It had been 29 years since the last time the Royals were in a playoff game, so this one was extra special. Salvador Perez hit a walkoff single in the bottom of the 12th to give Kansas City baseball joy for the fist time in nearly three decades. Down 7-3 in the bottom of the of the 8th the Royals answered, scoring 4 unanswered runs to send it to extras. The Athletics, a sleeper for the World Series went up 8-7 in the top of the 12th after Callaspo batted in Reddick. The Royals once again answered the call with two runs in the bottom of the frame to win 9-8. The Royals will face the Angels on the 2nd.
The other wildcard game wasn’t as much of a thriller as the Giants blew out the Pirates 8-0 in a game highlighted by a grand slam from Brandon Crawford in the 4th. “We thrive in these situations,” Crawford said. “I don’t know what it is. We just keep fighting no matter what the circumstance.” The Giants won their seventh straight elimination game, a streak that dates back to 2012. “We’ve been through it before, a lot of this team has,” Brandon Belt said. “We used that experience tonight. We know when we get in these situations we’re going to have a good ballclub.”