Royals beat Blue Jays, return to World Series

Bautista’s pair of homers, a solo in the fourth inning and a two-run line drive in eighth, provided all of Toronto’s runs and tied the game at 3 apiece.

It went from a lock that the Royals would top the Toronto Blue Jays behind their strong bullpen, to a tie game, to another lead heading into the ninth. “When the Royals are right”, Kansas City Star columnist Sam Mellinger wrote earlier in the series, “they are more buckshot than bombs, winning the fight like a pack of dogs rather than one lion”. Revere then struck out before Donaldson grounded out to end the game. “The feeling we had in this clubhouse every single day is why you play the game”. The San Francisco Giants used starter Madison Bumgarner to pitch the final five innings of the game to maintain a 3-2 lead.

FIRST BASE – The Blue Jays worked first base by committee in 2015 with Edwin Encarnacion, Chris Colabello and Justin Smoak all spending time at the position. No. 9 hitter Alex Rios greeted him by singling Moustakas home for an insurance run that made it 3-1.

From there, Royals manager Ned Yost turned it over to his normally shutdown bullpen. Pinch runner Dalton Pompey entered and promptly ripped off second base. The home run hitter who irked Kansas City fans all series followed his solo shot in the first inning with a tying, two-run homer to left that silenced the crowd – other than the smattering of boos directed at Madson on the mound. Let’s just say Joey Bats did everything he could to win this game.

He allowed a leadoff single and a walk, but struck out Dioner Navarro and Ben Revere before Donaldson’s groundout gave Kansas City the AL pennant. With Kansas City up 3-1, the broadcaster flashed a graphic during the seventh inning that pre-emptively advertised the Royals playing the Mets on Tuesday in Game 1 of the World Series.

They have now accomplished just that, beating first the Texas Rangers in the American League Division Series, and now the Blue Jays in the Championship Series, to set their date with the Mets.

Said Jirschele: “As soon as he got to second base, I said, ‘I’m sending him.’ With Lorenzo Cain running, it’s going to take a flawless throw to second and a ideal throw to home, and you’re going to take your chances on that”. She chose to bring a Blue Springs teacher and Royals fan who she said deserved a break after a tough week.

While the Blue Jays topped the majors with 232 home runs during the regular season, the Royals used the long ball to grab an early 2-0 lead. Herrera provided 1 ²/₃ innings of shutout relief. But Price will be remembered most for his underachieving post-season performance, although he kept Toronto in Game 6 after a shaky start. SportsCenter added that the “last time a player hit a game-tying or go-ahead HR in 8th inning or later of Game 6 or 7 in ALCS was Aaron Boone in 2003”.

The ALCS series has been much more evenly matched than the NLCS series, where the New York Mets demolished the Chicago Cubs in 4 straight games.

Davis retired Josh Donaldson on a grounder with runners on second and third to end it.

“This isn’t something that crossed my mind, I don’t know when free agency starts, it’s not something I’ve thought about”, Price insisted.