Alex Gordon provided some great insights behind his 2015 World Series homer
We can all agree this the greatest home run in Royals history, right?
Alex Gordon’s game-tying shot off Jeurys Familia in the ninth inning of Game 1 of the 2015 World Series forced extra innings, and the Royals went on to win 5-4 in 14 innings.
On Thursday, the Royals shared the first episode of a new series on their YouTube page, and it featured Gordon talking about that home run. On “Royals Rewind,” Gordon revealed he noted something new about Familia before stepping to the plate, how he channeled Reds star Joey Votto and that he wanted to pick up first baseman Eric Hosmer, whose error helped the Mets take the lead.
“Before I get started, a lot goes into facing a pitcher before you actually face him,” Gordon said in the video. “We do a whole scouting report on every pitcher. Familia was a big one, because he was the closer, had a lights-out postseason. Really hasn’t given up anything.
“I was on deck actually before I came to hit and he did a quick pitch to Salvy (Perez). I think Salvy was before me, and I didn’t know about it. Out of all the scouting we did, I never saw it. I turned around to our hitting coach, who was Dale Sveum at the time, and he looked at me and was like, ‘Hey, be ready for the quick pitch.’
“I went up to the box, I call it the Joey Votto where he never gets out of the box. I kind of stayed in the box so he couldn’t quick pitch me just to make sure I was ready to go from the get-go.”
Gordon also explained why Familia was a good matchup for him, and that the quick pitch actually worked in his favor.
“When he did his quick pitch,” Gordon said, “he didn’t do his usual windup which I think affected his sinker. Kind of left it down the middle and didn’t really do anything, so it kind of worked to my advantage.”
Gordon also said he’s watched his home run “probably 500 times.”
The video is only four minutes in length but is interesting:
This story was originally published March 20, 2020 at 9:48 AM.
