ALCS Game 1 Overflow #3: Royals 5, Orioles 5, End of 7th

The Royals had a mini-implosion in the bottom of the sixth as Brandon Finnegan walked the lead-off batter, Jonathan Schoop. Nick Markakis singled with a blooper to right, his third hit of the night. Then Schoop wandered off second, and Salvador Perez threw down to second only to have Alcides Escobar bounce the ensuing throw to third off Schoop's back. Thankfully the ball didn't carom out of the field of play, but Schoop and Markakis stood in scoring position with the Orioles down just a run.

Alejandro De Aza then hit the weakest bloop single in the history of bloop singles, just over the mound. Escobar nearly caught the ball, but Schoop once again was rewarded for poor baserunning when he took off early on what could have been an out in the air. Schoop scored, knotting it up and runners stood on the corners with no outs.

Finnegan was lifted for Kelvin Herrera, who got the Royals out of the inning without any further damage being done.

Norichika Aoki singled with no outs in the top of the seventh. Jarrod Dyson came in to pinch-run for Aoki, and after fifteen pick-off attempts, Dyson slid into second safely only to have Schoop's "tag application" force Dyson's foot off the bag. Cain was called out on a "third strike" at least three inches inside off the plate, a pitch that hadn't been called a strike up until that point. Hosmer singled in what would have scored Dyson were he still standing at second. Billy Butler was then called out looking on another "strike" in pretty much the same horseshit spot Cain was called out on.

Wonderful.

Herrera  cruised through the bottom of the seventh, ending his two innings of work with just 20 pitches. On to the eighth we go, all tied up.