Story of the game: World Series Game 3

1Crazy start

Noah Syndergaard made sure Alcides Escobar didn’t swing at the first pitch — Syndergaard threw a pitch near Escobar’s head, and Escobar later struck out. But Ben Zobrist doubled and took third on Lorenzo Cain’s dribbler past the mound. Eric Hosmer grounded to first baseman Lucas Duda, whose throw forced Cain, but a mix-up on the throw back to first allowed Hosmer to reach and Zobrist to score. The Mets responded quickly: Curtis Granderson singled off Yordano Ventura and David Wright homered to left-center field.

2-1

NYM-KC

2Back come the Royals

Salvador Perez hit a looper behind third base and took second on Alex Gordon’s single. Alex Rios doubled to left, and that scored Perez. However, Gordon was thrown out at third on a nice play by left fielder Michael Conforto. Ventura sacrificed Rios to third, and Rios scored on a passed ball. The Mets didn’t have a base runner in their half.

3-2

KC-NYM

3Another Mets homer

The Royals were put down in order by Syndergaard, and then he led off with a single for New York. Granderson yanked a ball into the right-field seats by the foul pole and gave the Mets the lead.

4-3

NYM-KC

4Duffy puts out fire

After the Royals went down in order again, Duda had a leadoff single for the Mets. Catcher Travis d’Arnaud doubled into the left-field corner. Conforto singled home Duda to pad the Mets’ lead. Ventura got Wilmer Flores to pop to Hosmer in foul territory, but Ned Yost brought on Danny Duffy. He struck out Syndergaard and got Granderson on a fly ball to Cain.

5-3

NYM-KC

5Here’s Hochevar

Syndergaard clearly had shaken off his earlier troubles, and he again retired the Royals without allowing a runner. Luke Hochevar relieved for the Royals. He gave up a two-out single but struck out Duda to end the inning.

5-3

NYM-KC

6Missed chance and no relief

With two outs, the Royals finally got on base against Syndergaard. Mike Moustakas singled, and Perez walked. After Alex Gordon walked to load the bases, Syndergaard got Rios to ground out to shortstop. Franklin Morales entered and things turned ugly. With one out, pinch-hitter Juan Lagares singled, and then Flores was hit by a pitch. Juan Uribe, another pinch-hitter, singled and Lagares scored. Granderson hit a ball back to Morales. Morales looked at second. He looked at home plate. He looked at third base. Then he turned back to second and threw wildly. Everybody was safe and the bases were loaded. Kelvin Herrera replaced Morales, but Daniel Murphy had a two-run single and Yoenis Cespedes hit a sacrifice fly.

9-3

NYM-KC

7Nothing happening here

Addison Reed took the mound for the Mets and he had a 1-2-3 inning. Ryan Madson relieved for the Royals and allowed a leadoff single to d’Arnaud. However, Lagares flied out, Flores grounded to Moustakas, who threw to second and forced d’Arnaud. Kirk Nieuwenhuis pinch hit and struck out.

9-3

NYM-KC

8Medlen’s debut

Now it was Tyler Clippard’s turn to pitch for the Mets, and he got Cain to pop out, Hosmer to fly to center and Moustakas to pop to ... Clippard. Kris Medlen made his World Series debut and got the Mets in order with a pair of strikeouts.

9-3

NYM-KC

9Can’t win them all

In what was obviously not a save situation, the Mets called on closer Jeurys Familia. He was the guy who served up Gordon’s game-tying homer in Game 1. This time he struck out Gordon as part of another 1-2-3 inning for the Mets.

9-3

NYM-KC

This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 11:01 PM with the headline "Story of the game: World Series Game 3."