(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
  Royals open ALCS with shutout-win vs. Blue Jays
Nederlands
 KANSAS CITY, Missouri (USA) -
The Kansas City Royals opened the best-of-seven American League Championship Series on Friday-evening (October 17) with a 5-0 shutout-win vs. the Toronto Blue Jays.
Starting pitcher Edinson Vólquez threw six strong innings and earned the first win ever of his career against Toronto.
Game Two will be played on Saturday.
Thirty years ago, in 1985, the Royals and Blue Jays also met in the postseason.
In that ALCS, the Royals won the series 4-3 to advance to the World Series, which they also won.
That was the last time the Royals won the World Series.
Last year, the Royals lost the Series vs. the San Francisco Giants.
The last time the Blue Jays played (and won) in the championship final was in 1993.
The Royals are playing in their eighth League Championship Series and have made no changes to their roster as opposed to their ALDS-roster vs. the Houston Astros.
The Blue Jays also have the same roster as in the ALDS vs. Texas Rangers and are playing in the sixth LCS.
During the ALDS, Toronto had added Ryan Tepera to replace injured pitcher Brett Cecil.
The best-of-seven National League Championship Series opens on Saturday in New York, where the New York Mets are hosting the Chicago Cubs.
Tonight's starting pitchers were righthander Edinson Vólquez for the Royals and righthander Marco Estrada for the Blue Jays.
32-year old Dominican Edinson Vólquez was 13-9 this season and started twice vs. the Blue Jays.
He lost one, while the other ended in a no-decision.
In six starts overall against Toronto, he is 0-4.
Vólquez was the starting and losing pitcher in Game 3 of the ALDS vs. the Astros.
Tonight was his fourth postseason-start and was 0-3 in his previous three.
Vólquez led the team this season with 200 1/3 innings pitched and 13 wins, while being second with 155 strikeouts.
32-year old Mexican Marco Estrada was 13-8 this year and he pitched twice against the Royals, winning one and losing one.
He struckout 131 batters in 181 innings.
Estrada was the starting and winning pitcher in Game 3 vs. the Rangers.
Tonight was his sixth career postseason-appearance, he pitched four times in relief in 2011 while being with the Milwaukee Brewers.
In the regular season, the Blue Jays won four of the seven games played against the Royals, who won twice at home.
In March 2013, Edinson Vólquez was the starting pitcher for the Dominican Republic in the semi-final of the World Baseball Classic against The Netherlands.
The Dutch Team included Major Leaguers like Andrelton Simmons, Jurickson Profar, Roger Bernadina, Andruw Jones, Wladimir Balentien and Jonathan Schoop.
Initially, Vólquez and the Dominican Republic trailed 1-0, but in the end won 4-1 to reach the final.
After walking the first two batters he faced (one of them scored) in the first inning, Vólquez retired the next 11 batters in a row and went on pitching seven innings, becoming the winning pitcher.
...Edinson Vólquez pitching for the...
...Dominican Republic vs. Netherlands...
...in the World Baseball Classic 2013...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
On March 7, 2009, Vólquez also started for the Dominicans against the Netherlands-squad in the first of two games between the two teams in the World Baseball Classic
In that game, he pitched the first three innings and gave up three runs.
The Dutch Team won 3-2 and Vólquez was the losing pitcher.
Tonight, Edinson Vólquez retired the first two Toronto-batters in the first inning, then walked José Bautista, but he was forced out.
In the bottom of the first, Alcides Escobar led off with a double off of Marco Estrada.
With one out, Escobar was eliminated in a run-down on a comeback-grounder by Lorenzo Cain, who ended up on second base, but then was left behind.
Toronto got its first runner in scoring position in the top of the third inning.
Kevin Pillar led off with a walk, moved on a sacrifice bunt, but then stayed behind.
In the bottom of the third, the Royals opened the score.
Alex Gordon led off with a double and scored the first run of the evening on an one-out double by Alcides Escobar, his second in the game.
Moments later, Escobar advanced on a grounder, then scored the second run on a single by Lorenzo Cain.
In the top of the fourth, Vólquez gave up his first basehit, when Chris Colabello singled with two outs, but the righthander ended the at bat with a strikeout.
The Royals added a run in the bottom of the fourth when Salvador Pérez homered after Estrada had struckout the first two batters in the inning.
In the top of the sixth, Vólquez walked the first two batters he faced, Josh Donaldson and José Bautista.
It was the beginning of a long at bat that lasted almost 30 minutes.
But with runners on first and second base, Vólquez retired the next three batters, two of them with a strikeout.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Royals got close to adding another run.
With one out, Eric Hosmer reached on an error, then advanced to third base on a single by Kendrys Morales.
This led to a pitching change.
Aaron Loup took over for Marco Estrada, but then the Toronto-defense turned a nice inning-ending double play on a grounder by Mike Moustakas.
In the top of the seventh, the Royals also went to the bullpen, as Kelvin Herrera took over for Edinson Vólquez, who had dominated and struckout five batters, while giving up only two hits.
He retired the side, including two strikeouts.
The Blue Jays then got on base in the top of the eighth inning off of new pitcher Ryan Madson.
With one out, Josh Donaldson singled after he had hit catcher Salvador Pérez on the previous pitch with his follow-through on his catching hand.
Moments later, José Bautista walked, but then pinch-hitter Justin Smoak popped up into foul territory and ended the inning thereafter with a grounder.
In the bottom of the eighth, 42-year old veteran LaTroy Hawkins took over the pitching for the Blue Jays, but gave up two insurance runs to the Royals.
Hawkins, who made his Major League-debut in 1995, saw the first two batters reach base.
He hit lead-off hitter Alcides Escobar with a pitch, then Ben Zobrist followed with an infield-hit.
With one out, Eric Hosmer drove the ball into rightfield for an RBI-double, then a sacrifice fly Kendrys Morales accounted for the next run to make it 5-0.
Luke Hochevar pithed the ninth inning for the Royals.
He got one baserunner, but kept the shutout intact to secure the first win of the series.
(October 16)
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