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Of course, this was 2008, and Mark Grudzielanek hit into a routine ground ball double play to end the game down 8-7. In a back-and-forth game against the White Sox, the Royals were able to come back multiple times. Though the tenth inning was problematic, the 11th was particularly exciting. In the top half, AJ Pierzynski hit a ball to deep left-center field, allowing Joe Creed to score easily. Unfortunately, Esteban German unkorked a wild through that allowed Alexei Ramirez to score as well. He finished the regular season with a .271 batting average/.377 on-base percentage/.432 slugging percentage with 18 doubles, 13 home runs, and 48 RBIs.
Gordon won eight Gold Glove Awards, four Fielding Bible Awards, and a Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award, all after the move to the outfield. On January 22, 2020, he signed a one-year, $4 million contract to remain with the Royals for the 2020 season. On September 24, Gordon announced that he would retire from baseball at the conclusion of the 2020 season. His final career game was on September 27 against the Detroit Tigers, and received one at-bat in which he struck out to lead off the bottom of the first inning, his first leadoff appearance since April 2017.
Major leagues
Ben Lindbergh of The Ringer and sabermetrician Mitchel Lichtman found that the balls became smaller and the seams got lower -- changes that would make the ball smoother and subject to less air resistance. According to ESPN Stats & Info, there has been a homer once every 27 at-bats this season, by far the lowest in a season in MLB history (29.4 in 2000). Baseball-Reference Bullpen 100,000+ pages of baseball information, How to Contribute, ... MLB Scores Yesterday's MLB Games, Scores from any date in Major League history, MLB Probable Pitchers, Baseball-Reference Stream Finder, ... Yost said he doesn't believe more players are swinging for the fences than in years past. Power subsided after the start of drug testing with penalties in 2004.
Much of the play-by-play, game results, and transaction information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. Sign up for the free Baseball Reference newsletter and get scores, news and notes in your inbox every day. Blue Jays manager John Gibbons has noticed the surge in homers but doesn't have an explanation. "Alex Gordon retires after he 'left it all on the line' for 14 seasons with Kansas City Royals".
Professional baseball career
Similarly, cWPA measures the effect of events on the results of the World Series win probability; cWPA figures are lower, as it measure the probability of the result of an entire series. Since pitches with a higher spin rate tend to stay up in the zone longer, the pitch stayed in Gordon's sweet spot rather than fading toward the left fielder's knees. Familia entered the game not having blown a save since July 30, and he'd only allowed one home run in that span during the regular season.
Rusty Kuntz, a coach in the Royals' organization stated that "If he can catch a fly ball in this mess, he’s going to be OK." While playing for Omaha, Gordon was named to the Pacific Coast League's All-Star team. Gordon was recalled from Triple-A on July 23, 2010, to take the place of David DeJesus in the Royals' outfield; DeJesus had been placed on the disabled list with a right thumb sprain. On July 30, Gordon hit his first career walk-off home run in a game against the Baltimore Orioles. Gordon hit .264 in the month of August, but then slumped to a .177 batting average during September.
MLB Home Runs Hit by Alex Gordon | Baseball Almanac
Gordon had just come off a seven-hit double header the night before against the Rays in which he hit a double and a home run. The injury prevented Gordon from playing in the 2015 All-Star game, being replaced on the All-Star roster by Brett Gardner. At the time of the injury, Gordon had a .280 batting average and had hit 11 home runs. On September 2, Gordon was activated from the DL and went 2-for-3, with an RBI and run scored against the Detroit Tigers .
On September 2, Gordon had the first multi-home run game of his career, connecting off Boof Bonser of the Minnesota Twins in the second inning, and in the 3rd inning off Julio DePaula. On September 12, Gordon hit his 34th double of the year against the Minnesota Twins, establishing a Royals rookie record. Gordon performed better for the rest of the season, but broke his nose in the last game of the season. Gordon's late-season resurgence brought his batting average up to .247. The Royals got that run back in the top of the fifth, but the tenor of the game changed in the bottom of the fifth, when the Orioles rallied against Kansas City starter James Shields. The O's pushed across three in the inning to climb within one run at 5-4, with the key hit being a two-out double by Ryan Flaherty that plated the third and fourth Baltimore runs.
On Opening Day, 2008 , Gordon hit a two-run home run off Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander. During his teen years, Gordon played American Legion Baseball. He won the organization's Graduate of the Year award in 2015. They were bad, yes, but they were interesting and full of future playoff stars. Unfortunately, the bullpen malfunctioned in this one, and Omar Infante hit a weak popup to end the game as a 4-3 loss.
Gordon then went out to take his position in left field in the top of the second before being pulled back to the dugout and replaced by Franchy Cordero. Overall with the 2020 Kansas City Royals, Gordon batted .209 with four home runs and 11 RBIs in 50 games. On July 8, 2015, against the Tampa Bay Rays, Gordon was injured attempting to chase down a fly ball hit by Logan Forsythe, which resulted in an inside-the-park home run as Gordon could not get back up. After being carted off the field, he was diagnosed with a left groin strain and was placed on the injured list.
After playing a few games in the minors, Gordon came off the disabled list and rejoined the Royals on July 17 going 1 for 4 against the Tampa Bay Rays. Gordon stole home for the first time in his career on August 2 against the Rays, becoming the first Royal to do that since Mendy López in 2003. The Royals optioned Gordon to the Triple-A Omaha Royals on August 18 to free up a roster space for Kyle Farnsworth. Gordon had a batting average of .198 at his demotion, and had made five errors while appearing in only 29 games.
After Omaha finished up its season, Gordon returned to the Royals in September. Between the return to Kansas City and the end of the season, Gordon got a hit in 15 of the final 20 games he played in, and hit home runs in back-to-back games against the Minnesota Twins. In the 2014 season, Gordon scored 87 runs, had 150 hits, 34 doubles, one triple, 19 home runs, 74 RBI, 12 stolen bases, and a .266 BA.
Down 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, Rick Ankiel and Willie Bloomquist at the corners, and a 1-0 count, Gordon came through. Orioles pitcher Alfredo Simon tossed a mistake pitch up in the zone. He sent it into the home bullpen, ending the game 7-5 in favor of the Boys in Blue. The uptick in home runs began in the second half of 2015 and led to much speculation as to what has caused the barrage of home runs.
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