KANSAS CITY, Mo. — People may question why Terrance Gore is on the Royals’ team.
He is a career .245 hitter in the minors with no home runs and only 35 extra-base hits in 1,270 at-bats.
Gore, however, has been called the fastest man in baseball. He has 207 stolen bases and only 19 caught stealing in the minors. He has eight stolen bases and has yet to be caught in the majors.
“People were wondering why we brought him onto our 25-man roster and that’s exactly why,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He can help you win a game late with his speed.”
He did that in the 10th inning Sunday in a 4-3 victory over the Twins. He ran for Christian Colon, who led off the inning with a walk, motored to third when reliever Trevor May threw the ball away on a pickoff attempt and scored the winning run on a wild pitch that did not get that far away from catcher John Ryan Murphy.
“That’s what he does,” Yost said. “That’s what speed does. That type of speed, you just know he’s taking off. You do everything you can to try to contain him, but it’s almost impossible. We’re sitting there with Terrence Gore at third base and thinking that any time the little ball gets away from the catcher and we’re going to win this game and that’s exactly what happens.
“I don’t think anybody else in this stadium scored there today. And in a lot of stadiums. It was just a perfect read, a perfect reaction. He anticipated a ball in the dirt. He didn’t hesitate a second and then with his speed, made it fairly easy.”
Gore’s head-first slide beat Murphy’s throw to May, who was covering home.
“I saw it trickle away and I said I’m going,” Gore said. “That’s all I need, a trickle.”