

He hit one in a loss to the Houston Astros in the American League Division Series, but his solo home run in the 10th inning of Game 1 of the 2014 American League Championship Series at Baltimore helped the Royals start their sweep.

This one shocked the Mets. Familia hadn’t surrendered a home run or blown a save since July 30.

“One thing, he doesn’t give up home runs,” Mets manager Terry Collins said afterward. “So we were all shocked by that. We liked where we were at.”

Then Gordon came through, in a huge way. But even Royals manager Ned Yost, who has seen his team rally from late inning deficits twice in the playoffs, knew a comeback would be a difficult task against the closer who saved 43 games during the season and entered this game having thrown 9  2/3 scoreless postseason innings.

“You get in that situation with Familia on the mount, you know how good he can be,” Yost said. “Gordy hit one about as good as he can hit it, and we just kept battling from that point on.”

This story was originally published October 28, 2015 at 2:13 AM with the headline "Royals’ Alex Gordon went to school on Mets’ Jeurys Familia, then took him deep."