Eric Hosmer’s epic blast in Anaheim pushes Royals within a game of ALCS

In radical contrast to the Royals’ first two postseason games in a generation-plus, this was no theater of the absurd being showcased on Friday night at Angel Stadium.

Game two of the American League Division Series featured no frantic, impossible comebacks, like their Wild Card win on Tuesday, or the quirky sequence of slapstick events that marked their game one victory.

This one was all about the simple, nerve-grinding, stomach-churning, ulcer-inducing matter of who would blink as the Royals inflicted their third straight extra-innings game on a fan base that already has all circuits exploding.

And then it sizzled down to one blunt triumphant blast, Eric Hosmer’s two-run homer in the top of the 11th inning that fueled a 4-1 victory that made them the first team to win their first three games of a postseason in extra innings.

“It’s a big swing for the guys,” Hosmer said.

That it was, particularly for a team that hit the fewest home runs in the major leagues and won for a second straight game with one.

So barely 72 hours after they were reeling on the verge of instant elimination by Oakland, and after 29 years of simply waiting for any playoff game, they abruptly are on the cusp of advancing to the AL Championship Series.

With ace James Shields scheduled to pitch, the Royals can clinch on Sunday at Kauffman Stadium … as hundreds of lingering Kansas City fans here urged with postgame chants of “Sweep, Sweep, Sweep.”

And who’s to say they shouldn’t?

They’ve now won five times in eight games this season against the Angels, who had the best regular-season record in Major League Baseball.

And, indeed, the Royals were the ones who performed Friday in a game the flustered Angels couldn’t afford to lose.

“We need a three-game winning streak,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said, flatly.

Nothing says that can’t happen, of course.

But even as Scioscia continues to insist he sees no tightness in his players, the Angels’ prospect of flipping the series after what must be two deflating defeats will be pushing a boulder uphill.

If this all seems like it might be too much to cope with for players that mostly haven’t been here before and are supposed to be rattled or unable to slow the game down, simply getting to this point defies that notion.

The Royals have been playing “like they had 50 games of postseason experience behind them,” manager Ned Yost said before the game.

That, as much as anything, is becoming the point here.

The night in many ways was unlike either of the Royals first two playoff games, each of which had unique signatures.

The indelible imprint of the wild-card game, of course, was their frantic, impossible comeback from a 7-3 deficit as late as the eighth inning.

Then there was that sequence of slapstick events in their game one victory, which featured Nori Aoki’s adventurous series of circus catches and was settled by Mike Moustakas’ first home run since Aug. 25.

It was appropriately (mad)capped by closer and new father Greg Holland having to dash through the stadium parking lot in the fifth inning, lugging gear and yelling to security guards not to tackle him because, well, he’s a player.

But common threads prevail, ones that further clarify what this team is all about.

You knew about the starting pitching, of course, yet you didn’t know rookie flame-thrower Yordano Ventura would dazzle in his first post-season start after an odd week that featured his implosion Tuesday in relief.

You knew about the bullpen and the defense, the combination of which arguably are the best in baseball … yet continue to surprise and amaze.

Defensive replacement Jarrod Dyson’s throw to mow down pinch-runner Collin Cowgill at third base in the eighth inning was a stunner that made all else possible in a game then tied 1-1.

“Dyson just made an incredible defensive play,” Scioscia said.

You knew that the Royals have made their margins by manufacturing runs, whether sprung by steals or sacrifice flies or bunts, because they don’t have the juice.

You didn’t know that they’d win their first two games with those rare home runs.

“We don’t live and die by them,” Yost said, as if they were a common occurrence. “We have other things we can use.”

And other things you wouldn’t have known and couldn’t have guessed until you saw them: coolness and fire all at once, when they needed it most.

This story was originally published October 4, 2014 at 1:26 AM with the headline "Eric Hosmer’s epic blast in Anaheim pushes Royals within a game of ALCS."