It took Kansas City catcher Matt Treanor 17 years, but he finally won a game for the Royals.
Royals Vs. Angels: Kansas City’s Matt Treanor Hits Walkoff Home Run In 13th
In 1994, the Royals made Treanor a fourth-round draft pick. Three years later, they traded him to the Florida Marlins for relief pitcher Matt Whisenant. Treanor eventually spent five seasons as a backup catcher with the Marlins, played briefly for the Tigers, and served as the Rangers' No. 2 catcher last season.
This spring, he was probably ticketed for free agency or the minors. That is, until the Royals' Jason Kendall went down with an injury, which sent the club scurrying for a catcher.
Treanor was available, and the Royals grabbed him the old-fashioned way: The bought him (and they probably paid more than a bag of batting-practice baseballs, but not a lot more).
The move paid off Sunday, when Treanor won a game in which he wasn’t even supposed to be playing.
With Kendall out, switch-hitting Brayan Pena is (nominally) the Royals' No. 1 catcher and he started against the Angels Sunday. But with Kansas City trailing 8-7 in the eighth inning, Pena singled and was replaced by a pinch runner. The Royals didn't score in that inning, but in the bottom of the ninth they tallied two runs -- with no help from Treanor, who had replaced Pena behind the plate -- to send the contest into extra innings.
Thanks largely to rookie reliever Tim Collins' three shutout innings, the score was still 9-9 when Treanor came up in the bottom of the 13th inning with two on and two out. And with a 3-1 count, Jason Bulger caught too much of the plate with a fastball and Treanor drove it far beyond the left-field fence. It was just the 14th home run of Treanor's career, and the Royals' second walk-off homer in three games.
For more on the Royals and Angels, please check out team blogs Royals Review and Halos Heaven.
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