The Kansas City Royals took a commanding lead in the American League Championship Series as they defeated the Baltimore Orioles 6-4 Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Royals now lead two games to none as the Series travels to the Midwest for Game 3 Monday night.

The novelty of this game is that it took only nine innings. The Royals had come into Saturday's action having won five straight postseason games -- four of them in extra innings. This time, though, they were able to finish the job in a timely manner but still managed to use late-inning magic to earn victory.

With the score tied at 4-4 entering the top of the ninth, Kansas City got the leadoff man aboard with a single from Omar Infante. Alcides Escobar slashed a double down the right-field line to score pinch runner Terrance Gore from first.

After an error that allowed Jarrod Dyson to reach and move Escobar to third, Lorenzo Cain singled to left to score Escobar and give the Royals their margin of victory.

The two teams went back and forth for five innings with Kansas City scoring twice in the top of the first. Eric Hosmer drove in Nori Aoki and Cain with a single to left. Baltimore bounced back with a single run in the bottom of the second on Caleb Joseph's sacrifice fly. Billy Butler then got that run right back for Kansas City with an RBI double in the third to make the score 3-1.

Baltimore's Adam Jones then tied the game at 3-3 with a line-drive two-run home run over the left-field wall in the bottom of the third. 

The tie, however, did not last long as Mike Moustakas put Kansas City right back on top with a no-doubt solo shot of his own in the top of the fourth.

It was Moustakas's second home run of the series and fourth of the postseason.

Baltimore's Nelson Cruz tied the game at 4-4 with an RBI groundout in the fifth, and the score stayed tied until Escobar came to bat in the ninth.

Yordano Ventura started for Kansas City but left with two outs in the sixth because of right shoulder tightness. MLB.com's Jane Lee, though, reports that Ventura expects to make his next start. Manager Ned Yost said that Ventura "is fine" and removing him was more precautionary. Yost also expects Ventura to make his next start. Ventura allowed four earned runs in his 5 2/3 innings of work. He gave up five hits (one home run) while walking three and striking out three.

Wade Davis (W: 2-0) earned the victory with a scoreless eighth inning, and Greg Holland worked an easy ninth to pick up the save (2).

Darren O'Day (L: 0-2) suffered the loss for Baltimore as he allowed the first ninth inning run to score. Bud Norris started and lasted 4 1/3 innings, allowing four earned runs on nine hits. He also walked no one and struck out three.

Monday night's Game 3 will see Wei-Yin Chen pitchng for Baltimore and Jeremy Guthrie for Kansas City. The Royals need two more wins to advance to the World Series whereas the Orioles need to win two of three in Kansas City to send the series back to Camden Yards. Game 3 begins Monday at 8:07 p.m. EDT.

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About the author
Raymond Bureau
Raymond became a baseball fan at a very young age. He played baseball through high school and soon after became a varsity coach. He is now the P.A. announcer at his high school where he teaches. Raymond previously produced radio sports talk shows and hosted a weekly MLB radio call-in show. His favorite teams are the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees. Raymond is a devoted husband, father, and Christ follower. His life verses are Philippians 4:13, John 14:6, and Isaiah 41:10.