Kansas City Royals were last in Major Leagues in strikeouts as well as home runs in 2014-NY Times, Kepner

"For all the power he has shown in these playoffs, Moustakas was still asked to drop a sacrifice bunt to move the pinch-runner Terrance Gore into scoring position in the ninth inning on Saturday. He did the job, and Gore scored the winning run."...(near end of article)

Image: "The Royals’ Mike Moustakas moved pinch-runner Terrance Gore into scoring position with a bunt in the ninth. Gore then scored the winning run on a double," European Pressphoto Agency. Final 6-4, Royals over Orioles, ALCS game 2

10/11/14, "Reeling Orioles Look to Right Themselves on the Road," NY Times, Tyler Kepner 

"Britton walked the bases loaded in the ninth inning of Game 1 and later said he was surprised by the Royals plate discipline; he expected them to swing more often than they did. It was a reasonable guess, because the Royals are an extreme contact-hitting team. Their hitters ranked last in the majors in strikeouts this season, with just 985. The next-closest team, Oakland, struck out 119 more times.
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In this series, the strikeouts have been nearly even — 17 for the Royals’ hitters, 16 for the Orioles’ hitters. But when Kansas City makes contact, good fortune follows. An infield single by the speedy Cain led to a run in the third, and another by Omar Infante led to the go-ahead run in the ninth, on a double by Alcides Escobar.

“They do a good job of putting the ball in play, and once that happens, you can’t control where the balls are, or what happens,” said Darren O’Day, the losing pitcher in both games. “So credit them for doing that. I threw some good pitches, but I’ll wear the loss.”

The Royals have also hit home runs, another category in which they ranked last in the major leagues this season. It had little to do with their expansive home park, either; the Royals ranked 29th of 30 teams in homers on the road."...

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