Blue Jays beat Royals 7-1 in Game 5, stay alive in ALCS

On the ground floor of Rogers Centre, Royals clubhouse attendants lugged bags of gear toward a waiting mover’s truck. Somewhere in the luggage resided the cases of beer and champagne the team intended to spray in celebration of their second consecutive American League pennant. Instead the suds – and the team – returned to the States after dropping a 7-1 decision to the Blue Jays in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series.

Instead of a coronation, the Royals opened a window for Toronto to swipe this series. A day after bludgeoning their hosts for 14 runs, the Royals fell under the spell of Toronto pitcher Marco Estrada. Edinson Volquez failed to repeat his traverse of the sixth-inning tightrope, the territory he traversed in Game 1. Kelvin Herrera allowed Troy Tulowitzki to break the game open with a three-run double in the sixth, with all runs charged to Volquez.

The Royals retain ownership of an advantage in this seven-game set, with a pair of cracks to finish off their foes at home. Yet the Blue Jays remain formidable. On Friday Toronto ace David Price will look to atone for his meltdown in Game 2. If the Blue Jays force Game 7, the Royals will turn to Johnny Cueto, who imploded in Game 3 here.

“I think we’re all right — we’re up, 3-2, still, and we’re going back to The K,” third baseman Mike Moustakas said. “We didn’t let anything slide by today. They earned that ‘W.’ They played well, they pitched well, they hit well. Didn’t let anything slide by. They just beat us today.”

Inside the clubhouse after the game, the dominant topic of conversation was the umpiring of Dan Iassogna behind the plate. He kept a tight strike zone as Volquez waded into trouble in the sixth inning. Volquez said Iassogna apologized to catcher Salvador Perez for calling a full-count curveball to Jose Bautista a ball, though Perez later indicated this conversation did not occur. The walk loaded the bases and led to Tulowitzki’s breakout hit.

Still, the Royals failed to generate any sort of offense against Estrada. He faced one over the minimum through seven innings. The solo blemish on his line was a homer struck by Perez in the eighth.

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“He was executing his pitches pretty much from the beginning,” first baseman Eric Hosmer said. “He threw a good game. We just couldn’t get anything going offensively.”

In defeat, the Royals acknowledged the might of their opponents. The Blue Jays wielded baseball’s best offense in the regular season. They climbed out of a 2-0 hole against Texas in the American League Division Series. Even after Tuesday’s thrashing, manager Ned Yost insisted the task of clinching in Canada was tall.

“After winning the first two games, in reality your goal is to come to Toronto – kind of a foreign environment, a hostile environment, and at least win one,” Yost said. “Then you get to go home and win one there and the series is over.”

Kansas City has no other option now. Embarrassed on Tuesday, the Blue Jays attempted to save their season a day later. At the start, the atmosphere lacked the fervor of the first two games here. Rows of seats at Rogers Centre sat unoccupied. The fans attempted to repeat the two-syllable mocking of Volquez, but his surname lacks the guttural rush created by Johnny Cueto’s name, and the chants petered out.

During the regular season, Volquez hummed a fastball clocked at a 93.7 mph average, according to FanGraphs. He fired heaters that reached 98 mph in the first inning on Wednesday.

Volquez ran into trouble against the fifth batter he faced. With the count at 0-2 to first baseman Chris Colabello, Volquez left a changeup over the middle of the plate. Colabello woke up the park with a solo homer to left.

“I’m going to call him my daddy,” Volquez said. “He’s got my number.”

As part of this Game 1 rematch, Toronto used Estrada on the mound. Manager John Gibbons was desperate for a lengthy outing from Estrada. With reliever Aaron Loup away on a family emergency, the Blue Jays played with a 24-man roster. Gibbons was willing to use Price in relief.

The first Kansas City hit did not occur until Alcides Escobar singled to open the fourth. He was promptly erased when Ben Zobrist hit into a double play.

The Royals still trailed by one when the bottom of the sixth began. Volquez issued a leadoff walk to Ben Revere and hit Josh Donaldson with a fastball on the elbow pad.

“I started walking people,” Volquez said. “You can’t do that in a big game.”

Up came Bautista for an encounter that heightened Kansas City’s tension with the umpire. Volquez could not find a strike on the outer half of the plate, as Bautista went ahead, 3-1. Bautista fouled back five consecutive fastballs, all of them clocked at 96 mph or faster.

At last Salvador Perez called for the first offspeed pitch of the at-bat. Volquez spun a curveball that broke at the thighs, bound for the far-most edge of the plate. Bautista caught himself mid-swing.

Volquez and Perez thought the pitch was a strike. Yost thought Bautista might have swung. But Yost could not communicate with the umpires to request an appeal to the first-base umpire.

“I couldn’t get anybody’s attention because the crowd was so loud,” Yost said. “If those things linger, you’re never going to get the call.”

To reporters inside the home clubhouse, Bautista acknowledged his good fortune. “You could argue I got the benefit of a borderline call,” he said.

In the infield, Escobar and Zobrist raged at the walk. Their ire would only increase. Again Volquez tried to spot backdoor, two-seam sinkers, this time to Edwin Encarnacion. Again he missed, in the eye of Iassogna, but close enough to irritate the Royals. When Encarnacion drove in a run on Volquez’s third walk of the inning, Escobar pointed toward the umpire and hollered.

“From shortstop, for me, that’s a strike,” Escobar said. “I don’t know. I didn’t see the replay yet. But those were really close pitches.”

Yost argued with Iassogna after he removed Volquez and inserted Herrera. Yost returned to the dugout and watched Tulowitzki bash a 99-mph, first-pitch fastball and clear the bases.

An inning later, Danny Duffy yielded an RBI double to Bautista. Another RBI double by Kevin Pillar in the eighth swelled Toronto’s advantage.

Now a seven-game series is reduced to two. If Kansas City can win once, they’ll claim another pennant. If they allow Toronto to steal this series from them, they’ll rue missed chances at Rogers Centre. Game 6 happens Friday night.

“That’s the best way to end it,” Volquez said. “In Kansas City. That’s where we live. It’s where we play. It’s always a great feeling to be back in Kansas City.”

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American League Championship Series Game 5

Blue Jays 7, Royals 1

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LOB: Kansas City 3, Toronto 4. 2B: Donaldson (2), Bautista (1), Tulowitzki (2), Pillar (3). HR: S.Perez (2), off Estrada; Colabello (1), off Volquez. RBIs: S.Perez (2), Bautista (3), Encarnacion (2), Colabello (1), Tulowitzki 3 (7), Pillar (2).

Runners left in scoring position: Kansas City 1 (A.Escobar); Toronto 2 (Pillar, Encarnacion). RISP: Kansas City 0 for 1; Toronto 2 for 6. GIDP: Zobrist, Colabello. DP: Kansas City 1 (Zobrist, A.Escobar, Hosmer); Toronto 1 (Goins, Tulowitzki, Colabello).

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Volquez pitched to 4 batters in the 6th.

Inherited runners-scored: K.Herrera 3-3, Aa.Sanchez 1-0. HBP: by Volquez (Donaldson).

Umpires: Home, Dan Iassogna; First, Jeff Nelson; Second, Jim Reynolds; Third, Laz Diaz; Left, John Hirschbeck; Right, Hunter Wendelstedt. Time: 2:56. Att: 49,325.

AP-WF-10-21-15 2308GMT

This story was originally published October 21, 2015 at 6:05 PM with the headline "Blue Jays beat Royals 7-1 in Game 5, stay alive in ALCS."