World Series Game 4: Inning-by-inning

1Unusual double play

No brush-back pitch this time to Alcides Escobar, but he swung and missed at the first pitch. Facing a 1-2 count, he singled and extended his postseason hitting streak to 14 games, a Royals record. Ben Zobrist struck out and his swing took him over the plate. Escobar was running at the time and Travis d’Arnaud couldn’t complete his throw. Interference was called and Escobar was out. Chris Young set the Mets down in order in the bottom half.

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KC-NYM

2Chris Young is perfect

Salvador Perez had a two-out single against Mets starter Steven Matz, but he didn’t budge. Alex Gordon followed with a grounder to first that ended the inning. Young struck out Yoenis Cespedes as part of another 1-2-3 inning.

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3Rios’ big mistake

Matz had his first perfect inning, and Michael Conforto quickly gave the Mets the lead. He hit a home run to right field. The ball traveled 395 feet and fans at Citi Field were joyous. Wilmer Flores followed with a single. He took second on a wild pitch and moved to third on Matz’s sacrifice. Granderson lifted a fly to right that Alex Rios caught. He jogged in a few steps, apparently losing track of the number of outs, and threw home late as Flores scored. The Royals challenged that Flores left early, but the replay officials didn’t have conclusive evidence to overturn it.

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4Pitchers rule the frame

This was Matz’s best inning. He struck out Zobrist and Lorenzo Cain looking. Eric Hosmer then grounded to second. This was Young’s best inning, too. He struck out Cespedes and Luca Duda, then got d’Arnaud to pop out to Hosmer.

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5Each team scores

With one out, Perez hit a ball to center that Cespedes appeared to think he could get to at first. It bounced in front of him and hit off his leg and scooted away. Perez ended up with a double. Gordon singled home Perez. After Rios flied out, pinch-hitter Kendrys Morales singled and Gordon took second. However, Escobar flied out to right, ending the threat. Danny Duffy took the hill for the Royals and Conforto greeted him with a home run to right-center. Granderson singled with two outs, but was caught stealing.

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6Royals cut margin

Zobrist opened with a double and he scored on Cain’s single up the middle. Jon Niese entered and Cain stole second before Hosmer flied to center. Mike Moustakas grounded to third and Bartolo Colon took over. His pickoff throw to second went into center field and Cain took third. However, Perez struck out, leaving Cain at third. Luke Hochevar tossed a clean inning.

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7Quick work

Addison Reed tossed a 1-2-3 frame, although Gordon hit a ball deep to right and Rios lined to short. Pinch-hitter Jarrod Dyson struck out. Ryan Madson also breezed through the inning, ending it with strikeouts of d’Arnaud and Conforto.

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8Spooky eighth

Tyler Clippard started the inning and issued one-out walks to Zobrist and Cain. The Mets turned to Jeurys Familia, and he induced a grounder to Daniel Murphy at second. The ball scooted under Murphy’s glove and Zobrist sped home. Moustakas then singled to right and Cain scored as the Royals took the lead. Next it was Perez, whose single scored Cain. Just like that it was a two-run Royals lead. Ned Yost brought in Wade Davis to start the Mets’ half. Unsurprisingly, he set the Mets down in order.

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9Just one win to go

The Royals went down in order in the top of the inning, but it mattered little. The Mets made some noise with consecutive one-out singles by Murphy and Cespedes, but Duda hit a soft liner to Moustakas and he doubled Cespedes off first.

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This story was originally published November 1, 2015 at 12:07 AM with the headline "World Series Game 4: Inning-by-inning."