ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Kansas City Royals tied a postseason record with seven stolen bases in their American League wild-card win over the Oakland A’s on Tuesday.
Although they managed “only” one steal Thursday in Game 1 of the AL Division Series against the Los Angeles Angels, it is no secret what the Royals’ game plan will be throughout the series.
“Everybody got into hitting two- and three-run homers, and they kind of abandoned bunting, stealing, playing the game aggressively in that fashion,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “You break down our lineup, do we have power? Yeah, we have some guys who can hit balls out of the ballpark, but we don’t have any 25-, 30-, 35-home run hitters. So we have to do other things.”
Despite the Royals’ focus on small ball, it was the long ball that proved the difference in the opener against the Angels. Third baseman Mike Moustakas’ 11th-inning homer lifted Kansas City to a 3-2 win.
“We have some guys that can hit the ball out of the ballpark,” Yost said prophetically before the game.
Even so, general manager Dayton Moore built the club for speed. Nobody on the team hit as many as 20 home runs, but three players (Jarrod Dyson, Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain) had at least 28 stolen bases. The Royals led the majors with 153 stolen bases.
“We go out and play, we play to win,” Yost said. “We don’t play defensively, we don’t play cautiously. We go out and play to win a baseball game, and we’re going to do it any way we can.”
Angels manager Mike Scioscia, a former major league catcher, certainly took note.
“It’s reminiscent of the Cardinals back in ’85,” Scioscia said. “Maybe not quite to that extent, but that’s how they pressure teams.”
Probably no better indication of the Royals’ intentions is the inclusion of Terrance Gore on the postseason roster. Gore has only five hits above Class A level in his professional career, and none of the five came at the major league level.
However, Gore stole five bases for Kansas City in 11 regular-season games, and he stole a base in the wild-card game and then another Thursday.