ALCS Game One

If you told me two years ago that I’d see the Royals end up on the winning side of a shut-out in the American League Championship Series, I would have looked at you like you had lobsters crawling out of your ears. For that matter, if you told me the same thing two weeks ago I still would have treated you to some serious side eye.

And yet here it was. The Blue Jays got some hits and walks here and there, but they never managed to string enough of them together to come around and score. For our part, doubles were the name of the game. Salvador Perez hit a single shot over the wall in the fourth, but otherwise the strategy was to get runners on and then double them in. It put five runs on the board, which proved to be enough.

It was a well-played game and we finished on top. What more could any fan ask from the playoffs?

BLUE JAYS (0) AT ROYALS (5)

BLUE JAYS            AB  R  H BI  ROYALS               AB  R  H BI
Ben Revere            4  0  0  0  Alcides Escobar       3  2  2  1  
Josh Donaldson        3  0  1  0  Ben Zobrist           4  1  1  0  
Jose Bautista         1  0  0  0  Lorenzo Cain          4  0  1  1  
Edwin Encarnacion     3  0  0  0  Eric Hosmer           4  0  1  1  
 Justin Smoak         1  0  0  0  Kendrys Morales       3  0  1  1  
Chris Colabello       4  0  1  0  Mike Moustakas        4  0  0  0  
Troy Tulowitzki       4  0  0  0  Salvador Perez        3  1  1  1  
Dioner Navarro        4  0  0  0  Alex Gordon           3  1  1  0  
Kevin Pillar          3  0  0  0  Alex Rios             3  0  0  0  
Ryan Goins            3  0  1  0                                    
TOTALS               30  0  3  0  TOTALS               31  5  8  5

BLUE JAYS                     000 000 000 -- 0  
ROYALS                        002 100 02x -- 5  

LOB--BLUE JAYS 9, ROYALS 4. ERR--Josh Donaldson, Mike
Moustakas. 2B--Alex Gordon, Alcides Escobar (2), Eric
Hosmer. HR--Salvador Perez. HBP--Alcides Escobar.
SACF--Kendrys Morales. SACB--Ryan Goins. SB--Lorenzo Cain.

 BLUE JAYS                       IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR
Marco Estrada                  5.33    6    3    3    0    6    1
Aaron Loup                     0.67    0    0    0    0    0    0
Mark Lowe                      1.00    0    0    0    0    1    0
LaTroy Hawkins                 1.00    2    2    2    0    0    0
 ROYALS                     
Edinson Volquez                6.00    2    0    0    4    5    0
Kelvin Herrera                 1.00    0    0    0    0    2    0
Ryan Madson                    1.00    1    0    0    1    0    0
Luke Hochevar                  1.00    0    0    0    0    0    0

SO--Jose Bautista, Dioner Navarro, Troy Tulowitzki (2),
Edwin Encarnacion, Ben Revere, Ryan Goins, Kendrys Morales
(2), Alex Rios (2), Lorenzo Cain, Mike Moustakas (2).
BB--Jose Bautista (3), Josh Donaldson, Kevin Pillar.