American League Championship Series
Toronto Blue Jays at Kansas City Royals
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The Blue Jays managed to survive with a Game 5 victory and forced Game 6 in Kansas City. They are still down three games to two and need another win to stay alive. They sent up David Price to go up against Yordano Ventura, the same starters from Game 2. Price went six and two-thirds, giving up five runs (all in the seventh) and took the loss. Ventura went five and a third innings, giving up three runs and taking a no decision.
Ventura worked around a leadoff double by Ben Revere to get out of the first without giving up a run. Price was not so lucky. He got Alcides Escobar, who has been a tough out in the first inning in this series, to ground out. Ben Zobrist hit a 1-1 cutter for a home run to left field to put the Royals on the board. Price got the next two hitters to keep the damage to just one run.
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Ventura had a 1-2-3 second inning, and once again, Price did not. He did get the first out again, but, as in the first inning, he gave up a one-out home run. Mike Moustakas hit a 1-2 changeup that just barely cleared the wall in right center field. The umpires reviewed the play to make sure that a fan did not reach over the fence, and although it appeared that he may have, the play was upheld and the Royals had a 2-0 lead. Price again got the last two batters out to limit the damage to one run.
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In the top of the fourth inning, it was the Blue Jays’ turn to score. After Josh Donaldson grounded out, Jose Bautista hit a 431-foot blast to left center field. There was no need for a review on this home run as it landed in the upper deck. Ventura got out of the inning without allowing another run, and the Royals held on to a 2-1 lead.
Edwin Encarcacion hit a one-out double in the top of the sixth inning, chasing Ventura. Kelvin Herrera came in to relieve him and got Chris Colabello to strike out and Troy Tulowitzki to fly out to center field to end the threat.
Moustakas led off the bottom of the seventh with a single to center. Perez hit one that drove Revere to the wall in left field to make the catch and he almost doubled off Moustakas at first. Alex Gordon then moved Moustakas over to second, but was out at first on a great play by Ryan Goins. That ended Price’s day, as Aaron Sanchez came on to pitch. Alex Rios greeted Sanchez with a run scoring single to give the Royals an insurance run. Paulo Orlando came in to run for Rios and moved up to second on a base hit by Escobar. Zobrist grounded out to end the inning, but the Royals led 3-1 going into the eighth inning.
Ryan Madson came in to relieve Herrera, who pitched one and two-thirds perfect innings. Revere chopped one over the third baseman’s head for an infield single to lead off the eighth. Madson got Donaldson looking for the first out. Bautista hit an 0-1 fastball for a two-run home run down the left field line to tie the game and take Price off the hook. Encarnacion drew a walk and that was it for Madson. Wade Davis came in to finish the eighth inning. After Colabello popped out, Encarnacion advanced to second on a wild pitch. Davis was able to strike out Tulowitzki to end the inning with a 3-3 tie.
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It started to rain during that inning, and it continued to rain so they delayed the game and put the tarp on the field.
Roberto Osuna came in to pitch for the Blue Jays in the bottom of the eighth after the rain delay. Lorenzo Cain drew a walk on a 3-2 slider to lead off the inning. Eric Hosmer hit a single down the right field line and Cain scored from first to give the Royals a 4-3 lead.
Kendrys Morales ripped a single up the middle to put runners on first and second with nobody out. A flyball to right and a double play kept it to a one-run game going into the ninth.
Davis came back to pitch the ninth a little over an hour after his last pitch in the eighth and promptly gave up a hit to Russell Martin. Dalton Pompey ran for Martin and stole second on the first pitch. Pompey then stole third on a 2-2 pitch, putting a runner on third with nobody out and the infield came in. Kevin Pillar drew a walk to put runners on first and third. Dioner Navarro pinch hit for Goins and struck out, but Pillar stole second to put runners at second and third with one out, taking away the double play. Revere struck out to bring up Donaldson with two outs. Donaldson grounded out to third, giving the Royals the win and their second straight trip to the World Series.
Player of the Game: Lorenzo Cain
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Cain drew a walk to lead off the eighth inning and scored on a single to give the Royals the lead. It was Cain’s hustle that gave him a chance to score on that play, as many runners will be content on moving to third on that play.
ALCS MVP: Alcides Escobar
Escobar finished the ALCS with a 10-game hitting streak. He hit .478 with five RBI and six runs scored. He had a four RBI game and a three run game. Escobar got a hit in each of the first four games, the first player to do that in a postseason series. His defense was good as well.
World Series
The Royals will host the New York Mets in Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday at 8 pm. This is the second year in a row that the Royals will be in the World Series, having lost in seven games in last year’s World Series.