(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
  Strong Toronto forces 6th game against Kansas City!
Nederlands
 TORONTO, Ontario (Canada) -
The Toronto Blue Jays won 7-1 on Wednesday (October 21) against the Kansas City Royals in Game 5 of the best-of-seven American Leagye Championship Series to force a sixth game.
The BlueJays got strong pitching from Marco Estrada and had a 4-run rally in the sixth.
With the win, Toronto narrowed Kansas City's lead to 3-2.
In 1985, the Royals and Blue Jays also faced each other in the ALCS.
In that series, the Blue Jays were leading 3-1, then lost the series 4-3.
The Royals went on to win the World Series.
Game Six will be played on Friday in Kansas City.
Later tonight, the best-of-seven National League Championship Series continues in Chicago.
There, the Chicago Cubs host the New York Mets, who are leading the series, 3-0 and are one win away from the World Series.
Starting pitchers today were righthander Marco Estrada for the Blue Jays and righthander Edinson Vólquez for the Royals.
32-year old Mexican Marco Estrada was 13-8 this season with a 3.13 ERA and 131 strikeouts in 181 innings pitched.
Estrada was the winning pitcher in Game 3 of the ALDS vs. the Texas Rangers, but then was the losing pitcher in Game 1 of the current series against the Royals.
In his career, Estrada has started three games vs. Kansas City, including the one in the ALCS.
In those starts, he was 1-2.
32-year old Dominican Edinson Vólquez was 13-9 this season with a 3.55 ERA with 155 strikeouts in 200 1/3 inning.
In his career, he is 0-4 against the Blue Jays in the regular season.
But he was the winner against Toronto in the opener of this series, when he also started, as did Estrada.
In the first inning, Royals lead-off hitter Alcides Escobar grounded out.
On Tuesday, Escobar led off the game with a bunt-single, making him the first player in history to lead off four consecutive postseason-games with a basehit.
He led off Game 1 with a double, followed with a single in the next game, then hit a triple in the third match-up.
Marco Estrada and Edinson Vólquez both retired the side in the first inning.
Estrada also got three outs in a row in the top of the second inning, then was supported with a run in Toronto's home half.
With one out, Chris Colabello homered off of Vólquez to put the Blue Jays ahead, 1-0.
...Chris Colabello gave Toronto an early lead...
...with his homerun in the 2nd inning...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the next innings, both pitchers were in control.
Estrada retired the first nine batters in a row, then gave up a lead-off single to Alcides Escobar in the top of the fourth inning.
But hereafter, the Blue Jays turned a double play.
In the bottom of the fourth, Vólquez gave up a lead-off single to José Bautista, but he was forced out.
Hereafter, it was the Royals-defense that turned a double play to end the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Blue Jays took more distance.
Vólquez began with a walk for lead-off hitter Ben Revere, then hit next batter Josh Donaldson with a pitch.
The bases got loaded when José Bautista also walked on a close call check-swing.
Vólquez then also walked Edwin Encarnacion, resulting in a run, a 2-0 deficit and a pitching change.
Kelvin Herrera took over and struckout Chris Colabello, but then gave up a baseclearing, 3-run double double to Troy Tulowitzki that lifted the lead to 5-0.
Hereafter, Herrera struckout the next two batters to end the inning.
When the top of the seventh inning began, Marco Estrada had only faced the minimum of batters (18) and had allowed only one basehit.
That was back in the fourth inning when Escobar led off with a single, but then was eliminated in a double play.
In the seventh, Estrada retired the first two batters, then walked Lorenzo Cain, who became only the second baserunner for Kansas City.
But he then was left behind and his 13-game hitting streak ended today.
Toronto added another run in the bottom of the seventh when Josh Donaldson and José Bautista hit back-to-back doubles with two outs off of new pitcher Danny Duffy.
In the top of the eighth inning, Estrada again got two quick outs.
But he then lost his shutout when Salvador Pérez homered, which was only the second basehit for the Royals.
When next batter Alex Gordon followed with a single, it was a signal for Toronto's Manager John Gibbons to replace Estrada, who had pitched outstanding.
Aaron Sanchez took over, but was greeted with a single by Álex Ríos, but he stranded.
In the bottom of the eighth, Toronto lifted the lead to 7-1.
With one out, Troy Tulowitzki singled, then scored all the way from first base on a 2-out double by Kevin Pillar.
The latter tried to stretch his drive into a triple, but was eliminated in a close play at third base.
When Pillar was eliminated, Tulowitzki had just scored moments earlier, so the run was valid.
A challenge followed for the call at third base, but that was upheld.
In the top of the ninth, closer Roberto Osuna pitched for Toronto and retired the side to end the game.
(October 21)
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