Royals rally off Blue Jays' miscues to take 2-0 lead
The Toronto Blue Jays were nine outs away from leaving Kansas City with home-field advantage in the ALCS. Another wacky seventh inning later, and the Blue Jays suddenly need to make a historic comeback to keep their season alive.
Alex Gordon doubled in the go-ahead run, four relievers combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings, and the Royals scored five times in the seventh to stun the Blue Jays 6-3, and take a commanding 2-0 series lead.
Toronto's undoing began in the seventh when Ryan Goins misplayed a shallow fly to right that allowed leadoff hitter Ben Zobrist to reach base. The Royals strung together another two singles before Gordon's game-winning double chased David Price from a once-dominant outing.
Top Performer: Royals relievers. Ned Yost's bullpen was dominant once again, relieving Yordano Ventura in the sixth inning with one out and the bases loaded and keeping the Blue Jays from adding to their 3-0 lead. Danny Duffy, Kelvin Herrera, and Wade Davis retired five of their nine outs by strikeout and allowed just two hits en route to Kansas City's ninth straight LCS win.
Starting Pitchers: Price breezed through Kansas City's lineup through six frames before allowing five runs during Toronto's seventh-inning collapse. The Blue Jays left-hander retired a franchise playoff-record 18 straight batters after allowing a leadoff single to Alcides Escobar to begin the game, but was battered for several hits amid a series of miscues in his final inning by Toronto's defenders. Ventura nearly went pitch-for-pitch with Price until running into trouble during Toronto's two-run sixth.
| Pitcher | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 6.2 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 8 |
| Ventura | 5.1 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
Key Moment: Another playoff game, another decisive seventh inning. This time, however, it didn't go Toronto's way. Goins' blunder helped set up the Royals' rally, but it was Eric Hosmer's heads-up baserunning that prevented Kendrys Morales from hitting into a double play, keeping the inning alive. The next batter, Mike Moustakas, lined a single to right that scored Hosmer, but Jose Bautista's errant throw missed his cutoff and allowed Moustakas to advance to second. He scored two batters later on Gordon's double, chasing Price from the game and giving the Royals a 4-3 lead.
(Videos courtesy: MLB.com)
Up Next: The Blue Jays now return to Toronto hoping to become the first team in 30 years to come back from multiple 2-0 deficits in the postseason. The last team to pull off such a feat was the Royals, who rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the 1985 ALCS to defeat the Blue Jays in seven games. Right-handers Marcus Stroman and Johnny Cueto will oppose each other in the pivotal Game 3 at Rogers Centre. First pitch is scheduled for 8:07 p.m. ET.