Eric Hosmer has become a Lou Gehrig-like RBI machine in the postseason
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Eric Hosmer stood in front of his locker at Kauffman Stadium, putting his iPad into his backpack, getting ready for a plane flight to New York that, the way these Royals are playing, could very well end with a World Series win.
“Hos,” someone said to him. “You see that stat that puts you up with Gehrig?”
Hosmer looked up briefly and smiled. “Yeah. Sick.”
The stat in question said that Hosmer’s 27 RBIs in his first 28 postseason games is tied for second all-time. The only person who had more was the great Lou Gehrig, with 33. Jim Edmonds matched Hosmer’s mark. Game No. 28 in Hosmer’s postseason career was the Royals’ 7-1 win on Wednesday night. It gave them a commanding 2-0 lead in the series, as it heads to New York for Game 3 on Friday.
This game, like the one the night before, started on a sour note for Hosmer, but ultimately ended in redemption. The Mets scored their first (and only) run of Game 2 after a strange play in which Hosmer’s foot came off first base as he stretched to catch a throw from Mike Moustakas that would have been the third out of the fourth inning. It was a close play that looked fit for a challenge. The Royals elected not to, and the next batter up, Lucas Duda, looped an RBI single into left field.
[Related: Five key moments from the Royals’ 7-1 win in World Series Game 2]
This wasn’t a huge game-changing misplay by Hosmer. It was a tough play. Now, the grounder he couldn’t snare in Game 1 that gave the Mets their go-ahead run in the eighth, that was a gut punch. In both cases, though, redemption was sweet for Hosmer. In both, it came in the best way he knows how — with RBIs.
Hosmer’s sac fly gave the Royals the walk-off win in the 14th inning of Game 1. It wasn’t as dramatic in Game 2, but Hosmer put the Royals ahead with a two-run single in the fifth. That came with two outs. Another run would follow in the inning (him, actually), so Hosmer’s hit was even more clutch as the Royals turned a 1-0 deficit into a 4-1 lead.
“I just try and be aggressive,” Hosmer said after Game 2. “I just try and get something good early to hit and not miss it. With these guys, with the stuff that they’re featuring on the mound, you can’t afford to get in a hole.
“That’s one thing we’re consciously trying to do as an offense, get good pitches and not miss them. Because a guy like [Jacob] deGrom, a guy like [Matt] Harvey, it’s too hard to be deep in the count on them, because of how effective their pitches are, and how much more effective they make them when they have two strikes.”
[Elsewhere: World Series Journal: The A-Rodification of Kauffman Stadium]
In a larger sense, the postseason has brought out the best in Hosmer. He’s a No. 3 overall pick, who has shown signs of reaching that pedigree the past two years. His most impressive run came in the 2014 postseason when he hit .351 with 12 RBIs. He parlayed that into a strong 2015 season, in which he hit .297 with 18 homers and 93 RBIs. And so far this postseason, he’s at 15 RBIs.
“He just does his job,” Royals catcher Salvador Perez said.
Hosmer’s batting average isn’t exactly stellar this postseason (.231), but he’s driving in runs and that’s the name of the game in October, as the Royals have shown us so many times.
“As a team, as an offense,” Hosmer says, “you’ve got to keep your foot on the gas and keep pushing because that team with that staff, they have the ability to rail off a couple of good outings in a row, and their offense has the ability to get hot. I think that’s one thing we’ve learned as team is you can’t let up at all and you have to keep your foot on the gas.”
If the Royals do — and if Hosmer does — that next plane flight he’s prepping for could very well include a special guest. The World Series trophy.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
