Edinson Volquez lead the Royals to a 1-0 series lead with a strong six inning start. (Photo: John Rieger, USA TODAY Sports)
Game One of the ALCS between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Kansas City Royals was played in front of 39,753 at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals were making their second trip in two seasons to the championship series, and first appearance for the Blue Jays since they won the World Series in 1993.
The Blue Jays started Marco Estrada, who defeated the Rangers in Game 3 of the ALDS, tossing 6.1 innings, allowing one run on five hits, striking out four batters. As for the Royals, they started Edinson Volquez, who was defeated by the Astros in Game 3, allowing three runs, on five hits, walked four and struck out eight.
On Friday, breezed through the first two innings, before the Royals broke through in the bottom of the third on an RBI double from Alcides Escobar, who also scored on an RBI single from Lorenzo Cain.
In the bottom of the fourth, Kansas City added to their lead, with a run on a solo home run from Salvador Perez.
Estrada was pulled from the game after 5.1 innings, having allowed three runs, on six hits with six strike outs.
On the other side of the diamond, Volquez was dealing and tossing a much better game than his last, as he pitched six shutout innings, on just two hits, with four walks and five strike outs.
With the Royals pitchers keeping the explosive Toronto offense in check, they went back to work with the bats in the bottom of the eighth and added two more runs, highlighted by an RBI double by Eric Hosmer and a sac fly from Kendrys Morales to extend the lead to 5-0.
In the ninth, Luke Hochevar came on to close out the game, and after getting Troy Tulowitzki to ground out, Dioner Navarro reached base on a fielding error by third baseman Mike Moustakas. But Hochevar induced a force out off the bat of Kevin Pillar and a fly out from Ryan Goins to end the game a secure a Game 1 victory for the Royals.
Game 2 is scheduled for Saturday afternoon with first pitch at 3:30 pm. David Price will start for the Blue Jays and Yordano Ventura will go for the Royals.
Game Notes
Edwin Encarnacion injured himself on a swing and was diagnosed with a ligament strain on middle finger, and is day-to-day.
Lorenzo Cain extended his postseason hitting streak to 10 games, after finishing 1 for 4.
Top Performers
Blue Jays
Jose Bautista – 0 for 1, 3 BB
Royals
Alcides Escobar – 2 for 3, 2 R, 2 Doubles, RBI
Salvador Perez – 1 for 3, R, HR, RBI
Edinson Volquez – 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 5 K
David Conde
David is the Co-Founder and Executive Editor of Legends On Deck®, as well as a Co-Host on Legends On Deck Podcast. David was a Senior Editor for MetsMerizedOnline.com, MetsMinors.net and Contributor for Hardballchat.com that spanned from 2010 to 2014. David made his MLB Debut as a writer in June 2014, while covering the NY Mets at Citi Field, for MetsmerizedOnline.com. David also coaches baseball for ages 13-15, a Babe Ruth League team in his local community. David's passion is coaching the game he loves to the future Legends of Tomorrow as well as making available a website that people can have fun sharing and reading. David is also passionate about his career as a Mortgage Loan Officer which allows him to help many families reach their dreams of owning a home. Connect with David via his Social Media pages as he loves to chat all about baseball.
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