Saturday, October 17, 2015

ALCS Game 2: Royals rally to beat David Price, Blue Jays 6-3, take 2-0 series lead


David Price was cruising and there wasn't much the Kansas City Royals could do about it. That is, until the seventh. The Royals scored five runs in that inning, all of them charged to Price, on their way to a 6-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays that gives them a 2-0 series lead.
After being shutout in Game 1, the Blue Jays were able to put three runs on the board against Kansas City starter Yordano Ventura. The way Price was pitching, that looked like it would be enough. Then Ben Zobrist's pop up dropped between second baseman Ryan Goins and right fielder Jose Bautista. It appeared it should have been an easy catch for Bautista, but Goins called him off and couldn't make the grab. The Royals made them pay.

 
Kansas City Royals' Alex Gordon follows with an RBI double in front of Toronto Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin and umpire Laz Diaz during the seventh...Alex Gordon only had one hit on Saturday, but it was a big one. He stepped up to deliver an RBI double to center on a 3-2 count in the seventh that put Kansas City up 4-3.
• Lorenzo Cain's single in the seventh extended his hitting streak in the postseason to 11 games, a Royals franchise record, and came around to score. He also drew a walk in the eighth and played his typical stellar defense in center field.
• Mike Moustakas had two huge hits, hitting a single in the seventh to tie the game and followed that up with another single in the eighth to extend the Royals' lead to three.
• Injuries? What injuries? Edwin Encarnacion (finger) and Troy Tulowitzki (shoulder) both rebounded from poor Game 1 performances with a couple hits at the plate apiece.
 
Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher David Price watches from the dugout during the eighth inning in Game 2 of baseball's American League Championship S...Price was headed right to the top of the leading lads category with his play through six innings, allowing just one hit and striking out seven. Then came the seventh and everything fell apart. With the loss, Price falls to 0-7 in seven career postseason starts.
• Goins drove in a run in the fourth, but his misplay on the Zobrist pop-up in the seventh that started the Royals' rally is how his game will be remembered.
• Ben Revere went 0-for-5 at the top of Toronto's order, and his two strikeouts were uncharacteristic for a player known for his great contact rate. Revere is now 0-for-9 in the ALCS.
• Salvador Perez was 0-for-4 and the lone Royals hitter that failed to reach base in this one.
Eric Hosmer stepped to the plate with two on, none out to face Price in the seventh 0-for-2 on the day with two strikeouts. He lined a 1-1 changeup from Price to center for a single to drive in the first of five Royals run in the inning and really put the pressure on Toronto's starter. You know what happened next.
Don't despair yet, Blue Jays fans.
Sportsnet Stats
13 teams in MLB history have rallied from an 0-2 deficit in a best-of-7 series.
 
 • What happened to Price in the seventh? Up until that point he had been pretty much untouchable. Then he gave up a bloop hit to Ben Zobrist to lead off the inning and it unraveled from there. Fair or unfair, the questions about why he can't get it done in October aren't going away just yet.
• The resilient Royals. Kansas City has put together so many comebacks in the postseason the last couple years, it's not surprising to see them do it again. They figured out one of baseball's best pitchers when it looked like he had them all figured out and they're up 2-0 in the series because of it.
After a day off Sunday, the ALCS resumes with Game 3 on Monday in Toronto. Marcus Stroman (4-0, 1.67) takes the mound for the Blue Jays. Johnny Cueto (11-13, 3.44) is the Royals starter and is coming off a splendid performance in Game 5 of the ALDS.

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