Game 6 notebook: Royals’ big inning leaves Brandon Belt frustrated

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Brandon Belt, it seems, has been at the center of most of the Giants’ bang-bang plays in the field lately. Most of those have come out in favor of San Francisco, thanks largely to Belt’s wizardry with the glove.

Tuesday in Game 6 of the World Series, he came up just short a couple times in the inning that got away from the Giants.

With two on and none out in the second inning, the Royals’ Mike Moustakas yanked a ground ball right over the first-base bag. Belt dove for it, but it squeezed just between his glove and the base and turned into a two-run double down the right-field line.

After Jake Peavy struck out Omar Infante, Belt got another chance. This one was even more frustrating. Kansas City leadoff hitter Alcides Escobar tapped a grounder to first base. Belt fielded it cleanly, looked a runner on third back to the bag, then went after Escobar. He didn’t get him. Escobar was safe, Belt wound up on his backside, and the Royals had bases loaded.

They would go on score six more runs in the inning. The Escobar play was first ruled a hit, then changed to a fielder’s choice, then change back to a hit.

“Belt was checking the runner at third, but there wasn’t a lot of speed there,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said after the game. “I just think he waited just a hair too long. You’ve got a pretty fast runner going down the line. I thought that changed that inning. Peavy was throwing the ball well.”

HEART AND SOIL

After Game 3 at AT&T Park, before rain came to the Bay Area, some of the Royals complained mildly about the slow, wet dirt in the San Francisco stadium. The conditions came into focus in Game 5 on Sunday, when Escobar, a good fielder at shortstop, had two ground balls go under his glove as he tried to make difficult plays.

Tuesday, Royals manager Ned Yost addressed the subject: “When I went back (Monday) and really reviewed those two plays from Escobar, both of those balls when they hit, Esky’s used to playing on a little bit firmer infield, and when I walked around on that infield, it was soft. … It’s the way their infielders like it. Not a lot of bounce in it. Ours is a little bit firmer.”

Belt agreed.

“Honestly, yeah, I think the fields are pretty close to opposites as you can get right now,” Belt said. “I mean, they obviously hadn’t played at our field this year (before Game 3), but it’s usually pretty soft. … But here it seems like the field is a little bit harder and you’ve gotta be aware of that.

Kauffman’s unyielding infield came into play during the Royals’ big second inning when Eric Hosmer hit a ball that struck the dirt hard a few feet in front of the plate and bounced all the way over the head of shortstop Brandon Crawford. Two runs scored on the play.

HISTORY HATES THE GIANTS

The Giants have a lot of big-game experience, but Game 7s have not been kind to this franchise. They have, in fact, never won the final game of best-of-seven series, losing twice in New York (1912 and 1924) and twice in San Francisco (1962 and 2002), though they did win in eight games in 1921, when the World Series was a best-of-nine contest.

WORKHORSE

Giants ace Madison Bumgarner, asked how many pitches he might be able to throw if called upon as a reliever in Game 7: “Maybe 200. I don’t know. ... I feel like pitch counts are overrated.”

NOTES

• Kansas City’s seven-run second inning matched the worst in Giants postseason history. The last time it happened was the 1936 World Series. The tally was a franchise record for the Royals.

• Hunter Pence extended his World Series hitting streak to nine consecutive games, longest in MLB since the Yankees’ Derek Jeter hit in 14 straight (1996-2000).

• Peavy now has a 9.58 ERA in three World Series starts, with 11 earned runs in 10? innings pitched.