Daniel Murphy sent yet another shot soaring over the wall and thrust his right arm in the air — he was in the record book, his Mets were headed to the World Series.
Alcides Escobar made his mark with a single, double, triple and bunt. That made him the first player to lead off four consecutive games in a postseason series with a hit, putting the Royals ahead in the ALCS.
For both, a charmed October.
Far from superstars or the highest-paid guys on their teams, Murphy and Escobar became the latest surprise sensations on baseball’s biggest stages — joining past surprise heroes such as David Freese (2011) and Cody Ross (2010).
Murphy might be having the best month of them all. After hitting a career-best 14 homers in the regular season, the free agent-to-be connected seven times in nine playoff games. He hit four longballs, went 9-for-17 and drove in six runs in New York’s four-game sweep of the Cubs to earn MVP honors in the NLCS.
“He’s incredible,” Mets first baseman Lucas Duda said after Game 4. “He’s on a different planet right now.”
Planet Postseason, that is.
Escobar got off to a fast start too. A lifetime .262 hitter in eight seasons, the Royals shortstop quickly turned into a royal pain for the Blue Jays.
Through the first five games of the ALCS, he had 10 hits in 19 at-bats, drove in five runs and scored six times.
Overall in the postseason this year, Escobar was batting .400 and tied with Murphy for the most hits with 16.
Escobar has also played sparkling defense, including his much-replayed, run-saving, diving grab of Russell Martin’s liner in Game 2 against Toronto.
