BALTIMORE - Alex Gordon had already compiled a careers 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 post-season, 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 post-season, winning four times in extra innings.These games, weve played so many of them that were 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. Hes 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 ODay 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 Baltimores 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 Citys speed against Baltimores power, but the Royals didnt steal a base and hit all of the games three home runs.We know were capable of hitting home runs, Gordon said. We didnt do it during the regular season. But it doesnt really matter. This is the post-season and were starting to swing the bats better now. Its 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 post-season 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 Hundleys nifty pickup at the plate — and ODay got Billy Butler to hit into a double play.ODay wasnt 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 post-season.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 Citys 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 NEXTRoyals: 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 OUTThe start of the game was delayed while the bright lights above a TV booth in centre field were shut down, one by one.Escobar was about the step into the batters 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. Logan Paulsen Falcons Jersey . When the Dallas Mavericks needed to stop a Golden State rally in the fourth quarter, they looked for defensive help from the rookie point guard playing in just his sixth game. Isaiah Oliver Jersey .Tatjana Haenni, FIFAs head of womens competitions, told a FIFA Live Your Goals Tour news conference Friday that the artificial turf is being tested to make sure it meets standards. http://www.falconsauthenticofficialonline.com/authentic-brandon-fusco-jersey.html . The Jays responded to the three-spot Detroit placed on Casey Janssen the evening before with an attack on the Tigers Achilles Heel, its bullpen, tying the game in the ninth and winning the game in the 10th. The result absolved Marcus Stroman, brilliant once again, of a tough luck loss while at the same time robbing Max Scherzer, brilliant once again, of a deserved win. Calvin Ridley Falcons Jersey . Olsen, who is 6-foot-3 and 305 pounds, can play either centre or guard. The 25-year-old Olsen played 16 games and made four starts in 2012 with the New Orleans Saints. Ito Smith Jersey . Paul George and Darren Collison each scored 17 points and Roy Hibbert added 11 points and nine rebounds for the Pacers (9-3), who won their third straight.Flushing Meadows, NY - Taylor Townsend has surely watched Serena Williams dominate first-round opponents at Grand Slams over the years. This time, the 18-year-old was on the business end of it at the U.S. Open. Williams cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 victory in Tuesdays nightcap against the overmatched Townsend, a left-hander who was two-years old when Williams made her U.S. Open debut in 1998. The two-time reigning U.S. Open champ did not take it easy on the young American, winning 88 percent of the points on her first serve and hitting 16 winners to Townsends eight. Still, Williams was impressed. "Shes incredibly talented," Williams said of Townsend following the match. "Its awesome for American tennis. We have such an amazing future." Earlier, Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, rising Canadian star Eugenie Bouchard and former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic were easy first-round victors. The third-seeded Kvitova has now won her last eight Grand Slam matches after flattening the helpless Kristina Mladenovic 6-1, 6-0 in 54 minutes at Ashe Stadium. Kvitova captured her second Wimbledon title in four years last month and is fresh off her hardcourt title in New Haven last week. The seventh-seeded Bouchard improved to 17-3 at this years Grand Slam events by blitzing Olga Govortsova 6-2, 6-1, while the eighth-seeded Ivanovic routed American Alison Riske 6-3, 6-0 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The 20-year-old Wimbledon runner-up Bouchard is the only woman to appear in at least the semifinals at this years first three majors. Ivanovic is a former French Open champion. A big upset came when 15-year-old American CiCi Bellis took out 12th-seeded Aussie Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 on Court 6. The San Francisco native and world No. 2 junior Bellis, making her Grand Slam debut, is ranked 1,208th in the world and is the youngest player to win a U.S. Openn match since Anna Kournikova in 1996.dddddddddddd The reigning two-time U.S. Open runner-up and two-time Aussie Open champ Victoria Azarenka, a former world No. 1 seeded 16th at this fortnight, moved on by overcoming Misaki Doi 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-1. The on-the-mend Azarenka missed three months of action this year while being sidelined with a foot injury. Her second-round opponent will be American Christina McHale. A pair of former U.S. Open champs had different results on Day 2, as Marina Erakovic took out 20th-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) and 24th-seeded Samantha Stosur handled American Lauren Davis 6-1, 6-4. Kuznetsova titled here 10 years ago and was the Open runner-up in 2007, while Stosur captured her lone Grand Slam singles title in Flushing in 2011. Meanwhile, 11th-seeded Flavia Pennetta held off Julia Goerges 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 and 17th-seeded Ekaterina Makarova erased American Grace Min 6-4, 6-2. In other action involving seeds, No. 15 Carla Suarez Navarro ousted Ajla Tomljanovic, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, No. 23 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova crushed Teliana Pereira, 6-2, 6-0, No. 29 Casey Dellacqua erased Patricia Mayr-Achleitner 7-5, 6-3, No. 30 Barbora Zahlavova Strycova subdued Ashleigh Barty 6-1, 6-3, and Mona Barthel upended No. 32 Zhang Shuai 6-1, 6-2. Also, No. 27 American Madison Keys cruised past Jarmila Gajdosova, 6-0, 6-3. In other play featuring Americans, McHale snuck past Chanelle Scheepers 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), Nicole Gibbs downed Caroline Garcia, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, Varvara Lepchenko bested Alison Van Uytvanck 7-5, 6-2, Shelby Rogers beat Ukrainian Maryna Zanevska 6-4, 6-3 and Vania King outlasted former French Open champ Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Several other women reached the second round, including Kaia Kanepi, Sorana Cirstea, Polona Hercog, Elena Vesnina, Monica Niculescu, Aleksandra Krunic, Petra Cetkovska, Karolina Pliskova and Wang Qiang. ' ' '