It was, perhaps, the greatest Game One ever played. It started on the very first pitch which ended up being something not seen in 112 years.
It may go down in baseball history as the greatest Game One in the history of the storied World Series. The game had just about everything you could imagine and several things you could not possibly of imagined. In the end, however, the Kansas City Royals, once again, pulled lightning and magic out of their hats, to defeat the New York Mets, 5-4.
The game went 14 innings and took five hours and nine minutes to actually play. The clock was seriously pushing 2AM on the East Coast when the Royals won the game on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 14th, reports ESPN. The game began as it had not begun in 112 years. Alcides Escobar led of the bottom of the first for the Royals.
He drove the ball deep into the gap in left center field right between the two outfielders. Neither Mets outfielder went for the catch so the ball bounced on the ground then bounced off one of the outfielder’s legs. The ball skidded along the warning track and was moving away. By the time the ball was retrieved, the speedy Escobar was home with an inside the park home run. Such a thing had not happened since the second World Series game ever played back in 1903.
The game went back and forth and was tied again in the 8th inning when the Mets batter , with a man on, drove a screaming ground ball at Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer. Ghosts of 1986 and Bill Buckner reared as Hosmer tried to take it on the short hop. The ball blew by him into right field and the Mets took the lead 4-3. Hosmer, however, got to redeem himself as it was his sacrifice fly, with Escobar on third, in the bottom of the 14th, that finally won the game.
The game had more than you could have imagined including Royals starter Edinson Volquez pitching without knowing that his father had just recently died. The game also included a five minute blackout when Fox lost power, 417 pitches thrown by 13 pitchers, and 36 players seeing action. Not to mention that Hosmer error that changed the game and 42 year old Bartolo Colon winning the distinction of being the oldest pitcher to ever get the loss in a World Series game.
