NEW YORK — The Kansas City Royals keep finding new ways to win in the postseason. With one more victory, they will be World Series champions.
Second baseman Daniel Murphy’s error on Eric Hosmer’s grounder in the eighth inning keyed yet another comeback, and the Royals defeated the New York Mets, 5-3, on Saturday night in Game 4 of the best-of-seven series.
With runners on first and second on a pair of one-out walks by Tyler Clippard, the Mets turned to closer Jeurys Familia with a 3-2 lead. He got Hosmer to hit a soft grounder toward Murphy, but the slow chopper sneaked under his glove.
Murphy, who would’ve only had a play at first, appeared to glance at the runner and failed to get his glove down. The ball rolled helplessly toward right field, and Ben Zobrist raced home from second base as Familia crouched on the mound.
Mike Moustakas and Salvador Perez followed with RBI singles to break away.
Ryan Madson pitched a perfect seventh inning for the win, and Wade Davis worked two scoreless innings for his first save.
Murphy helped turn a double play to end the top of the eighth, and he singled with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Yoenis Cespedes followed with another single, but he was doubled off first base when Lucas Duda hit an easy liner to third base and Moustakas tossed it to first.
Rookie left fielder Michael Conforto hit two home runs for the Mets.
Edinson Volquez returned Saturday from his father’s funeral in the Dominican Republic and will get a chance to pitch the Royals to their first World Series title in 30 years. He faces Matt Harvey in a rematch of Game 1, when Volquez went six innings just hours after his dad died.
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