In the first inning the Royals had a chance to get on the board with a two out rally when Cain drew two out walk and then Hosmer crushed a base hit. I thought Cain was going to try and go and he stopped at third (even though the base coach waved him home late). Butler came up and hit a easy ground ball to short to end the inning (Billy would make up for it in the second). The bottom of the second almost ended the ball game; Gordon lead off with a bloop hit to center followed by Perez with a line drive to right field just getting over the second baseman's head which got Gordon to third. With runners on first and third Moustakas came through with a double to right field scoring Gordon and getting Perez to third. Infante had a poor at bat striking out and not looking good while doing it. Escobar followed that up with a weak ground ball between the pitching and first base, but due to confusion he beat out the tag to load the bases. Aoki followed that up with a bloop hit to score another run, giving the Royals a 2-0 lead with the bases still loaded and knock Peavy out of the game. In came Petit who had been unhitable all postseason, all the Royals did was got three hits, two doubles and scored five more runs.
Ventura had a rough third inning after a strikeout he gave up three straight walks loading the bases with only one out. Then on one pitch he got Buster Posey to ground out to Escobar who turned the double play. As it turned out that was the Giants real last chance to get back in the game. Ventura would only give up two more hits and two more walks in his last four innings. The bullpen in two innings of work would give up three more hits, but completed the shutout.
The offense did add another run in the third, fifth and seventh including Moustakas's fifth homerun in the seventh inning off Strickland who gave up his sixth homerun in six appearances in the postseason. The most impressive part of the night for the Royals offense was that all starters had at least one hit and all but Butler scored a run, but he did have an RBI.
The Royals were also able to work the Giants bullpen, I am guessing there are three pitchers for the Giants that we would not see in Game 7; Peavy (only threw 42 pitches, but only got 4 outs) Machi (had to throw 51 pitches, if he was to go would be for maybe one batter) and Strickland (only threw 25 pitches but is 6 for 6 in giving up homeruns). Petit threw 17 pitches giving up 3 hits and 2 runs, so while he can go the Royals now have to have confidence that they can hit him. Vogelsong, who started game 4 came in for the eighth and threw 15 pitches. For the Royals the only pitcher that I would expect is not available for Game 7 is Ventura who went 7 innings on 100 pitches. Both Frasor (16 pitches) and Collins (13 pitches) threw one inning, so if they are needed they should be good to go.
Player of the game: "Ace" Ventura - He became the second rookie pitcher since 1950 to throw seven shutout innings in a World Series game (the other pitcher being Bumgarner in 2010). Ventura did what he needed to with a large lead. He pounded the strike zone (with the exception the the third inning in which he had to sit on the bench for 35 minutes while the Royals scored 7 runs) and got outs. He was throwing fire hitting 100 mph in the 5th, 6th and 7th innings. Four weeks ago people questioned if Yost may have ruined the kid by bringing him in during the wildcard game in the middle of an inning in which he really struggled. Knowing now what we do, it may have helped grow him as a player.
The Royals are now one win from being World Champions, but so are the Giants. Game 7 of the World Series will be played in Kansas City. Kansas City is ready to turn the last pillar on Bartle Hall blue in Game 7.
#TakeTheCrown
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