American League Championship Series
Kansas City Royals at Toronto Blue Jays
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It isn’t always easy to come back from 3-1 down, but when the cleats hit the grass, anything is possible. The Blue Jays were in this situation against the Royals but after winning the first game in Toronto and losing the second, the Blue Jays looked to make magic happen. The magic would start in the form of a game 5 match-up between Edinson Volquez and Marco Estrada, where the Blue Jays would defeat the Royals.
The game would begin as a pitchers duel, with both pitchers battling it out for a couple innings. Combined, the two pitchers would allow just 3 hits and 1 run (a Chris Colabello home run in the 2nd) in the first 5 innings of play. The two would strike out a total of 6 batters. The pitching duel would end in the sixth though, when the flood gates opened.
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In the sixth inning, Volquez would begin to lose control and the Blue Jays would take full advantage of it as they would score 4 runs in the inning. The inning would begin with a Ben Revere walk, a Josh Donaldson hit by pitch and a Jose Bautista walk. Edwin Encarnacion would as well walk, scoring Ben Revere and giving the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead. Troy Tulowitzki cleard the bases with a double on the next at bat, scoring Bautista, Donaldson and Encarnacion.
The Royals would get one back in just the next inning, this time off the bat of the ever so hot Salvador Perez. Perez would homer to right, giving the Royals a glimmer of hope to tie the game. The Royals would threaten to score once again in that inning but the Alex Rios and Alex Gordon singles would be wasted by an Alcides Escobar line out.
In the eighth inning, the Blue Jays would get the 6 run lead back. After a Tulowitzki single, Kevin Pillar would double, scoring Tulowitzki and giving the Blue Jays the icing on the cake with a 7-1 lead. That would be all the offense the Blue Jays would be able to produce out of the inning, though, as the inning would end with Pillar getting thrown out trying to advance to third.
Roberto Osuna would come in for the non-save opportunity in the top of the ninth inning. The 20-year old reliever would get out of the inning with no base runners, forcing Ben Zobrist, Lorenzo Cain and Eric Hosmer to ground out.
Player of the Game: Marco Estrada
Estrada was virtually lights out in his second start of the ALCS. Estrada went 7.2 innings, allowing one run on three hits while striking out five. Estrada’s ALCS record now improves to 1-1.
ALCS Game 6 (Royals lead 3-2)
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To keep any hopes of a game 7 alive, the Toronto Blue Jays will have to travel across the border to Kansas City. Game 6 is set to take place on Friday with a first pitch time of 8:07 PM. David Price (0-1 7.02 ERA) is expected to take the mound for the Blue Jays while Yordano Ventura (0-0 6.57 ERA) is expected to pitch for the Royals.
