Royals Win in Extra Innings Again, Take 1-0 Lead is Series with Angels

If you have to play the Kansas City Royals, you want to make sure you beat them in a nine inning game and don’t go into extra innings. Kansas City advanced to their American League Division Series matchup with the Los Angeles Angels by beating the Oakland Athletics in 12 innings in the Wild Card game, and now they took game one of the ALDS on an 11th inning home run by Mike Moustakas.

Big hits and shutdown pitching performances usually grab the biggest headlines, but to win championships, you have to have good defensive play. Kansas City would not have won without these great plays in the outfield by Lorenzo Cain and Norichika Aoki:

Royals pitchers also shut down the Angels’ biggest bats. Mike Trout, Josh Hamilton, and Albert Pujols were a combined 0-13 with one walk. The Division Series are only best of five games, so those hitters will have to get it in gear quickly if Los Angeles has any hopes of advancing.