Game 2 win gives Royals big edge in ALCS

Donaldson managed a walk off Volquez but little else, while Tulowitzki – one of the Blue Jays’ big deadline acquisitions – went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts.

Members of the Royals wore T-shirts and hats honoring the Kansas City Fire Department during batting practice before their Game 5 victory over Houston in the divisional round.

Right-handed pitcher Mark Lowe recorded the final out of the eighth inning after the Blue Jays fell off the tracks.

“Our guys never quit”, Royals manager Ned Yost said. Baseball’s playoff format, which will send Toronto home for three straight beginning on Monday, makes that second game all the more important.

“It’s that postseason juice, ” said Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer, meaning juice as in enthusiasm. “So, I’m going to feel it”. “But yeah, it’s a lot tougher from here but we’ve got a pretty good team too”.

But it also meant Price could not start Game 5 of the ALDS (which Toronto of course won) and could not pitch until Game 2 of the ALCS.

Since the teams are the last two standing, the Red Sox owe it to themselves to take a long look at each team and find the parts they can aspire to, if not better understand the parts they already believe they resemble.

To start with, the defending AL champs beat Toronto in the 1985 league championship series, then beat the St. Louis Cardinals for the Royals’ only World Series triumph.

It turned out to be Toronto’s leaky defense that provided it.

“That thing has been bothering him all year”, Manager John Gibbons said after the game. “He did a hell of a job”. They continued to battle.

“Whatever this team wants me to do to try and help them win, I’m all about it”, he said.

Their names are Johnny Cueto and Edinson Volquez. He did not let another Royal reach base until Zobrist benefited from the miscommunication by second baseman Ryan Goins and right fielder José Bautista. “I think I got a little bit of motivation from him”. “I was struggling mechanically and that took over more than who was up”.

As if the outcome wasn’t bad enough for Toronto, Encarnacion, the designated hitter, left in the eighth inning to get X-rays on the middle finger of his left hand. “That was kind of the turning point in the game”. He scored on a RBI single from Lorenzo Cain. Rios added another single off reliever Aaron Sanchez to close the book on Price, who was dinged for all five runs in one disastrous inning. Mike Moustakas’ single made it 3-3 bringing the sellout crowd of 40,357 to its feet. Gordon capped an eight-pitch at-bat with a double to right-center that put the Royals ahead for good. There was no hint he could possibly relinquish the lead, not after getting through six innings in a mere 66 pitches. He gave up five runs on six hits with eight strikeouts and no walks in a 96-pitch outing that included 70 strikes.

Give me the over. “I felt like we needed to catch a break”.

Goins drove in a run off Ventura in the third, snapping an 18-inning scoreless streak by Royals pitchers. “He kept us in the game but we just got shut out, really”. “Price was throwing the ball unbelievable”.

“I don’t think I’m out of routine”.

Davis gave up a leadoff single and walked pinch-hitter Cliff Pennington, but bounced back to strike out leadoff man Ben Revere and MVP candidate Josh Donaldson.

The Royals are authoring their own comeback story in the playoffs. The Blue Jays pitching staff has allowed four or more runs in five of their seven postseason games.

David Price is still seeking his first postseason victory as a starter.

On the back of his solid form down the stretch run, Ventura was given the Game 1 start against the Astros.

“I don’t know where it’s coming from”, Volquez said. His six innings were a profession high for a postseason begins.

His seven straight losses in post-season starts are an Major League Baseball record. “He was even tougher when there were runners on base”.