The Kansas City Royals defeated the Oakland Athletics 9-8 in a inning classic Tuesday for the American League Wild Card.

This single elimination game went back and forth all night not ending until past 1 a.m. on the East Coast. For baseball fans on the East Coast, it was well worth staying up. This Royals team has not only made the playoffs for the first time since 1985, but this playoff victory is the first since that same year, when they defeated the Detroit Tigers.

The Royals' wild card game had a Game 7 atmosphere from start to finish, because in many ways it was a Game 7. Win, and advance to the next round. Lose, and go home.

The Athletics struck first by scoring two runs in the first inning thanks to a Coco Crisp home run. Later in that inning, the Royals would get a run with Billy Butler scoring. Throughout the next five innings, fans witnessed a pitching duel between Jon Lester and James Shields.

Shields pitched five innings for the Royals, while Lester lasted until the seventh inning.

In the sixth inning, the Athletics scored five runs from Josh Donaldson, Derrick Norris, Crisp and Sam Fuld. Now trailing 7-3, the Royals were in serious trouble. The Royals went scoreless in the seventh inning, and the Athletics were just six outs away from advancing to the second round.

In the eighth inning, the Royals' bats came alive, scoring three runs, but still trailed 7-6. In the ninth and final inning, the Royals continued to play small ball stealing bases and get sacrifice hits to score runs. The Royals would outscore the Athletics in the ninth inning and we headed to extras.

In the 10th and 11th innings, the Royals had base runners on third base just 90 feet away from a victory but left base runners stranded. In the 12th inning, fans continued to show support, and it paid off. With Christian Colon on third base, Salvador Perez came to the plate. Perez was 0-5 on the night and it looked like a 13th inning was looming.

Instead, Perez hit a shot to right field in what would be a walk-off in Kansas City. Colon came home and the Royals won their first playoff game since 1985. Jarrod Dyson's incredible base running was a huge factor in this victory.

The Royals won this game just like they've been winning all season, small ball. The Royals ranked dead last in home runs hit during the regular season, and wouldn't you know it, they didn't have a single home run in their playoff victory.

As for the future, the Royals will be playing the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in a best of five series. That series begins Thursday night in Anaheim on TBS at 9:07 p.m. EST.

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