David Price Was ideal, Right Up Until The Royals Comeback

There was no bat flip or winning blast from Jose Bautista. Toronto won the tense Rogers Centre contest 5-2 for a 3-1 sweep of the series. Remember they are 7 game series this time.

It was classic Royals baseball.

The Royals have a good mix of lefties and righties and both Ben Zobrist and Kendrys Morales are switch-hitters. He’s listed as day-to-day with a ligament sprain in his left middle finger. “We came up when we needed it the most“.

Martin watched an 0-2 change go by for a pitch that Herrera, Perez, and Gameday concurred was a strike, but Laz Diaz did not see things that way.

Volquez (1-1) struck out five and walked four in a 111-pitch performance highlighted by a memorable sixth inning. Bautista walked on five pitches.

Encarnacion and Chris Colabello opened the Toronto second with singles off Ventura’s first two pitches.

Toronto had a game to give away here.

How good was the Kansas City bullpen? He had not thrown more than 14 pitches in any of the first six innings. He’s followed by Yordano Ventura, and Johnny Cueto.

Still facing elimination and with the series shifting back to Toronto, the Royals would send their young righty, Mark Gubicza, to the hill to try and force a decisive Game Seven. 183 after the all-star break.

Price remained defiant on Saturday night. He allowed a leadoff single on the first pitch of the game and then set down 18 consecutive in order with a 3-0 lead. The Jays went up 3-1 when Lloyd Moseby and Al Oliver hit run-scoring doubles in the ninth for a 3-1 win in Game 4.

And here in Kansas City, the Blue Jays only got 24 outs apiece in Games 1 and 2. Marcus Stroman (4-0, 1.67 ERA in the regular season) will toe the rubber for the Jays as the talented 24-year-old looks to give the Jays their first win of the series.

Encarnacion left Friday night’s Game 1 for pinch-hitter Justin Smoak in the eighth inning.

First baseman Eric Hosmer singled to center, bringing home Zobrist with the first Kansas City run and advancing Cain to third. It was typical Royals fare: all singles, save for one fielders choice and a double.

Granderson lofted a single into short center on an 0-2 pitch, sending home Lagares with the go-ahead run.

Lorenzo Cain singled to put men on first and second, extending his post-season hitting streak to 11 games to tie the Royals’ record.

Estrada got two strikeouts in the fourth before Perez hit a 392-foot homer over the left-field wall. With one out, Brett hit a solo home run to give the Royals a 3-2 lead. Lester is a proven postseason performer who has taken the mound in big games on the road and laughed.

Down three runs. Who cares?

Unlike Sanchez, none of his pitches had tried to throw at the opposition batters, he added.

But the Cubs are different too; Jake Arrieta was just beginning to become Jake Arrieta! when these two teams last played, Jorge Soler missed the second series with an injury, Kyle Schwarber was in the minor leagues, and Kris Bryant hadn’t yet begun his great second-half run. His Cubs pick of Addison Russell doesn’t look as good but can’t get them all. Rather than give astrophysicists an event to study with his next hit, he grounded to shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. Joe Maddon and his team swept the season series against the Mets, but that was before the power surge – which began with the arrival of Yoenis Cespedes – infused the rest of the lineup.

Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Edinson Volquez talks to the media during a news conference before batting practice for baseball’s American League Championship Series Thursday, October 15, 2015 in Kansas City, Mo. This was a team getting beat.

After the Rangers took the lead on a fluke play, the Blue Jays stormed back thanks in part to three Texas errors. In fact, the Royals’ best defensive play didn’t even count. They were down four runs in the eighth inning in the 2014 wild-card game to Oakland, but rallied to win.

The Toronto Blue Jays, who joined the AL as an expansion franchise in 1977, won back-to-back World Series in 1992 and 1993, and will be appearing in their sixth ALCS – in their first year back in the playoffs since that second World Series victory. Does that sound like it would make sense that Kansas City would now be up 2-games-to-0 in the American League Championship Series?