KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- In what perhaps was the wackiest, wildest, most heart-stopping, did-I-just-see-that game in the history of the Royals, the team that hadn't been to the playoffs since 1985 walked off with a stunning 9-8 win in 12 innings over Oakland in the AL Wild Card Game.
A crowd of 40,502 packed into a rocking Kauffman Stadium and along with Royals fans everywhere likely will be talking about this one for generations.
The Royals now will advance to the American League Division Series against the Angels in Anaheim, Calif., starting Thursday.
The Royals overcame all odds, coming back from 2-0, 7-3 and 8-7 deficits to advance.
"Unbelievable! Unbelievable!" bellowed catcher Sal Perez in the Royals' clubhouse as champagne squirted everywhere in the second such celebration in less than a week.
"We knew and we believed," Perez said, his clothes and hair drenched once more. "This team never quits. We don't quit. We don't quit until it's the last out."
Perez was the hero after an otherwise miserable night at the plate. But there were many other heroes as well.
Perez had been 0 for 5 until he came up with Christian Colon on second and two outs in the bottom of the 12th.
Paralyzed by sliders all night, Perez reached out for one off the plate and pulled it down the left-field line, scoring Colon and setting off a wild baseball celebration not seen in these parts in 29 years.
The Royals had trailed, 8-7, entering the inning, but Eric Hosmer boomed a triple off the left-center-field wall with one out.
With the infield in, Christian Colon, who wasn't even on the roster two months ago, hit a soft chopper down the third-base line, so soft that no play could be made. Hosmer scored and the crowd erupted once more.
"Sometimes you hit the ball hard and it gets caught," Colon said, smiling. "Sometimes you don't and you get a hit. I'd rather be lucky."
Rookie left-hander Brandon Finnegan also played a major role, throwing two shutout innings in the 10th and 11th, though a walk led to a run in the 12th.
"That's the most incredible game I've ever been a part of," manager Ned Yost said. "Our fans were -- man, unbelievable. Our guys never quit. When we fell behind there in the fifth inning, sixth inning, they kept battling back. They weren't going to be denied. It was just a great game."
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3 UP, PLUS 1
-- Nori's clutch at-bat. There probably wasn't a Royals hitter hotter down the stretch than Nori Aoki. Time and again, he got on base or drove in runs. And once again, Aoki delivered. This time with the tying run on third and one out in the ninth, Aoki lifted a fly to right field, plenty deep enough to bring home Jarrod Dyson with the run that made it 7-7. "He's been big for us so much lately," Hosmer said. "We all knew he would come through."
-- LoCain's big hits. Lorenzo Cain came through with a big two-out RBI double in the third that tied the score at 2-2. Then when the Royals seemed to be hopelessly out of it at 7-3, he ignited a three-run rally with a one-out RBI single that made it 7-4. He also lined out hard in the ninth.
-- Hosmer's hustle. Hosmer walked twice and had three hits. The first, a single, gave the Royals a 3-2 lead in the third inning. The second led off the 10th as he grounded the ball up the middle and slid headfirst into first base to beat the throw from the shortstop. At that point he represented the winning run, though he was stranded. Then he crushed the triple in the 12th. "Just a crazy, crazy game," Hosmer said. "We just kept coming and coming at them. I can't remember ever being in a game like that.
Check out these images from the Royals' classic wild-card win over Oakland.
"You have to give a lot of credit to the crowd for staying around and keeping the energy up. They were tremendous."
-- Billy's interesting night. Right up there in the clutch hitting department was Billy Butler. He singled in a run with a bullet into the left-field corner in the first inning with two out. Then he really got the crowd juiced with a bullet into right-center during the eighth-inning rally. That hit made it 7-5 and really gave the Royals hope. He also was part of an odd ending to the first inning. Butler was on first and Hosmer was on third with two outs. Alex Gordon was up and had an 0-2 count. Suddenly, Butler just started wandering toward second base. Oakland lefty Jon Lester flipped to first and the A's got Butler in a rundown. Eventually, Hosmer took off for home and was thrown out easily.
3 DOWN
-- The decision. Yost likely would have been roasted locally if the Royals had lost because of his decision to go with Yordano Ventura instead of lefties Finnegan or Danny Duffy to face Brandon Moss (a left-handed hitter) in the sixth. Ventura promptly gave up a three-run bomb to Moss, his second homer of the game. "We had the decision there between Ventura, Finnegan and Duffy," Yost said. "All three young guys. Ventura came into a game earlier this year and actually won it for us by throwing an inning-and-two-thirds of relief. He was lights-out, and we got to that point where we just wanted to bring the gas. We wanted to bring the gas for the sixth, we wanted to bring the gas for the seventh with Kelvin Hererra, Wade Davis and Holly (Greg Holland) with a one-run lead and it just didn't work out."
-- Herrera's sixth. Whether or not Yost made the wrong call by bringing in Ventura instead of Herrera to face Moss, when Herrera did get in, he could have done a better job of holding down the A's. Herrera came in with a runner on third and one out, but after getting a foul out he surrendered three straight hits and the A's suddenly had a 7-3 lead.
-- Gordon's night. Alex Gordon wanted to please the home fans as much as anyone. Instead he went 0 for 5.
You can follow Jeffrey Flanagan on Twitter at @jflanagankc or email him at jeffreyflanagan6@gmail.com.
