The New York Mets were five outs away from tying the World Series at two games apiece, but disaster struck in the top of the eighth inning, and the Kansas City Royals captured a 5-3 Game 4 win Saturday at Citi Field.
After reliever Tyler Clippard walked a pair of batters with one out, closer Jeurys Familia came in to face Eric Hosmer. The Royals slugger's softly hit ball slid under second baseman Daniel Murphy's glove, which allowed Ben Zobrist to score the tying run from second.
At that point, the Royals smelled blood in the water. With the game knotted at three, Mike Moustakas singled home the go-ahead run, and Salvador Perez followed up with a single to stretch Kansas City's lead to two.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau (via ESPN Stats & Info), the Royals have tied the 1996 New York Yankees with six wins after trailing by multiple runs in a single postseason.
Familia became the first player to blow two saves in a World Series since Ryan Madson in 2008, per StatsCentre on Twitter. Madson, who came on in relief for the Royals in the seventh, was credited with the win.
ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick provided an apt description of the game's decisive half-inning:
New York threatened with two men on and one out in the bottom of the ninth, but Lucas Duda lined out softly to third in what amounted to a game-ending double-play as Yoenis Cespedes got caught cheating off first.
Thanks to the timely rally, the Royals are on the verge of capturing their first World Series title since 1985. Incidentally, the last team to erase a 3-1 series deficit and win the World Series was Kansas City 30 years ago, per MLB.com's Anthony DiComo.
Steven Matz made just his ninth career start Saturday night, but it would have been hard to glean that the 24-year-old lacked experience based on the way he handled Royals batters in the early going.
The rookie mixed up his fastball and curveball to keep hitters guessing, and he finished the night with five strikeouts while allowing two runs and seven hits over five innings. According to ESPN Stats & Info, Matz's five strikeouts through four innings were more than Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom combined to tally in Games 1 and 2.
Matz displayed vulnerability in the fifth and sixth innings, though. The Royals posted two runs on five hits in those innings against the Mets' starter before he was pulled with nobody out in the sixth.
Royals starter Chris Young didn't allow a hit over the first two innings, but Michael Conforto's solo blast in the third inning put the Mets up 1-0 before Curtis Granderson recorded a sacrifice fly to score Wilmer Flores and double New York's lead.
Baseball scribe Jonah Keri was among those impressed by Conforto's tape-measure shot:
Conforto wasn't done. The 22-year-old also launched a 400-foot bomb to right center to give the Mets a 3-1 lead in the fifth. With a pair of jacks, Conforto became the first player since Pablo Sandoval in 2012 to record a multi-homer game in the World Series, per Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan.
Young appeared in control over the first two frames against the heart of the Mets' order, but as Passan noted, the 36-year-old struggled with his location from the third inning on:
The journeyman's Game 4 stint lasted just four innings, but the Royals' relievers did a nice job silencing the Mets' bats. Other than Conforto's solo shot off Danny Duffy, Kansas City's bullpen combined to allow three hits over the final five innings.
For the Royals, Saturday was another display of exceptional mental fortitude. In typical Kansas City fashion, the American League champions kept chipping away, and ultimately, their persistence paid off.
Now, the Royals are one win away from hoisting the Commissioner's Trophy.
And according to WhoWins.com, only five teams in 43 chances have come back from 3-1 down to win the World Series. The odds are firmly in Kansas City's favor entering Sunday's Game 5 (8:15 p.m. ET). Matt Harvey is currently scheduled to take the mound against Edinson Volquez with the Mets' season on the line.
Postgame Reaction
Following the win, Moustakas discussed his team's come-from-behind effort with Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal:
In the Mets' clubhouse, Murphy owned his costly error.
"I misplayed it," Murphy said, per the New York Daily News' Peter Botte. "There's no excuse for it. We lost the ballgame because of it."
However, David Wright hesitated to blame the Mets' second baseman for the loss.
"That's not the reason why we lost this game," Wright said, according to DiComo. "That's definitely not the reason why we lost this game."
"There's some anger and some emotion right now," Wright added, per DiComo. "It's not the ideal position. But we dug this hole for ourselves."
Cespedes also addressed his baserunning blunder, per Botte: "I thought it was going to touch the grass," the outfielder told reporters. "I didn't think it would be a double play."
Cespedes and Co. will try to atone for Saturday's loss against Volquez, who will be pitching in honor of his late father.
"I’m pretty sure my dad is going to be proud of me when I pitch tomorrow," Volquez told reporters after Game 4, according to the Kansas City Star's Chris Fickett.
"I want to pitch," he added, per the Hartford Courant's Jeff Jacobs. "I want to make people proud. That's what I love."
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