Back home, Blue Jays break out to beat Royals 11-8 in Game 3
TORONTO – Troy Tulowitzki, Josh Donaldson and the slugging Toronto Blue Jays were eager to return to their homer dome after dropping the first two games of the A.L. Championship Series in Kansas City.
They showed everyone why.
The Blue Jays came out swinging and their rowdy fans were singing from the start, with Tulowitzki and Donaldson connecting in a six-run third inning as Toronto roughed up Johnny Cueto and the Royals for an 11-8 victory that cut Kansas City’s series lead to 2-1.
Veteran knuckleballer R.A. Dickey will try to get the Blue Jays even in the best-of-7 series Tuesday afternoon. He faces Kansas City’s 6-foot-10 right-hander Chris Young in Game 4.
Ryan Goins also homered and had a two-run single a game after his misplayed pop fly set off Kansas City’s winning rally Sunday.
The resilient Royals tried to come back this time, too, scoring four runs in the ninth before Roberto Osuna closed it out.
Even with a big lead, Tulowitzki lost his cool. He was given a rare playoff ejection for arguing balls and strikes before the top of the eighth.
Tulowitzki, who struck out looking in the seventh, was restrained by teammates as he argued with plate umpire John Hirschbeck when the Blue Jays took the field for the eighth. Manager John Gibbons and bench coach DeMarlo Hale also came out to break it up.
Despite being outhit 15-11 by the pesky Royals, Toronto pounced on Kansas City’s pitching in the first ALCS game in Toronto since 1993 for their most runs ever at home in the postseason – after scoring just three in two games in Kansas City.
The Blue Jays needed them, too. Kansas City scored four times off starter Marcus Stroman and then added four in the ninth, capped by Kendrys Morales’ two-run homer off Osuna.
Seemingly not distracted by the contentious federal elections that were being held in Canada on Monday, 49,751 fans serenaded Cueto with a sing-song “Cueto-Cueto!” chant from the game’s first pitch and never quieted down.
The Royals took a quick lead when Alcides Escobar led off the game with a sinking liner that went under right fielder Jose Bautista’s glove for a triple off Stroman. Ben Zobrist drove in Escobar with a grounder, but that was the only advantage Kanas City would hold in having its nine-game ALCS winning streak snapped. The string dated to the 1985 series against Toronto.
Blue Jays center fielder Kevin Pillar quashed that rally with a fantastic, over-the-shoulder catch that sent him crashing into the wall.
After an easy first, Cueto appeared flustered by the crowd. Eleven of his remaining 13 batters reached and at one point in the third inning he threw his hands up in frustration after gesturing for a new cycle of signs from catcher Salvador Perez.
Goins singled in two runs in the second after Tulowitzki singled with one out and Russell Martin was hit by a pitch that knocked off his left elbow guard. Goins pulled into second on the throw home and shouted and pumped his arms.
David Price, the losing pitcher in Game 2, led the cheering from the top step of the dugout.
When Goins scored on Donaldson’s hit, he was greeted first by the enthusiastic Stroman.
Entering in a 4-for-29 postseason slump, Tulowitzki connected for the Blue Jays’ first ALCS homer after Edwin Encarnacion singled and Chris Colabello walked to start the third.
Cueto was coming off a dominant eight-inning performance in Game 5 of the ALDS, retiring his last 19 batters. But after giving up Pillar’s RBI double in the third, he was done.
The dreadlocked Dominican gave up six hits and eight runs in two-plus innings. He walked four and hit a batter with a pitch. As fans sang Cueto off the field, he smiled and tossed his gum near the Royals dugout.
Donaldson connected two batters after Kris Medlen entered for a 9-2 lead, and Goins homered off Medlen in the fifth as Toronto matched its postseason best with three homers in a game. The Blue Jays also hit three against Texas in Game 4 of the ALDS.
Stroman gave up two runs in the fifth on a wild pitch and an RBI single in an uncharacteristic performance for the 24-year-old who returned from a torn knee ligament in March to go 4-0 down the stretch and get the win in Game 5 of the ALDS. He allowed four runs and 11 hits.
But many Blue Jays fans were confident enough with a 10-4 lead to sing “Happy Birthday” to Bautista when he came to bat in the sixth. Bautista drove in a run in the eighth.
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The bookish Young, a Princeton grad, and Dickey, who has talked about his desire to be a teacher, were twice teammates, with Texas (2003-04) and the Mets (2011-12). Young hasn’t started since Oct. 2, but pitched in relief in Game 1 of the Division Series. Dickey was lifted with two outs in the fifth against Texas in the Division Series with Toronto leading by six runs.