Kansas City Royals Beat Toronto Blue Jays, Head To World Series

By L. Carol Ritchie / NPR

Published October 23, 2015 at 6:49 PM PDT

This story was published more than 9 years ago.

The Royals' Lorenzo Cain celebrates after scoring on a hit by Eric Hosmer in the eighth inning against the Blue Jays in Game 6 of baseball's American League Championship Series.

The Kansas City Royals fought off the Toronto Blue Jays and two Jose Bautista home runs to win Game 6 of the American League Championship Series Friday and advance to the World Series — their second trip to the series in two years.

The Royals will host the New York Mets in the best-of-seven contest starting Tuesday night.

Last year the team clawed its way to Game 7 of the World Series before finally losing to the San Francisco Giants.

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Bautista's pair of homers, a solo in the fourth inning and a two-run line drive in eighth, provided all of Toronto's runs and tied the game at 3 apiece. But after a rain delay in the middle of the eighth, Kansas scored on a single to lead 4-3.

Despite three Blue Jays stolen bases in the top of the ninth, Toronto left two men on as Kansas City held on for the win.

The Royals won a World Series in 1985, when they topped the Saint Louis Cardinals four games to three. They waited nearly three decades to return to post season play, in 2014, when they became the first team in Major League history to win the first eight playoff games in a row.

And by the way, in 1985, the American League team they beat to advance to the World Series? The Toronto Blue Jays, by four games to three.