Five ALCS questions: Blue Jays-Royals could turn into a classic

David Price has lost all six of his career postseason starts but looks to end that pattern when the Toronto Blue Jays visit the Kansas City Royals on Saturday for Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. Going into the the top of the 7th in a 2-2 game was where the real controversy took place, Russell Martin was throwing the ball back to Aaron Sanchez with a runner on third in a 2-2 count when Martin accidentally threw the ball off Shin soo choo’s bat and got anyway from them, initially the ball was called dead from home plate ump but after review they called it a live ball allowing Odor to score from third making it a 3-2 game.

After starting the AL Championship Series at Baltimore last year and sweeping the Orioles, the Kansas City Royals start at home this year on Friday night. Volquez’s inside pitching drew the ire of the Blue Jays, eventually leading to the first of those bench-clearing moments.

The veteran starter kept pitching the Blue Jays inside, finally hitting Josh Donaldson with a fastball.

Royals manager Ned Yost put Escobar back in the leadoff spot late in the season, even though his lousy on-base percentage means the move goes against conventional wisdom.

“It’s over with”, he said of the bad blood. I’m not a fortune teller. Asked if that would be an issue, he replied: “I’m not a mind-reader, I’m not a fortune-teller, I don’t know if it’s going to be an issue”. When I swing at the first pitch, we’re like 40-19. That’s a power-laden club over there. “He’s matured a lot, which is a good thing”.

The Blue Jays bigger concern than losing the first game is the health of Encarnacion, who was pinch hit for in the eighth inning to have X-rays of his middle left finger, which has been bothering him for a while. They did just that, beating Kershaw in Game 1 and Greinke in Game 5 last night, both in Los Angeles. He served up two homers in his one start versus the Rangers after allowing just four in 11 regular-season turns with the Blue Jays. And Jose Bautista doubled in a run, yelling at Madson when he was done. “And right now so much is at stake”, Toronto manager John Gibbons said prior to Game 1 at Kauffman Stadium on Friday. “In our particular sport, if it’s happening for your team, your guy gets a big hit, nobody minds it. If you’re on the other side, nobody likes it”. Toronto took four out of seven in the regular season matchups. It’s also the history the two franchises share.

The Royals lead the best-of-seven series 1-0.

“They gave me more energy to pitch the way I pitched in that inning”, Volquez said.

The teams entered the series with plenty of history. They became the first team ever to overcome a four-run deficit in the eighth inning or later, and stave off elimination, two years in a row in the postseason. It was a series of strikeouts: the two teams combined for 111 in the series.

“A big part of their success is they flag the ball down, because a lot of teams can’t, because the outfield is so big here”, said Gibbons, a former bench coach in Kansas City. “I think I got a little bit of motivation from him”. Many times we criticize players for caring only about a paycheck. Kansas City exited Toronto at 62-42, feeling like they had answered the Jays challenge.

Toronto starter Marco Estrada (1-1) led the majors by holding opposition batters to hitting. Down 2-0, the first two Blue Jays batters struck out to bring the then-27-year-old Doug Ault to the plate. “We know how tough that lineup is over there”. “We’ll see how it goes”.