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Hercules walks off in extras as Royals defeat Astros 2-1 in ten innings

Hercules, Hercules, Hercules.

By J.K. Ward
Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports

The Royals walked off in the tenth to defeat the Houston Astros 2-1 on Saturday night.

The PA system was on the fritz for the first two-plus innings, an experience I would have loved to have shared with fellow baseball enthusiasts. The sound came back though, and I was less disappointed, but the experience did provide a pretty cool moment out at Kauffman, as the fans in the stands launched into the national anthem:

Danny Duffy has been good lately. Today was another one of those good days, even as Houston elevated his pitch count. Duffy completed six innings, giving up one run on three hits with a walk and three strikeouts. Though the strikeout rate is down, it is hard to argue with the results, as Duffy has lowered his season ERA from 5.87 to 4.03 since returning from the disabled list, a stretch of six starts wherein The Czar of Gnar has yielded nine earned runs in 37.2 innings.

However, to paraphrase Tim McCarver, "As good as Danny Duffy was today, that's as bad as the Royals offense has been now." Managing just four hits and a walk against journeyman Scott Feldman, and the walk was intentionally given to pitch around Eric Hosmer. Salvador Perez managed to sacrifice a runner in, but the Royals left two in scoring position.

Ryan Madson and Wade Davis pitched the seventh and eighth, continuing to do pleasant things and making hitters look downright Marinerish. Greg Holland gave up a single in the ninth to budding superstar Carlos Correa, but then this happened

On to the bottom of the ninth, when resident object of Ryan Landreth's disdain Eric Hosmer tripled with two outs. Salvador Perez followed with a walk, which is enough to lead you to believe that fate was on the side of the Royals.

Alas, it was not meant to be, as Alex Rios was robbed by the aforementioned Carlos Correa.

Free baseball means free column inches, so on to the tenth we go. Kelvin Herrera pitched and gave up a single, but then Chris Carter lined into a double play that was upheld on review. Colby Rasmus followed with a fly out to left.

In the bottom half of the inning, Omar Infante'd followed by a Paulo Orlando single. He did not attempt to steal as Jarrod Dyson lined out to right. He did steal second while Escobar was at the dish:

It was ungood offensively, but the Royals pulled it out in the end, as Alcides Escobar dunked a pitch into right field allowing Orlando to score. Praise be to Duffy, Beard of the Most Gnar, and the four-headed monster of a bullpen that went four innings, giving up two hits and recording three strikeouts. Alhamdulillah.

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