The Kansas City Royals took the second game of their interleague series against the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night in dramatic fashion, winning 4-1 in 11 innings at Kauffman Stadium. It looked like the Royals might jump on Randy Wolf early, but the Brewers starter escaped the first inning allowing just one run. Alex Gordon led off the game with a double to left and came around to score on a groundout by Billy Butler.
Jonathan Sanchez had a solid outing for the Royals, scattering seven hits over five innings to hold the Brewers to just one run. But Milwaukee strung together four of those seven hits in the top of the third to tie it up. After Sanchez struck out Ryan Braun, it appeared he might dodge the bullet but Aramis Ramirez, of all people, reached base with a two-out infield single that plated Edwin Maysonet.
After three scoreless innings, the Brewers would finally break the 1-1 tie against Kelvin Herrera. This time, Braun delivered in the clutch -- singling up the middle to bring Maysonet home yet again. The Brew Crew then added what looked like some insurance in the top of ninth. Norichika Aoki led off with a double against Jose Mijares. Carlos Gomez tried to sacrifice Aoki over to third and a throwing error by catcher Brayan Pena opened up the 3-1 lead.
Down to their final out, the Royals would finally put together some offense after the seven-inning drought. After John Axford issued walks to Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas, Alcides Escobar came through with a huge two-out triple to tie it all up at 3-3.
The Royals would not waste the ninth-inning comeback, pushing across the winning run via a walk-off walk in the bottom of the 11th. Kameron Loe came on in relief of Manny Parra and immediately surrendered a lead-off single to Billy Butler. After an Eric Hosmer walk, Jeff Francoeur loaded them up with a single to left that could not score the slow-footed Butler. But with three ducks on the pond, Mike Moustakas took a 3-1 pitch for ball four that brought home Butler for the series-clinching win.
The Royals will try to sweep the series in Game 3 on Thursday. Luke Hochevar will take the ball for Ned Yost while Shawn Marcum will be on the mound for Milwaukee.
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