By DAVID GINSBURG
AP Sports Writer

BALTIMORE (AP) — Alex Gordon had already compiled a career’s worth of playoff memories when he stepped to the plate in the 10th inning of a tie game.

Given the Kansas City Royals’ success rate in extra innings this postseason, what happened next was almost inevitable.

Gordon homered to put Kansas City in front, Mike Moustakas added a two-run shot and the Royals defeated the Baltimore Orioles 8-6 Friday night in the opener of the AL Championship Series.

Kansas City is 5-0 this postseason, winning four times in extra innings.

“These games, we’ve played so many of them that we’re kind of used to them a little bit,” manager Ned Yost said. “And we still have a lot of confidence.”

Before hitting his first playoff homer, Gordon doubled in three runs, was picked off first base, made a great catch in left field and got hit in the neck with a pitch.

“Gordy just has a lot of confidence in his abilities,” Yost said. “He’s a guy that can hit by a pitch and do exactly what he did, drive it out of the ballpark tonight, after getting hit in the neck. So it was a huge hit for us at that point.”

As the ball soared over the wall, Orioles reliever Darren O’Day flung his cap to the ground in frustration.

“I made a mistake and he got it,” the right-hander said. “You go up there and roll the dice. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.”

It was Baltimore’s first playoff loss following a three-game sweep of Detroit in the Division Series.

“One game does not the series make,” Orioles catcher Nick Hundley said.

After Gordon connected in the 10th, Moustakas followed with another shot to right, this one off Brian Matusz with a runner on.

This best-of-seven series was billed as Kansas City’s speed against Baltimore’s power, but the Royals didn’t steal a base and hit all of the game’s three home runs.

“We know we’re capable of hitting home runs,” Gordon said. “We didn’t do it during the regular season. But it doesn’t really matter. This is the postseason and we’re starting to swing the bats better now. It’s good to see.”

The Orioles tried to rally in the 10th. Pinch-hitter Delmon Young hit an RBI single with two outs, but closer Greg Holland retired Nick Markakis on a grounder with two runners on for the final out in the rain shortly before 1 a.m.

Game 2 is Saturday afternoon. Rookie right-hander Yordano Ventura makes his second postseason start for the Royals against Bud Norris.

Wade Davis got the win with two shutout innings and Holland got a save.

The fastest team in the majors nearly walked to victory in the ninth. After Orioles closer Zach Britton issued three straight walks to open the inning, Eric Hosmer into a force at the plate — helped by Hundley’s nifty pickup at the plate — and O’Day got Billy Butler to hit into a double play.

O’Day wasn’t nearly as effective in the 10th.

Down 5-1 in the fifth against James Shields, the Orioles scored three times as 47,124 towel-waving fans cheered them on. Nelson Cruz hit an RBI double before Ryan Flaherty delivered a two-out, two-run single.

Shields made it out of the inning, but did not return after giving up four runs and 10 hits.

The rain that was expected for much of the day finally made an appearance in the sixth, shortly before Baltimore pulled even against the usually reliable Kansas City bullpen. The tying run scored off Kelvin Herrera on a low popup by Alejandro De Aza that dropped behind the mound.

Early on, Kansas City dominated.

After the Orioles left the bases loaded in the second inning, Alcides Escobar drove a 2-0 pitch from Chris Tillman into the left-field seats. It was his 22nd homer in 2,994 career at-bats, including this postseason.

Kansas City then sandwiched two singles around a four-pitch walk to load the bases with two outs for Gordon, who lofted a broken-bat fly that landed about four feet inside the right-field foul line for a 4-0 lead.

Gordon also hit a three-run double in the finale of Kansas City’s three-game sweep of the Angels in the Division Series.

Baltimore got an RBI single from Adam Jones in the bottom half, but a diving catch by Gordon prevented further damage.

A sacrifice fly by Butler in the fifth made it 5-1.

UP NEXT

Royals: In two starts against the Orioles this season, Ventura has a 1.26 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 14 1-3 innings.

Orioles: Baltimore tries to rebound from its first loss since Sept. 27. The last time the Orioles lost the opener of an ALCS was when 12-year-old Jeffrey Maier got involved with a Derek Jeter home run at Yankee Stadium in 1996.

LIGHTS OUT

The start of the game was delayed while the bright lights above a TV booth in center field were shut down, one by one.

Escobar was about the step into the batter’s box when he noticed the glaring bulbs in his sight line. While Tillman took a few extra warmup tosses, the song “Lights” by Journey played over the PA system.

KANSAS CITY Mo. (AP) – They endured it together, Billy Butler and Alex Gordon. All those years with 90 losses, the managerial changes and youth movements and empty seats come late September.

Empty seats in July and August, too.

They were supposed to be the two players who led the Kansas City Royals back to the playoffs. Butler was the standout high school prospect who couldn’t run well and struggled with his glove, but my, how he could hit. And Gordon was the best player in college baseball when the Royals plucked him out of Nebraska, a sure-fire All-Star one day.

Well, that day has finally arrived. After seven years of building and rebuilding, Butler and Gordon are reveling in the Royals’ first postseason appearance since 1985.

“For the fans, 30 years without feels like a lifetime. It’s an eternity to me,” Butler said. “Kansas City deserves everything they’re getting and we want to give it to them.”

The Royals open the best-of-seven AL Championship Series on Friday night in Baltimore having already given thousands of fans plenty of postseason thrills.

There was the 12-inning walk-off win over Oakland in the wild-card game at Kauffman Stadium. There was the pair of 11-inning wins against the Angels in Los Angeles. And there was the clinching game back in Kansas City, an 8-3 romp that kicked off a citywide party.

Butler and Gordon have been gleefully in the midst of it all.

“This is personal for us,” Butler said. “It started all the way back when we got drafted.  That’s what they envisioned when they drafted us. Going through some bad times, I’ve been with this team for 10 years, building toward this.”

It’s been a challenging road filled with pitfalls and potholes, and more than once it looked as though neither Butler nor Gordon would see the fruits of their labor.

Butler established himself as a solid hitter early in his career, but his limited ability on the base paths and in the field hampered his value. Butler finally made an All-Star game in 2012, when it was played in Kansas City, but the past couple of seasons have been a struggle.

He was hitting just .235 in late-May, a disaster by his lofty standards. And late in the season, Butler found himself sitting on the bench for critical games in a pennant chase.

Of course, he would rise to the occasion when the postseason rolled around.

Butler had a pair of hits in the victory over the A’s. And while he went 0 for 9 against the Angels, he managed three walks and even stole a base, his first in two years.

“We’ve believed in Billy all along,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

The same could be said of Gordon, the second overall pick in the 2005 draft – one year after Butler went in the first round. He was rushed to the majors two years later as the heir to George Brett at third base and soon fizzled out, spending the next couple years vacillating between the majors and minors while trying out a variety of positions.

He finally stuck when he landed in left field, and in 2011 hit .303 and earned the first of three consecutive gold gloves. He made his first All-Star game last year, and his second this season, when he hit .266 with 19 homers and again played a masterful left field.

Gordon atoned for a 0-for-5 performance against Oakland by beating up the Angels, going 3 for 10 with a pair of doubles and scoring twice. It was his bases-loaded double in the first inning of Game 3 on Sunday night that spurred the Royals to the series clincher.

“Gordo, hands-down leader of this ballclub,” third baseman Mike Moustakas said. “For him to go out there in a huge situation like that, after we’re down one, drive in three runs, it just gave us so much confidence going into the rest of that game.”

Gordon has slowly evolved into the face of the franchise, yet he’s a reluctant star who speaks quietly but carries a big stick. He rarely gets too excitable, nor does he ever get too down. And when he is asked about his personal performance this postseason, he quickly defers the credit to general manager Dayton Moore for sticking with him all these years.

“Dayton has done a great job molding this team to where it is now,” Gordon said. “He really got the right pieces in through the draft and through the trade with James Shields and Wade Davis. Things are really starting to come together. Give a lot of credit to Dayton.”

Give a lot of credit to Butler and Gordon, too.

“We’re about now,” Gordon said. “It’s been a struggle, but we’re here now. It doesn’t matter who does it as long as someone does it and we get the win.”