The Kansas City Royals drew first blood in their ALCS matchup with the Toronto Blue Jays, wearing down the Jays and earning a 5-0 win. The Royals now have a 1-0 lead in the series.
The two teams felt each other out in the early going. The Jays couldn’t make anything of a two-out walk in the first, while the Royals squandered a leadoff double by Alcides Escobar in the bottom half of the frame. Toronto couldn’t bring home Kevin Pillar, who walked to lead the inning off in the third, but Kansas City would cash in half an inning later. Alex Gordon led the frame off with a double, and after an Alex Rios strikeout, Escobar doubled again to score Gordon and give the Royals a 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Lorenzo Cain singled in Escobar to double the lead to 2-0.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Royals tacked on another insurance run thanks to a solo homer by catcher Sal Perez.
Meanwhile, Edison Volquez kept churning away on the mound for Kansas City. After the leadoff walk in the third, the Jays put men on base in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, but couldn’t score. The sixth was by far their best opportunity of the night – Volquez walked Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista to lead off the inning, and was tiring. But Toronto simply couldn’t do anything. Edwin Encarnacion struck out for the first out of the frame. Then Chris Colabello hit a soft liner to left for the second out. Finally, Troy Tulowitzki struck out looking to end the inning and the evening for a pumped up Volquez, who finished by allowing two hits over six shutout innings, walking four and striking out five.
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The Jays would have another chance in the eighth, and of course, they let it go by the wayside. Donaldson singled with one out, and ended up injuring the hand of catcher Perez on his backswing during the at bat. Ryan Madson then followed the single up by walking Bautista, and the Jays looked to be in business. That business soon went under, as Justin Smoak (pinch hitting for Encarnacion, who injured his finger) and Colabello each made outs on 2-0 pitches, with neither man getting the ball out of the infield.
LaTroy Hawkins effectively ended any chance of a Toronto comeback in the eighth. He plunked Escobar to start the inning, allowed an infield single to Zobrist, and two batters later, Hosmer doubled in Escobar to make it 4-0. A sac fly by Morales made it 5-0, and the Jays went down without much of a fight in the ninth to hand Game 1 to the defending AL champions.
Toronto didn’t have one extra base hit on the evening. They went a pathetic 0/7 with runners in scoring position, and left nine men on base. Marco Estrada’s start for the Jays was fine, as he allowed three runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings, striking out six without a walk, but it wasn’t good enough given the anemic performance by Toronto’s offense.
Game 2 will take place on Saturday afternoon in Kansas City. David Price will get the nod for the visitors, while Yordano Ventura will toe the rubber for the Royals, looking to take a 2-0 lead north of the border.
