Following a 45-minute rain delay, play resumed with Roberto Osuna, the fine Toronto closer, on the mound. They won three straight to oust the Rangers in the best-of-five ALDS and then Game 5 against the Royals to cut the deficit to 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.
Advertisement
The Royals jumped on David Price early with home runs in each of the first two innings. Royals fans across the Kansas City metro area all held their collective breaths, bracing for the worst. If Toronto wins the game, Bautista will be the hero because he did a few big things at home plate – but then he screws up a small thing in right field.
For the Blue Jays, it was a frustrating ending to a late-season surge that ended their postseason drought dating to 1993.
Price failed in his attempt to finally pick up a postseason victory as a starter, but at least he did not take a second loss in the series, as Bautista’s second homer got him off the hook.
Jose Bautista’s second homer of the game, a two-run shot in the eighth, lifted Toronto into a 3-3 tie.
But Ryan Madson walked Revere to open the eighth and, after Josh Donaldson struck out, Bautista sent the ball deep to left. After the game, he was asked directly whether he planned to return to Toronto.
The Royals are three innings away from their second straight American League pennant.
Ventura kept the Blue Jays’ potent offense at bay as well.
Perhaps it was only fitting that Wade Davis closed out the win. A review found there was no interference. But as they ponder the wreckage of a once-promising post-season run, it is worth keeping those moments on the slippery tight rope in mind.
Ben Zobrist and Mike Moustakas put the Royals ahead 2-0 with a home run each and saw that lead extend to 3-1 in the seventh. He then immediately went into lockdown mode, retiring the next 10 Blue Jays he faced.
On replays, in a scene reminiscent of young Yankee fan Jeffrey Maier famously helping turn a Derek Jeter fly ball into a 1996 playoff homer, a Royals fan appeared to reach out and snag the ball just atop the wall itself.
“Every once in a while you’ve got to give credit to the other side”, said Toronto manager John Gibbons, classy in defeat. The home run stood and Kansas City had a 2-0 lead.
His first taste of postseason action got off to a disastrous start, though, and entering Game 4 of the NLDS he was a meager 3-for-24 (.125 BA) with 13 strikeouts in 24 at-bats.
That could all change by the final pitch.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Royals earned another Champagne shower at Kauffman Stadium. “We pitchers can do it all”, he said. For the next four pitches, Toronto looked like they would surely force extra innings or even a game seven. “I have not seen any change in their demeanor at all”.
There is no bereavement list during the playoffs, which means Toronto had to play with 24 players in splitting those games with Kansas City.
Rain then delayed the game for 45 minutes.
The one that set the Royals up for their run of success. After a jaw-dropping catch by Ben Revere against the left-field fence to rob Salvador Perez, Alex Rios came through with a two-out RBI hit to make the game 3-1.
“That’s 99 percent (of the time) a fastball right there in the strike zone, ” he said.
“Really good team”, Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar said of the Mets.
BRYANT: And so they are going to be able – if they want to and if they are managed properly – to keep that team together, to be good, to be competitive for a long time.
“I think the country, the city, the fans, the organization, our team has so much to be proud of”, R.A. Dickey said.
Advertisement
“The story just keeps better and better”, Hosmer said.
