After an impressive 5-2 win in Game 1 of the ALDS, the Houston Astros came into Game 2 looking to put the defending-AL champion Royals in the daunting 2-0 hole.
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Cueto had a shaky first three innings, permitting four runs and six hits, including a home run by Rasmus, but only one hit after that. Kazmir departed after 5 1/3 innings, charged with three runs, five hits and a walk.
Harris, the fourth of six Astros pitchers, took the loss. Kansas City’s relief corps was simply better, preserving the first win by a home team this postseason.
Kansas City Royals’ Alcides Escobar reacts after hitting a triple…
Salvador Perez homered for Kansas City.
Now he’ll again be facing the Astros, whose manager wasn’t completely satisfied with a split in Kansas City after Houston coughed up the lead in Game 2. “Their bullpen did a very good job of shutting us down”, Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. Hinch made seemed to work in Game 1 of the AL Division Series.
“Just battling”, first baseman Eric Hosmer said. Odor scored the go-ahead run, breaking a 4-4 tie, when Hanser Alberto (Adrian Beltre’s replacement at third base) lined a single to center field.
Davis walked Preston Tucker with one out, and speedy Carlos Gomez came in as a pinch-runner. Gomez was initially ruled safe, but the call was overturned upon review. Jose Altuve then grounded out to end it, giving Davis a save. “We didn’t want to go on the road down 2-0”, said Lorenzo Cain, who doubled during the Royals’ sixth-inning rally.
Davis, who has not picked off a runner in the regular season since 2013, and even doesn’t throw much to first base, said he was anxious about throwing the ball away more than anything, as had happened in a recent play against the Tigers. “I wasn’t really sure if we got him or not, but I wanted to give the boys in the video room a chance to check”.
Two starters acquired with October in mind, Scott Kazmir and Royals counterpart Johnny Cueto, pitched mostly to a stalemate. He topped 200 innings for the first time in his career and gave up 16 home runs in 34 games.
“They compete”, said catcher Salvador Perez, who homered for the Royals. Rasmus has an extra-base hit in his first six postseason games, a major league record.
The two teams will have an off-day on Saturday as they travel to Texas to continue the ALDS.
“He has a good move, a quick move, and he got me”, said Gomez, his midsection heavily wrapped with ice because of a nagging intercostal strain on his left side.
The Astros jumped out to a 4-1 lead but managed just two singles after the third inning. Rasmus doubled with two outs in the first, scoring right fielder George Springer, who had walked. 444 with three homers, five RBI and a stolen base through three postseason contests.
Cueto finally settled in, but it looked as if it would be too late. Rasmus doubled in a run in the first inning, and Springer added a two-run knock in the second as restless Royals fans began to shower their ace with boos.
Still trailing 4-2, Cain got the Royals’ tying rally started with a double, and Hinch called for Perez.
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When the Royals took the lead the following inning, their shutdown bullpen made it stick. So I think I’m happy that we’re going home. The Blue Jays are still in search of their first playoff victory since Joe Carter’s walk-off home run in Game 6 of the 1993 World Series. We got to take care of business in our own back yard….
