Royals Again Show Mastery of Finding a Way in ALDS Game 1 Win over Angels

You wouldn't expect the majors' worst home run-hitting team to win a postseason game with a clutch dinger. Nor would you expect it to come from a .212 hitter in the No. 9 slot. That just wouldn't make sense.

But then, that speaks to what the Kansas City Royals have shown us in their first two playoff games since 1985: Not making sense and succeeding anyway is just how they roll.

If you missed Thursday night's action in Anaheim, the Royals pulled off a 3-2 win in 11 innings over the Los Angeles Angels in Game 1 of the American League Division Series. The whole affair wasn't as explosively weird as the Royals' 9-8 extra-innings win—capped by Salvador Perez's ugly-swing single—over the Oakland A's in the AL Wild Card Game, but the Royals once again took a less-than-straight road to victory.

At the end of it was the aforementioned dinger, hit by 26-year-old third baseman Mike Moustakas.

Yes, that Mike Moustakas. The one who broke into the league as a top prospect back in 2011 but quickly fell into a pit of inconsistency from which he hit just .212 with a .632 OPS in 2014.

So when Moustakas led off the 11th against Fernando Salas, maybe 3.5 percent of those watching were actually sitting on the edges of their seats. But then this happened, and the Royals suddenly had a 3-2 lead:

"It's probably the biggest one I've ever hit so far," Moustakas said of his home run to The Associated Press. "It felt really amazing."

Mind you, the lefty-swinging Moustakas did have the platoon advantage against the righty-throwing Salas. Except, well, he actually sort of didn't. Here's Sam Miller of Baseball Prospectus to explain:

"

Lefties his 1 HR in 126 PA against Salas. Overall, .188/.260/.250, 14th-best RHP against lefties.

— Sam Miller (@SamMillerBP) October 3, 2014"

So there's that. The Royals, a team that hit all of 95 home runs in the regular season, won a playoff game on a home run by an unlikely source off an unlikely target.

It's only been two games. But after Perez's hit in the AL Wild Card Game came on the last of many ugly swings, it already feels appropriate to observe that Moustakas' home run was just so Royals.

And that's not all. There's also how things got to that point, which largely involved the Royals sticking to their identity in two different fashions: absurdly and frustratingly. And not for the first time, either.

There are two things the Royals do really well. One of them is run the bases, and they showed against the A's how good they can be by having seven different players steal bases. Absurdity entered the mix, however, when the Royals' overconfidence in their running game led to a delayed steal attempt with Billy Butler that inevitably turned into a cluster-you-know-what.

The other thing the Royals do really well is play defense, leading all teams in Ultimate Zone Rating, according to FanGraphs. This excellence was reflected in two fine catches by center fielder Lorenzo Cain on Thursday night.

At the same time, the Royals only finished fourth in Defensive Runs Saved. The disconnect between the two metrics is best reflected by right fielder Norichika Aoki, who UZR rates as a plus defender and DRS rates as a subpar defender. The talent is clearly there, but his defense can clearly be adventurous.

That's the door opening for Thursday night's absurdity to take place.

In the sixth inning, Aoki made a catch up against the wall in which the ball found leather almost by accident. In the seventh inning, he made an adventure out of another deep fly ball. He wouldn't have been able to make either catch without talent, but neither catch was pretty.

But just like Butler's gaffe didn't hurt the Royals against the A's, Aoki's circus catches sure didn't hurt them against the Angels. Both came with two outs and runners on base, thus denying the Angels a pair of chances to snap a 2-2 tie.

There was an ugly side to the Royals' baserunning in the AL Wild Card Game, and an ugly side to their defense in Game 1 of the ALDS. But in both cases, the pretty side won out.

Another part of the Royals' identity is one that the baseball world got a full taste of when they took down the A's: The occasionally head-scratching and mind-numbing experience that is Ned Yost's managing.

It appeared mostly in the four sacrifice bunts Yost called for, but also in his bullpen management. Infamously, he called on young starter Yordano Ventura to get the Royals out of a jam, only to see him surrender a three-run homer. Much to the chagrin of Pedro Martinez and, well, everyone else.

Mercifully, Yost cooled it on the bunts in Game 1. But he was in fine form, making questionable decisions with his pitching...

...And living to tell about it.

Harry How/Getty Images

In the sixth inning, Yost stuck with lefty starter Jason Vargas after he gave up a one-out single to Kole Calhoun to set the table for Mike Trout, Albert Pujols and Howie Kendrick. The safe play would have been to bring in Kelvin Herrera, but Vargas got out of it.

In the ninth inning, Yost went to Tim Collins instead of flame-throwing closer Greg Holland. It was a risky and ill-advised venture, given that Collins made only four major league appearances after June 16 and that Yost was playing for a non-guaranteed save situation. But it worked, as Collins got two outs before Jason Frasor got the third.

In the 10th inning, Yost avoided Holland again. This time, he brought in Danny Duffy to face Calhoun, Trout and Pujols. In bringing in a starter to face dangerous hitters in a pressure situation, he was fixing to make the same darn mistake twice in two games. 

This prompted SI MLB to say what many were thinking:

But take a wild guess why we're having this conversation. Yup. Duffy got out of it.

Then came Moustakas' homer in the top of the 11th and then, finally, Holland in the bottom of the 11th. Just 11 pitches and two strikeouts later, he cleaned up Game 1 with no muss, no fuss.

And so, here we are looking at two Royals postseason victories that defy logic. Partially because of the whole "Royals postseason victories" thing, and partially because of, well, this:

1. The Royals have shown there are some things they do well, namely run the bases and play defense.
2. The Royals have shown they're not going to make it easy, be it with adventurous baserunning, adventurous defense, too many bunts or risky pitching decisions.
3. The Royals have shown that they may need miracles to pull off wins, such as a base hit on a wild swing or a home run by the worst hitter on the team.

This is not an ideal mix of things befitting a typical World Series contender. That it's worked for the Royals means they're either riding a wave of good luck that's bound to break, or they're just not going to be a typical World Series contender.

Be ready for the former, but don't rule out the latter. If the Royals' first two playoff games—and, frankly, their entire season—are any indication, they're just going to keep finding a way.

It hasn't been easy so far. And with word coming out that the flame-throwing Herrera is headed for an MRI on his right arm after an early exit from Game 1, it's more than likely not going to get any easier—especially not with Yost's bullpen management.

It's a good thing, then, that the Royals have shown they can handle things not being easy.

Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted/linked.

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