TORONTO – The offensive outburst should come as no surprise. Through the first two games of the American League Championship Series, the Toronto Blue Jays put men on base and created innings but repeatedly failed to bring them to fruition. They weren’t so much in a slump at the plate as they were simply in need for some of the lasers they ripped at Kauffman Stadium to just find some green. An onslaught felt inevitable, despite what the results on the field suggested.
And so the deluge came Monday night, the Blue Jays finding green early, and touching it often as they pummelled Johnny Cueto like a pack of snarling caveman on the hunt. Along the way Ryan Goins gained some redemption, Troy Tulowitzki continued his resurgence and Josh Donaldson just MVP’d along in an 11-8 Game 3 victory over the Kansas City Royals that pulled the AL East champions back into the best-of-seven.
If the Blue Jays are going to prevail, this is how they’re going to win.
“The entire night we had great at-bats, not just good at-bats,” said Donaldson, adding later: “We have a lot of confidence in the team that we have here, with the ability that we have here. Our lineup, we feel like, is second to none. And we feel like, sooner or later, if we catch some breaks here or there, we’re going to score some runs.”
Scoring lots of runs again in Game 4 will be helpful, as R.A. Dickey starts with a chance to even things up against Chris Young.
The Blue Jays could certainly use a long outing from their knuckleballer since judging by his bullpen usage, manager John Gibbons seems confident in just three relievers right now – Mark Lowe, Aaron Sanchez and Roberto Osuna, who was called upon to get the final two outs in the ninth.
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Led by Sanchez’s seven games, the trio has combined for 17 appearances this post-season.
“This is what it’s all about,” said Sanchez.
Adding a twist to Monday’s proceedings was Tulowitzki’s unusual ejection during the changeover leading into the eighth inning, for complaining about a bad strike three he took in the seventh. Later, home plate umpire John Hirschbeck bent over and chirped Russell Martin between batters in the eighth.
Never a dull moment.
“It was obvious I didn’t agree with the called third strike and there were other pitches that were questionable,” said Tulowitzki. “I’m walking out to the field and he’s looking at me. And I told him that wasn’t a strike. And it was a quick trigger. Obviously he was either holding on to something or something was going on. But I didn’t think what I did was going to eject me out of the game. …
“It will be interesting to see what he has to say. Obviously he’s been an umpire for a long time. He’s a good one at that. And so I am surprised.”
Less of a surprise is how a rabid Rogers Centre audience of 49,751 taunted Cueto mercilessly as the runs kept piling on, an outburst that came in handy with Marcus Stroman not at his best, trudging through 6.1 boggy innings that might have otherwise sunk him.
Stroman allowed at least a hit in all but one of his innings, 11 in all, but held the damage at four runs. Critically, once the Blue Jays gave him a lead, he didn’t give it back.
“It was a battle all day, it was tough, I definitely didn’t have my best command,” said Stroman. “I felt like I was getting into advantage counts and my off-speed, I wasn’t able to put them away, I was leaving some off-speed up in the zone.
“But it’s the playoffs, you have to do everything in your power to limit the teams, put your team in a position to win. And I felt like I was able to do that, luckily.”
The Blue Jays jumped on Cueto for a three-spot in the second, with Kevin Pillar – who made a spectacular running grab against the wall in centre in the first – beating out a double play to keep the inning alive and leave men on the corners with two outs.
Wisely he took second when the Royals ignored him and that proved costly when Goins, whose misplay on Ben Zobrist’s pop fly opened the door to a five-run seventh that handed the Royals Game 2, grinded through a tremendous nine-pitch at-bat to line a two-run single to left for a 2-1 Blue Jays lead.
After a Ben Revere walk, Donaldson ripped an RBI single that made it 3-1.
“There’s no need to put any extra pressure on yourself,” Goins said of trying to gain some redemption. “Just come out and do what I’ve been doing all season, whatever I can do to help this team win is what I’m going to do.”
While Goins played things cool, his teammates were thrilled for him.
“I couldn’t be happier after that game, even though I didn’t think (the misplay) was a big deal,” said Tulowitzki. “I think everybody in that locker-room had his back. But tonight for him to be putting together the at-bats he did, play the great defence, he deserved it, because he didn’t put his head down. He focused on the next game and that’s what you do.”
Added Stroman: “That was huge, seeing how he bounced back from all that scrutiny that was going on the last game. To see him go out and get us started, get a homer and make the unbelievable plays that he does day-in and day-out, that he makes look easy, it’s special just to have him back there behind me, and to know that he rebounded like that.”
Stroman gave a run back in the top of the third on Eric Hosmer’s fielder’s choice, but the Blue Jays exploded for a sixth spot in the bottom half that essentially settled things. Edwin Encarnacion led off with a single and Chris Colabello walked before Tulowitzki belted a three-run homer, giving him four hits in the past two games. After Martin walked and Pillar doubled him in, Royals manager Ned Yost came to get Cueto, who smirked and nodded at the crowd as they jeered him off the field.
A “We want Cue-to” chant started afterwards, even though the Blue Jays had already had him. Kris Medlen took over and Donaldson proceeded to cannon a 2-1 curveball into the second deck for a 9-2 edge, making the dome rock.
“That’s the style of offence that we play,” said Donaldson. “That’s what we want to do. It doesn’t always happen, because the pitchers are out there, they’re making their money, too. We’ve leaned on the long ball this year. We can score runs in different ways, but the ability to hit the long ball is definitely something that we count on, and we were able to do that a (three) times tonight.”
The Royals tried to climb back into things in the fifth, plating a pair on a wild pitch and a Mike Moustakas RBI single. Gibbons had Lowe warming in the bullpen by that point, but Stroman recovered to get Salvador Perez on a fielder’s choice to end the frame.
Goins responded with a solo shot in the bottom half to put the Blue Jays back up 10-4 and Jose Bautista added an RBI single in the eighth to make it 11-4.
Liam Hendriks surrendered an infield single, a double under Justin Smoak’s glove at first, a Lorenzo Cain rocket to right that went for a sacrifice fly and a Hosmer RBI single. Gibbons then went to closer Roberto Osuna, something you shouldn’t need to do.
He surrendered a two-run homer to Kendrys Morales before shutting the door, every bit of the onslaught coming in handy.
“It’s a playoff game that you need to win, and things were starting to roll the other way,” Gibbons said of going to Osuna. “Ideally he doesn’t get into that game, but it’s not an ideal world. You’re feeling good, but you’re not. Things are starting to happen. Normal game, regular-season game, he’s not in there yet. Didn’t want to use him, had to use him.”
The Blue Jays had to do a lot of things to win Game 3, and now they’ve got a foothold in the series. But the late Royals rally underlined the challenge that awaits, and the need for more offensive onslaughts in the games to come.