Bob Lutz: Royals overcome miscues to somehow win opener

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On a night when Fox lost its power, leaving panicked television viewers with a blank screen for a few minutes during Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday night, there was a bonus.

Extra innings.

And the never-say-die Kansas City Royals took advantage of an error by New York Mets third baseman David Wright in the 14th inning to score the winning run on Eric Hosmer’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly.

A game that had something of everything ended with a sac fly that ended a fight that went into the night, but only because the Royals were able to overcome some late-game miscues in a way only the Royals seem to be able to overcome.

Why can’t Fox go dark during an episode of “Mulaney,” by the way?

The Royals are the most gripping show on any television network during this postseason, during which they’ve mounted one comeback after another. But Tuesday, there was a new twist.

Kansas City survived shooting itself in both feet. They blew the game twice, only to get it back again thanks to a one-out, ninth-inning game-tying home run by Alex Gordon.

The Royals first blew the game in the top of the eighth, when the Mets pushed across the go-ahead run because of a rare error by KC first baseman Hosmer, who failed to get in front of a chopper from Wilmer Flores.

The ball bounced pass Hosmer and into right field, allowing Juan Lagares to score the go-ahead run. It was 4-3.

The Royals also blew the game in the bottom of the eighth. After Ben Zobrist led off with a double down the right-field line, No. 3 hitter Lorenzo Cain attempted to bunt.

Why he attempted to bunt we’ll never now because he’s never had a sacrifice in the big leagues, covering 1,973 plate appearances during the regular season and 119 more in the past two postseasons.

We saw why there’s been such reluctance.

Cain looked terrible trying to bunt Tyler Clippard’s first pitch and just as bad with the second. Then he struck out swinging at a high fastball and Clippard snaked out of the inning by getting Mike Moustakas to ground out with the tying run at second.

Most teams don’t live through such serious miscues, especially in a World Series.

As we’ve established, the Royals aren’t most teams. When the Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, Miami Marlins — pick a team — make boo boos like Kansas City made in the seventh and eighth innings of a tight game, they lose.

Hosmer, who puts the “slick” in “fielder,” failed to get his body in front of Flores’ grounder. Every infielder who has ever played baseball has been taught to get his body in front of a ground ball when they can.

Cain bunting?

We’ll understand the Chinese economy’s impact on the western world before we comprehend that decision, whether it came from the dugout or from Cain himself.

But Gordon’s one-out home run in the ninth took Hosmer, Cain, manager Ned Yost, third base coach Mike Jirschele, Dayton Moore, David Glass, George Brett, Onix Concepcion, Darryl Motley, Sluggerr and everyone ever associated with the Royals off the hook. It came against a Mets reliever, Jeurys Familia, who had given up two measly hits in 10 previous 2015 postseason innings and it was crushed, over the center-field fence.

Gordon became the first to hit a game-ting home run in the ninth inning since the New York Yankees’ Scott Brosius did so for the Yankees in 2001.

The Royals do not die. They get sick and their relatives call priests, but they don’t stop breathing.

In 12 postseason games, Kansas City has scored 26 runs in the eighth and ninth innings. And another 11 in the seventh. They have a flare for the dramatic and are the worst team in the majors for concession sales. Who in the world would get out of their seats to buy peanuts and risk missing this kind of drama?

We’ve known for a while now that opposing teams can’t kill the Royals. Now we’re learning that not even the Royals can kill the Royals.

The night started with rain that lifted 30 minutes or so before the scheduled first pitch, which came off on time. It was reported early on that the father of Kansas City starting pitcher Edinson Volquez had died earlier in the day in the Dominican Republic. Volquez wasn’t told of the death, the team said.

Volquez made it through six innings, allowing three runs.

But the Royals took him off the hook, too, with a pair of sixth-inning runs. It started with a Zobrist double, a recurring theme of the evening, and he went to third on a single by Cain.

Which makes it even harder to understand Cain’s bunt in the eighth inning, but we digress.

Zobrist scored on Hosmer’s sacrifice fly and Cain stole second and scored on Mike Moustakas’ single into right-center field.

Tie game, 3-3.

And the fight continued, deep into the misty night until the Royals loaded the bases with no outs in the 14th against 42-year-old Mets reliever Bartolo Colon. The inning started with Wright’s throwing error and included another big hit by Big Hit Ben Zobrist that sent Alcides Escobar, who opened the game with an inside-the-park home run, scampering to third.

The Royals figured it out again. They always do. When they’re down, they’re never out. And when they’re out, they get back in. I’m telling you, they’re the best show on Fox.

This story was originally published October 28, 2015 at 12:30 AM with the headline "Bob Lutz: Royals overcome miscues to somehow win opener."