Oakland's Brandon Moss homered early off of Shields with Coco Crisp on base, giving the Athletics a 2–0 advantage; Kansas City halved the lead in the bottom of the first when Billy Butler singled to score Nori Aoki.

The fourth and fifth innings were scoreless, and Oakland proceeded to stitch together five runs in the top of the sixth as Moss homered a second time, scoring himself, Sam Fuld, and Josh Donaldson.

Both Oakland and Kansas City batted fruitlessly in the seventh inning, and Royals relief pitcher Kelvin Herrera recorded three straight outs in the top of the eighth.

Aoki hit a deep sacrifice fly to right field for the second out of the inning, but Dyson was able to jog home, tying the game at 7–7 and completing the Royals' four-run comeback.

Royals starter Vargas was replaced after six innings by a battery of relievers that included Kelvin Herrera, Brandon Finnegan, Wade Davis, Tim Collins, Jason Frasor, Danny Duffy, and Greg Holland.

Herrera, however, left Game 1 with tightness in his right forearm, and the exit of the effective relief pitcher put a slight damper on the Royals' opening victory.

The Royals added a third run when Alex Gordon walked, stole second and advanced to third on an Angels fielding error with Salvador Pérez at the plate, and then scored on a single by Perez.

The Royals received a scare in the fifth inning when Los Angeles' Josh Hamilton hit catcher Salvador Pérez on the head with his bat on the follow-through of a swing.

6:37 p.m. CDT at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri Royals starter James Shields gave up a home run to slugger Mike Trout to give the Angels an early 1–0 lead.

Kansas City's offense struck again in the third inning as Eric Hosmer homered to center field with Nori Aoki on base, giving the Royals a capacious 5–1 lead.

The Royals advanced to the ALCS, and the Angels' highly anticipated season ended, with star center fielder Mike Trout striking out swinging.

Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas both crushed respective solo and two-run home runs to combine for a three-run top of the tenth for Kansas City.

The Royals' offensive explosion in the tenth saved them from a potentially devastating situation in the ninth inning, when they failed to score a run despite having the bases loaded with no outs.

The Orioles tied the score at 5–5 in the bottom of the sixth inning, as reliever Brandon Finnegan suffered some shakiness, walking Jonathan Schoop and surrendering a Nick Markakis line drive.

Wade Davis earned the win for the Royals, striking out the side in the bottom of the ninth, paving the way for Kansas City's three-run tenth.

Britton recovered to strike out both Eric Hosmer and Billy Butler, but the Royals' damage had yet again been done, and closer Greg Holland was effective for the second straight game in quelling an Orioles rally attempt.

Kansas City added a third run in the top of the third inning, as Cain singled, advanced to third base on a Hosmer line drive, and scored on a Butler double.

Baltimore roared back in the bottom of the third, however, as Adam Jones hit a line drive home run with Alejandro De Aza on base, pulling the Orioles even with the Royals.

Kansas City then took the lead in the sixth, as Jarrod Dyson, pinch running for Nori Aoki, who had singled, moved from first to third base on a hit by Eric Hosmer, and then came to home plate on a sacrifice fly from Billy Butler.

Royals closer Greg Holland was again effective in silencing any Orioles comeback attempts, retiring three straight batters in the top of the ninth to bring Kansas City within one win of the Fall Classic.

3:07 p.m. CDT at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri The Royals would need only two first-inning runs and solid pitching from Jason Vargas to propel themselves into the World Series with an 8–0 postseason record and complete the sweep of Baltimore.

7:07 p.m. CDT at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri San Francisco starter Madison Bumgarner was brilliant through seven innings of work, surrendering only one RBI—a Salvador Pérez home run—and getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the third inning, and Hunter Pence delivered three RBIs, including a two-run home run, as the Giants handed the Royals their first postseason loss since Game 4 of the 1985 World Series.

5:07 p.m. PDT at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California The Royals took a 2–1 series lead in the first tilt of the Fall Classic that was a closely contested pitchers' duel instead of a lopsided hitting spree, as Games 1 and 2 had been.

Again, as with López in the top of the inning, the presence of the new pitcher Herrera did not immediately stop the bleeding for Kansas City, as Morse advanced to third base and then scored on respective Joe Panik and Buster Posey ground outs.

Kansas City never recorded an insurance run to pad their 3–2 lead, but the closer Holland racked up three straight outs to secure a Royals victory without further rebut.

Finnegan then replaced Duffy prior to San Francisco's three-run sixth, which included a 2-RBI line drive from Sandoval and a Brandon Belt RBI single.

The Royals never scored in the game outside of their four-run third inning, and this time it was the Giants who used an effective lineup of seventh, eighth, and ninth-inning relievers to quell any further Kansas City threat.

5:07 p.m. PDT at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California Madison Bumgarner was the only pitcher the Giants required to take a 3–2 lead in the World Series over the Royals, again puzzling Kansas City hitters as he had in Game 1.

Ventura honored St. Louis Cardinals outfielder and fellow Dominican Republic countryman Oscar Taveras, who had died two days earlier in a car crash, with the message "R.I.P.

[6] When Kansas City turned to its bullpen, it appeared to save Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis, and Greg Holland for Game 7, using Jason Frasor and Tim Collins instead.