Royals 2, Orioles 1
Billy Butler drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth as Kansas City edged visiting Baltimore to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the American League Championship Series.
Alex Gordon drove in a run and Lorenzo Cain had two hits and scored for the Royals, who are 7-0 in this year's playoffs and can clinch their first trip to the World Series since 1985 with a win in Game 4 on Wednesday. Jeremy Guthrie allowed one run and three hits in in five innings before turning it over to a bullpen that did not allow a baserunner in the final four frames, with Jason Frasor (1-0) earning the win and Greg Holland picking up his third save of the series.
J.J. Hardy drove in the lone run as the Orioles suffered their third straight close loss in the series. Wei-Yin Chen (0-1) was reached for two runs on seven singles and a walk while striking out four in 5 1/3 innings.
The Orioles grabbed the lead in the second when Steve Pearce and Hardy found the gaps with back-to-back, one-out doubles. Baltimore stranded two runners in the second and one each in the third and fourth before Kansas City loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a walk in front of Gordon’s RBI groundout.
The Royals manufactured the go-ahead run in the sixth when Norichika Aoki led off with a single and pinch runner Jarrod Dyson raced to third on Eric Hosmer’s one-out single. The Orioles brought in right-hander Kevin Gausman to face Billy Butler, who lifted a fly ball to left plenty deep enough to score the speedy Dyson.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Royals 3B Mike Moustakas had his string of three straight games with a home run come to an end but made the defensive play of the night when he went over the railing into the stands near the photographers well to catch a foul pop in the sixth. … Baltimore DH Nelson Cruz, who recorded two hits in each of the first five postseason games, went 0-for- 4. … The Orioles will attempt to become the second team in MLB history to recover from a 3-0 hole in a best-of-seven series (Boston Red Sox, 2004 ALCS).