The Royals right-hander combined with three relievers on a three-hitter, Salvador Perez hit a soaring home run off Toronto starter Marco Estrada and Kansas City rolled to a 5-0 victory in Game 1 of their American League Championship Series.
Advertisement
The opening game is Friday night at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
Kansas City Royals pitcher Johnny Cueto retired the final 19 batters he faced in Game 5 of the ALDS earlier this week. And after the game, he called Blue Jays star Josh Donaldson “a little baby” for complaining about his inside pitching.
Alcides Escobar hit an RBI double and Lorenzo Cain a run-scoring single to give Kansas City a 2-0 lead over the Toronto Blue Jays after three innings in Game 1.
Left-handed ace David Price will start Game 2, followed by young righty Marcus Stroman and veteran knuckleballer R.A. Dickey.
Asked about those years together, Yost acknowledged before Game 1 on Friday: “I didn’t take full advantage of Gibby when he was here”. They had been held to four hits twice, in Game 2 of the 1992 ALCS against the Athletics and Game 1 of the “92 world Series against the Braves”.
“You look at all professional sports in general, everybody celebrates more so than they used to”, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. It’s also the history the two franchises share.
Since the introduction of the seven-game series in 1985, 16 of 29 (55 per cent) teams winning Game 1 have gone on to take the series. “Obviously, that series in Toronto (earlier this year) was two competitive teams”. And he was heavily involved in the team’s last meeting, an ill-tempered affair August 2 in Toronto that saw three ejections in a 5-2 Jays’ win. “X-rays were negative but it swelled up a little more than we’ve seen it in the past. I think a lot of it has to do with where we play”. Bautista’s shot against the Rangers was proof, but so were the major league league-leading 232 homers that Toronto hit during the regular season.
The Royals were the best team in the AL and Toronto was right on their heels.
Volquez said he changed his pitching strategy against Toronto’s power hitters after talking to Perez.
Advertisement
“I’m sure many Canadians will be watching the baseball game after they’ve had an opportunity to go to the polls”, said Kory Teneycke. “We don’t get to go where we believe we can go….”
