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Royals stomp Giants, 10-0, in Game 6, force winner-take-all Game 7 on Wednesday

KC pulls even with Giants after 10-0 Game 6 win

By Tim Healey / MLB.com

The terms heading into Game 6 of the World Series on Tuesday night were simple: If the Giants won, they won it all. If the Royals won, Game 7 would come Wednesday.

And so began the Game 2 rematch, San Francisco righty Jake Peavy against Kansas City righty Yordano Ventura at Kauffman Stadium. Peavy, who hadn't reached six innings in any of his eight career postseason starts, was dealing with a bruised thumb.

The Highlights

The entire mood surrounding the game changed during the Royals' seven-run second inning. They started small -- RBI base knocks from Mike Moustakas and Nori Aoki made it 2-0 and chased Peavy -- before blowing it open. Lorenzo Cain doubled the lead with a bloop to center:

CainBloop

The next at-bat yielded one of those "Hey, this is really going the Royals' way, isn't it?" moments. Eric Hosmer's ground ball bounced hard right in front of home plate, over drawn-in shortstop Brandon Crawford and into left-center. Hosmer ended up on second with a double, and two runs scored for a 6-0 advantage:

Billy Butler made it 7-0 with what was arguably the best-hit ball of the inning, a double to right-center to bring Hosmer home:

ButlerDouble

KC tacked on periodically from there, and the conclusion was never in doubt.

In the fifth, Omar Infante was feeling so good that he blew through third-base coach Mike Jirschele's stop sign to score from first on Alcides Escobar's double. That made it 9-0:

EscobarDouble

Ventura cruised through seven innings. When he snagged a Hunter Pence comebacker to end the sixth, Ventura added a piece of flare to the play:

VenturaComebacker

Moustakas capped the offensive highlights with a seventh-inning homer to right:

The Game Changer

 

With a heavy heart, Ventura turned in one of the best games of his young Major League career: seven shutout innings with four strikeouts while scattering five walks and three hits.

Ventura dedicated his start to his friend, Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras, who tragically died in a car accident in the Dominican Republic this week:

Other Key Players, Plays

Lorenzo Cain did a Lorenzo Cain thing in the first inning. Joe Panik sent a drive to center, but Cain tracked it down -- and made it look easy. He even closed his eyes as he made the catch:

CainCatch

During the Royals' giant second inning, Escobar stepped up with runners on second and third and singled … but no one scored. It was the result of an odd grounder to first:

Crawford made a pretty play in the fifth to retire Cain. He ranged well to his right and made about as long a throw as a shortstop ever needs to make:

Also worth noting: KC's big three in the bullpen -- Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland -- are well rested. None of them pitched Tuesday.

What's Next?

It's the most beautiful two-word combination in sports: Game 7. The entire season comes down to one final game, which will be at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday at Kauffman Stadium.

The pitching matchup is the same as Game 3, Giants right-hander Tim Hudson opposite Royals righty Jeremy Guthrie. Neither hurler escaped the sixth inning the first time around -- a 3-2 KC win -- but this will be an all-hands-on-deck situation. Madison Bumgarner Watch is already in full effect.

 

 

KC SF WS

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