(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Royals take 2-0 lead in World Series vs. Mets
Nederlands
 KANSAS CITY, Missouri (USA) -
The Kansas City Royals took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven World Series against the New York Mets by winning big 7-1 on Wednesday-evening (October 28).
After trailing 1-0, the Royals rallied for four runs in the bottom of the fifth to decide the game.
Game Three will be played on Friday-evening in New York.
On Tuesday, the Royals opened the World Series with a 5-4 win in a 14-inning thriller that lasted more than five hours.
The game equaled the record for longest World Series-game in innings.
The first 14-inning game was played on October 9, 1916, which was Game 2 of the World Series between the Boston Red Sox and Brooklyn Dodgers.
The Red Sox won the game 2-1.
Winning pitcher then was legendary Babe Ruth, who threw all 14 innings for Boston, giving up only six hits.
As a batter, Ruth was 0-for-5 and he batted in the tying run in the third inning with a groundout.
The second 14-inning game was played 89 years later on October 25, 2005, when the Chicago White Sox won 7-5 against the Houston Astros.
Recap Game One
KC's Game One-starter Edinson Vólquez flew back to the Dominican Republic earlier today to be with his family.
His father Daniel passed away on Tuesday before Game One was played at age 63 due to heart complications.
Vólquez threw the first six innings, then was informed of the news afterward by his wife in the clubhouse.
It is expected that the righthander will be back with the team for Game Three on Friday.
Starting pitchers tonight were righthander Johnny Cueto for the Royals and righthander Jacob deGrom for the Mets.
Johnny Cueto was 11-13 this season with a 3.44 ERA.
In his career, Cueto is 3-4 against the Mets, including one loss this season.
Tonight was Cueto's fourth start of the postseason and his seventh overall appearance.
He had a no-decision in Game 2 of the ALDS against the Houston Astros, then was the winner in Game 5 when the Royals won the series.
Cueto then was the losing pitcher in Game 3 of the ALCS against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Jacob deGrom was 14-8 this season with a 2.54 ERA.
Tonight was his first-ever appearance against the Royals.
In this postseason, deGrom started three games and won all three of them.
He first won Game 1 of the NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers, then also won Game 5.
deGrom then won his third start, which was Game 3 of the NLCS against the Chicago Cubs.
Both starting pitchers retired the side in the first inning, but then the Mets got their first baserunner in the top of the second at bat.
With one out, Lucas Duda reached on an infield-hit off of Royals-starter Johnny Cueto, but then was eliminated in an inning-ending double play.
Cueto then retired the side again in the third.
In the bottom of the third, deGrom got his first baserunner when he walked Alex Gordon with one out, but he stranded.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Mets opened the score.
Curtis Granderson led off with a walk, then Daniel Murphy also walked with two outs.
Moments later, Granderson was forced out on third base on a grounder by Yoenis Cespedes, but then Lucas Duda followed with a single to give the Mets an 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fourth, Ben Zobrist reached on an error, then advanced when Eric Hosmer singled with one out.
The two advanced on a grounder by Kendrys Morales, then the bases got loaded when Mike Moustakas walked.
However, the three runners were left behind when Salvador Pérez grounded out.
In the bottom of the fifth, deGrom got more baserunners and ran into problems.
He walked lead-off hitter Alex Gordon, then gave up a single to Álex Ríos.
Moments later, Gordon scored the tying run when Alcides Escobar followed with another single.
With this, Escobar extended his postseason-hitting streak to twelve games.
Two outs followed, but then Eric Hosmer delivered a 2-run single that made it 3-1 in favor of the Royals.
Next, Kendrys Morales also singled to put runners on first and third base.
Mike Moustakas then followed with another runscoring single that made it 4-1.
After Cueto had retired the side again in the top of the sixth, Hansel Robles became the new pitcher for the Mets in the bottom half of the inning.
He got three outs, including a long fly into centerfield by Álex Ríos, which was caught by Yoenis Cespedes just above the fence.
In the bottom of the seventh, Jon Niese took over the Mets-pitching.
The lefthander walked Lorenzo Cain with one out, but he was left behind.
In the meantime, Cueto continued his dominance by retiring three more batters in the top of the seventh and eighth inning.
With that, the righthanded had retired 13 batters in a row since the fourth at bat.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Royals were productive again with another rally.
Mike Moustakas led off with a single and Salvador Pérez followed with a double.
Hereafter, Alex Gordon added a runscoring double that make it a 5-1 score.
That also led to a pitching change.
Addison Reed took over, but was greeted with a deep sacrifice fly by Paulo Orlando that brought in the sixth KC-run.
Next, Alcides Escobar drilled a triple into centerfield to bring in another run and make it a 7-1 score.
And that also brought in a new pitcher, Sean Gilmartin, who then retired the next two batters.
In the top of the ninth, Cueto retired the first two batters.
But then, after having retired 15 batters in a row, Cueto walked Daniel Murphy.
The inning and the game then ended when Yoenis Cespedes flied out.
With that, Johnny Cueto threw a complete game 2-hitter, with both hits being hit by Lucas Duda.
Cueto became the first American League-pitcher to throw a complete game in the World Series since Jack Morris threw 10 innings in Game 7 of the 1991 Series for the Minnesota Twins against the Atlanta Braves.
Back then, the Twins won 1-0 and Morris was named MVP.
(October 28)
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