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Eric Hosmer Defeats Twins With Dramatic 9th Inning Home Run

Wow.

With the Royals trailing the Twins 1-0 with two outs in the 9th, Eric Hosmer blasted a game-winning line-drive home run to dead center field. In an age in which the most banal of "walkoff" victories are celebrated with wild abandon, Hosmer's home run was one of the biggest one pitch swings, and swings, we'll see all season. When he stepped to the plate the Royals had just a 19% chance of winning the game. When he touched home, that probability was near 90%.


Hosmer's glorious rocket came just seconds after the Royals were heartbroken by a good (not great) play by Jason Repko to moderately rob Billy Butler of a game-tying double. (Not hating, but both broadcasts crews, for different reasons, we're overstating how good a play it was.)

All of that being said, the Twins very nearly won or at least tied the game in a variety of ways in the bottom of the 9th. The Royals were saved by Danny Valencia's fly ball being about 5 feet short of clearing the wall and an idiotic contact play with one out. The contact play remains the most annoying managerial tactic of this century, but in this case we'll take it.