KANSAS CITY – The Kansas City Royals may have defeated David Price, but they certainly didn’t enjoy facing him.
“The guy’s still nasty,” Eric Hosmer said. “It was definitely rough,” Lorenzo Cain added. “Really good today,” Ben Zobrist agreed. “Every bit as good as I’ve seen him.”
And yet it was Hosmer, Cain and Zobrist who singled off of Price to spark a five-run seventh inning that allowed the Royals to beat Price’s Toronto Blue Jays and take a 2-0 lead in the ALCS. Price looked dominant for six innings, retiring 18 consecutive batters at one point. Then he became hittable, allowing five Royals to score in the seventh inning. It adds up to a perplexing start.
“I don’t even know how to explain that, honestly,” Hosmer said.
This kind of outing defies explanation — or at least an easy one. Price said the Zobrist pop up that dropped near Ryan Goins didn’t rattle him. It’s not the first time he’s had fielders miss opportunities behind him. He actually felt his pitches were sharp during the Royals’ seventh inning rally.
“I don’t think I struggled. It’s frustrating, but I didn’t struggle,” he said.
The Royals had a similar assessment. There’s no doubt Price was on early — “just dominant,” in Zobrist’s view — but the left-hander kept making pitches during the rally.
“The pitches he was throwing were still as effective as they were earlier in the game,” Hosmer said. Across the hall in the Blue Jays’ clubhouse, Russell Martin offered a similar assessment. “The ball was still coming out the same,” he said. “They fouled off some good pitches.”
To state the obvious, there’s no reason to believe that a few rough October outings prove Price has lost his effectiveness.
“He’s still one of the top Cy Young candidates in the League, like he is every year,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. “He’s got dynamite stuff and he’s a great competitor.”
It’s even more dangerous to read much into a single inning, even when that inning changes the complexion of a pivotal game. “As a scout I would read almost nothing into David’s seventh inning,” one MLB talent evaluator said. Even so, as a second scout said, Price will have a huge impact on the ALCS. “That’s the guy they need if they’re going to win this series.”
For six innings it looked as though the Blue Jays would even the series. Price generated 12 swings and misses, struck out eight Royals and attacked the strike zone, taking advantage of the Royals’ aggressiveness.
“You really can’t pitch a better game to that point, anyway. He did a hell of a job,” manager John Gibbons said. “He didn’t break a sweat before that seventh inning.”
Even in the seventh inning, players on both sides say Price continued throwing well. The missed opportunity by Goins cost the Blue Jays and the Royals believe Hosmer’s aggressive baserunning made a difference, but that still only explains so much. So how did Kansas City end up scoring five runs off a pitcher who will place first or second in Cy Young voting?
Maybe the Royals deserve some credit.
“People are going to want to look at that bloop single, but we got four hits with runners in scoring position,” Jonny Gomes said. “It’s pretty much cliche to say there’s no quit in this team, so I like to call this team good.”
“It doesn’t matter who’s on the mound, it doesn’t matter what the situation is, we always feel like we have a chance,” Hosmer added.
The Royals don’t bludgeon the opposition the way the Blue Jays often do, but they have a balanced lineup that ranked seventh in MLB in runs scored. They have enough doubles power and contact ability to score against good pitching.
Really though, there’s no satisfying explanation for Price’s outing, only a missed opportunity for a team that now faces a 2-0 deficit against the defending AL champions.
