Kansas City’s maddening small-ball didn’t stop when Stroman left, as the Royals started the bottom of the seventh with three consecutive soft singles, one of them an Escobar bunt that rolled perfectly into a Bermuda triangle of Blue Jays defenders.
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Coming our way on Monday from Rogers Centre, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Toronto Blue Jays will be opening up their Major League Baseball series.
In the third inning with the Royals already up 2-0, the Jays had the start of a promising rally snuffed out when Bautista tried to go first to third on a single by Josh Donaldson, challenging all-star Lorenzo Cain’s arm.
This wasn’t an easy outing for Stroman, as Kansas City put up pesky at-bats and drove him from the game much earlier than he would have liked.
Kevin Pillar was in the original Sunday lineup, but had to be scratched because of a sore thumb that resulted from a slide into second base on Saturday. Gee later limited the harm to just one run, escaping a bases-loaded jam. Mondesi was safe at second with a stolen base.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Yordano Ventura was not at his best, but good enough to end a personal losing drought. “That’s what we need out of him”. “From a confidence standpoint, when pitchers have good stuff, see good results, the confidence goes through the roof”. He came out and battled.
OUR PICK: The Rays have won four of five against the Blue Jays and are 5-2 when Dickey pitches for Toronto.
The two teams split the first two matchups, and in Sunday’s finale, Tampa dropped game three 6-3.
“I was fighting the whole game”, Ventura said with catching coach Pedro Grifol as his interpreter. But then Morales jumped all over a first-pitch fastball from Cecil and crushed it 459-feet to dead centre field for a grand slam that blew the game open.
Over on the Blue Jays’ side, they played Kansas City this weekend, also splitting the first two games.
The Toronto leadoff man’s first shot came just four pitches into the game. If I go back, I don’t think I’d take anything back.
With his sinker and with fastball command, Stroman was able to get his share of ground balls, which is his bread and butter but the Royals found more holes than usual. For example, they’re 1-5 in his last six starts coming off four days of rest and are 1-8 in his last nine road starts versus a team with a winning record.
The Blue Jays didn’t get on the board until the seventh when Royals reliever Peter Moylan threw a wild pitch that allowed Barney to scamper home from third. “I felt like I should have a say in what was going on and what decision they made, because”. I’ll just wash this one and look forward to the next one. They did exactly what I wanted them to do: kept the ball on the ground. Morales drew a walk to lead off the inning, but was forced out at second on an Alex Gordon comebacker. After retiring the first two batters, Ventura walked No. 9 hitter Darwin Barney.
“It’s not like I thought he was out there distracted or rattled or anything”, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “They’re the world champs for a reason”, Gibbons said. “But we really haven’t been swinging them good since the beginning of that last homestand”. We’ve been kind of in a little rut, so we’re due to explode.
Duffy, however, does not have a good track record against the Blue Jays.
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As for the Blue Jays, they’re 15-6 in their last 21 against the American League East, and 7-15 in Dickey’s last 22 starts.
