Royals finish off Mets to win World Series

NEW YORK - This is what the Kansas City Royals do. They make contact at an abnormally high rate. They run aggressively and relentlessly. They simply make things happen.

There was no better example of it than during their coronation on Sunday night in a stunned Citi Field. The Royals are World Series champions for the first time in 30 years and the second time in their franchise's history. They clinched because of their eighth come-from-behind victory in 16 postseason games.

Eric Hosmer's break for home in the ninth inning, a stunning play that resulted in the tying run, encapsulated Kansas City's unrelenting brand of baseball. Three innings later, after the nearly unhittable Wade Davis nailed down their 7-2 win with a strikeout of Wilmer Flores, the Royals convened in celebration in front of the pitcher's mound.

"We never quit. We never put our heads down," said Royals catcher Salvador Perez, who was voted the World Series MVP. "We never think about, 'OK, the game is over.' No. We always compete to the last out."

Kansas City broke the 12th-inning gridlock with five runs charged to Mets reliever Addison Reed. Christian Colon, in his first plate appearance of the postseason, drove in pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson for the go-ahead run.

The night was supposed to belong to Matt Harvey, the polarizing New York ace who through eight innings had pitched the game of his life: eight scoreless innings of four-hit baseball. At 102 pitches, Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen approached Harvey in the dugout and told him his night was over. "No way," the 26-year-old righthander responded, and minutes later he was sprinting out to the mound to cheers.

The heart of the Royals order separated Harvey and the Mets from sending the series back to Kansas City for Game 6 on Tuesday. Against Lorenzo Cain, Harvey missed low with a full-count slider. The Royals speedy centerfielder stole second base and then scored easily on a double by Hosmer. Mets manager Terry Collins ambled out to the mound. That was it for Harvey.

Collins called on closer Jeurys Familia to face Mike Moustakas, whose groundout advanced Hosmer, representing the tying run, to third base. Salvador Perez followed with a broken-bat ground ball to Mets third baseman David Wright, who cautiously looked Hosmer back to third before throwing to first base for the easy out.

But when Wright threw, Hosmer made his mad dash for home. Lucas Duda, the Mets' first baseman, rushed his throw and sailed it wide of catcher Travis d'Arnaud. Hosmer slid head first across home plate to tie the score with two outs. Citi Field fell quiet. Duda was not charged with an error.

Collins accepted blame for the ninth inning. Harvey, the manager said, told him in the dugout, "I want this game in the worst way."

"Obviously, I let my heart get in the way of my gut," Collins said. "I love my players. And I trust them. And so I said, 'Go get 'em out.' And he went out and the leadoff walk started it off."

Both teams' bullpens threw up zeros until the 12th. Perez led off the frame with a single against Reed and was replaced on first base by Dyson, who promptly stole second base and advanced to third on an Alex Gordon groundout. That brought up Colon, a pinch-hitter.

Colon, a former fourth-overall draft pick, three selections ahead of Harvey, lined a single to score Dyson, a former 50th-round draft pick. The Royals led for the first time on the night. Then they piled on.

Harvey, admittedly not his best in Game 1, was sharp from the get-go in Game 5, and through six innings had permitted only four base runners, three on singles and one via a walk. He had each of his four pitches working, his fastball reaching 98 m.p.h.

Over the fourth and fifth innings, Harvey recorded six consecutive outs via strikeout. In succession, he punched out Cain, Hosmer, Moustakas, and Perez. He finished his outing with nine strikeouts against a contact-heavy lineup that struck out at by far the lowest rate in the majors this season.

Chants of "Har-vey," "Har-vey" grew only louder as the "Dark Knight" pitched through the seventh and eighth innings and triumphantly returned for the ninth. After he induced an inning-ending groundout from Alex Rios to end the seventh, he pumped his fist and screamed, "Let's go!" as he walked back to the dugout.

The Royals' Edinson Volquez pitched a great game in his own right, especially considering the circumstances. Five days earlier, his father, Daniel, had died of heart failure at the age of 63. This was the pitcher's first start since he learned of the news following his outing in Game 1, after which he flew home to the Dominican Republic for the funeral.

After rejoining the Royals late Saturday in New York, Volquez took the ball on Sunday night. The 32-year-old righthander turned in six innings of two-run baseball. The only earned run he allowed came against the first batter he faced, Curtis Granderson, who drilled an 0-2 change-up over the center-field fence. The Mets scored their other run on a Duda sacrifice fly in a sixth inning that was extended by a Hosmer fielding error.

Three innings later, Hosmer redeemed himself, in typical Royals fashion.

kaplanj@phillynews.com

@jakemkaplan