Gordon, Yost on Royals' big night in ALCS Game 1 win

Alex Gordon did it all to help the Royals get an upper hand in the American League Championship Series. The 30-year-old outfielder put together a monster performance in his first career ALCS contest, using both his bat and his glove to lead the Royals to an 8-6 Game 1 win over the Orioles in 10 innings. Gordon went 3-for-4 with a bases-loaded double, a 10th-inning homer and four RBIs, while adding a diving catch in the third. Kansas City manager Ned Yost was thrilled to see Gordon come through on all three plays. "The bases-loaded double, when he first hit it, I thought that ball was going to hook foul. But he really did a nice job staying inside of it and he got English on the ball. Instead of it hooking foul, it hooked back fair," Yost said. "And actually I had a great view of it right down the line. When he hit it, I thought it was going this way, but it just came right back and it ended up right down the line. "I think if I had to take my pick, it probably would be the bases-loaded double. But the catch was phenomenal. When that ball was hit, I didn't know if he was going to be able to get there. But he closed ground great and he made a great diving play on it. But the home run was huge, too. So he had a great night." Even though this is Gordon's first postseason, he looked like a natural on the big stage on Friday. "I don't think it's me. I think it's our team," Gordon said. "We have great chemistry in the clubhouse, we're all pulling for each other and it's really a lot of fun right now. We're all going out there having fun even though it's on a big stage with big crowds. We're all fighting for each other. So I don't think it's me. I think it's the whole team, and we're just pulling for one another. And I think that's what makes it kind of look like it's - not easy, but not pressing or anything like that." After finishing with the fewest home runs in the major leagues during the regular season, the Royals have seven through five playoff games. Kansas City created the final margin with two homers in the 10th inning on Friday with Gordon leading off the extra frame with a solo shot and Mike Moustakas adding a two-run shot later in the inning. The Royals had three in the contest overall. Yost doesn't believe the power outage during the regular season reflects the Royals' ability to hit the longball, and believes his club is built to clear the fence more at a park like Camden Yards. "This is a park that's a lot more conducive to hitting home runs than our ballpark is," Yost said. "You put our club in this ballpark, we would hit a lot more home runs than we ended up hitting. It showed tonight. It was a good night." But does that change the complexion of the series with the Royals perhaps adding a more powerful dimension to their game? "I don't know. We just find ways to win ballgames," Yost said. "Sometimes it's hitting home runs, sometimes it's stealing bases and manufacturing runs, and most of the time it's with good pitching and defense. But these guys will find a way to get it done." Gordon provided the big blast, breaking a 5-5 tie in the 10th off right-hander Darren O'Day, who has been surrendering homers with greater frequency. "Just leading off the inning, especially in extras, I'm just trying to put a good at-bat together, get on base any way I could," Gordon said. "Sometimes you just get a good pitch to hit and you put a good swing on it, and those things happen. So you do it when you're not trying to hit a home run. That's when you do. I was just trying to get a base hit. But I didn't know that he was struggling at all. Every time we face him, he seems to get us out. So he's a tough pitcher and I'm sure he'll be tough the rest of the series." Gordon agreed with his manager that the Royals are more able to clear the fence than they've shown. "We know we're capable of hitting home runs," he said. "We didn't do it during the regular season, but it doesn't really matter. Now's the postseason and we're starting to swing the bats a lot better now, and it's good to see. I think the last month of the year during the regular season, guys started swinging it well and our offense started to jell. So up and down the lineup, we're feeling pretty good about ourselves and we like where we're at." Gordon hit the homer just two innings after being hit in the helmet and neck by an Andrew Miller pitch. "It was frightening with him pitching, that big, tall lefty. He's tough on lefties, so it's kind of hard to pick up," Gordon said. "So I saw it coming at my head and just for a second, I turned the back of my head and luckily it got most of my helmet. So it stung a little but, but nothing serious. So it was just precautionary when the trainer came out." Gordon's diving catch (despite a questionable route to the ball) was a big play as well, helping to set the tone defensively. "With the crowd noise, you've really got to double-check with your outfielders," Gordon said. "So when it was in the gap, I had to look at Lorenzo Cain, make sure he wasn't around and when I saw him kind of looking at me, I know that it was my ball. So I think it kind of came back to me a little bit and I just tried to make the catch at the last second. So our defense has really been doing that all year, and our outfield's been great this year, so it's good to see." Aside from Gordon, the Royals again received the outstanding relief they've come to expect from right-handers Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera. Each pitched two hitless, scoreless innings, combining to strike out six batters and walk none, getting the game to extra innings tied. And both managed to do it efficiently. "Well, it was huge that Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis could get through two innings and manage their pitch count," Yost said. "Both of them were under 20 pitches, so they'll be fine for tomorrow. But both of them were very, very sharp and Kel came in and did a great job of keeping the score tied at that point. And Wade with two big innings holding the score right there, giving us a shot to get (Greg Holland) in the game." Gordon also credited the bullpen for helping to keep the score where it was after the Orioles erased a 5-1 lead in the fifth and sixth. But it was Gordon's complete day that made all the difference, a performance he'll never forget. "Definitely. All of these games are big and there's a lot of emotions in it," Gordon said. "Our team's just having fun with it, and it seems like every night there's somebody else stepping up. So it's good to see and my brother was here, so it was good to do it in front of him."