ALCS Game 6: Royals beat Blue Jays 4-3 to book return to World Series
The Kansas City Royals are headed back to the World Series. The Royals repeated as American League champions, beating the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 in a thrilling Game 6 of the ALCS at Kauffman Stadium.
Eric Hosmer delivered an RBI single off Roberto Osuna in the bottom of the eighth that scored Lorenzo Cain all the way from first to give Kansas City the lead. The game had just resumed after a lengthy rain delay. Wade Davis allowed the first two batters he faced in the top of the ninth to reach base, but recovered quickly to retire the next three Blue Jays players that came to the plate and send the Royals back to the Fall Classic.
Just before the delay in the top half of the eighth, Jose Bautista had tied the 3-3 game with two-run home run off Ryan Madson, his second homer of the game. Ben Zobrist and Mike Moustakas hit solo home runs off David Price in the first and second innings respectively to put Kansas City up 2-0 early. Bautista’s first homer came off Royals starter Yordano Ventura in the fourth and cut that lead to 2-1.
• Hosmer was 0-for-3 heading into his at-bat with Osuna but came up with his biggest hit of the season to lift Kansas City to a series win. It was the 11th RBI for Hosmer so far in these playoffs.
• Moustakas came up clutch. He hit the homer in the second and went 2-for-4 with a couple runs scored and made a big defensive play at third base in the sixth inning with Toronto threathening to score.
• You didn’t expect Bautista to go quietly, did you? Bautista’s fourth-inning jack traveled an impressive 427 feet to left field. His eighth-inning blast didn’t fly nearly as far – only 388 feet – but it was just as big, getting the Blue Jays back in the game.
• Ben Revere hadn’t been effective in the leadoff spot for the Blue Jays, but his swing came around Friday night. Revere went 2-for-5, scored a run and also made a great leaping catch at the wall in left in the seventh to rob Salvador Perez of extra bases.
• This is not how AL MVP candidate Josh Donaldson envisioned his season ending. Donaldson went 0-for-5 with a couple strikeouts and he made the final out of the game, grounding out against Wade Davis with runners at second and third.
• Osuna has been the Blue Jays’ best reliever in 2015, taking over the closer’s role in mid-June. He came into the game in the eighth after the delay and promptly walked Cain and gave up the hit to Hosmer that scored Cain. Osuna mitigated the damage by getting a double play after allowing another Royals player to reach, but the one run was enough to sink Toronto.
• Regardless of the result, Madson’s going to be seeing that pitch he threw to Bautista in his nightmares. It was a high fastball on a 0-1 count that Bautista got around and drove over the wall in left to tie the game. The Royals are going to rely on him in the World Series, so he has no choice to get over it quickly and move on.
Lorenzo Cain went first to home on Hosmer’s line drive to right field. It looked like it would be a close play at the plate when Troy Tulowitzki got the relay throw from Bautista but Cain got there with ease to score the eventual game winning run. It was aggressive and it turned out to be a great send call by third base coach Mike Jirschele.
Donaldson stepped to the plate to face Ventura with the Blue Jays trailing 2-1 runners at first and second and two outs in the fifth. Donaldson ripped the first pitch he saw toward third base and it seemed destined to reach the outfield grass, but Moustakas was able to snare it for the final out of the inning. Recorded at 114 mph off the bat, it was the hardest ball Donaldson hit all season.
How often does a ball hit that hard not result in a hit? Not very often.
• Did Moustakas get some help on his home run from a fan reaching over the wall? It was close enough to warrant a review, but the umpires didn’t think there was enough evidence to overturn the call and the run stayed on the board.
• What’s next for Price? This game was supposed to be all about Price and his postseason legacy. He pitched a solid game, going 6 2/3 innings and being charged with three earned runs, but his start will just be a secondary story from this one. Price now enters free agency and there will be plenty of suitors for his services.
The Royals will meet the New York Mets in the World Series and get another shot to do what they came so close to doing last year. Game 1 is Tuesday, Oct. 27 in Kansas City.
For the Blue Jays, they go to the offseason with a couple big questions, most importantly how competitive they can realistically be in their pursuit to re-sign Price.
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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
