Toronto Blue Jays Victorious Against Kansas City Royals At Last, 11-8: ALCS Game 3

The third game of the American League Championship Series was held in Toronto last night. Going into the game, the Toronto Blue Jays trailed the Kansas City Royals 2-0 in the series. Toronto had to win. And they did, according to Yahoo Sports.

Rogers Centre was filled to the rafters with 49,751 fans. There must be something about home field advantages, because the Blue Jays most definitely got a boost last night. Toronto won 11-8 in fast-paced play.

Kansas City scored first in the top of the first, Ben Zobrist hit an RBI ground-out. Then, in the bottom of the second inning, Toronto answered back with three runs in a row. Two RBIs went to Ryan Goins and one to Josh Donaldson. Toronto fans started to get excited.

Kansas City returned fire with a single run in to third inning; an Eric Holders hit, resulting in Ben Zobrist scoring, shoring up the score 2-3.

Then, in the bottom of the third inning, Toronto batters had a field day. Six Blue Jays runs in total.

It was Troy Tulowitzki who broke the Blue Jays farther ahead with a three-run home run. Edwin Encarnacion and Chris Colabello were on base. Fans in the Rogers Center roared with approval as the men rounded the bases.

Pillar followed-up with a blazing RBI double after Russell Martin had walked, putting the Blue Jays ahead 7-2. Fans continued cheering almost continuously through the early innings. Kansas City pitcher Johnny Cueto came close to picking-off at Martin one point, causing Toronto fans to momentarily hush, from otherwise non-stop chanting and cheering.

Johnny Cueto was taken out of the game and replaced with 30-year-old Kris Medlen, a righthander. Fans chanted “Cueto” as the Kansas City pitcher watched the rest of the game from the Royals’ dugout. Pillar remained on second base.

Then, still in the bottom of the third inning, with two Blue Jay outs, Josh Donaldson absolutely drilled a home run to right field. Suddenly, the Blue Jays had a 9-2 lead. The fans quickly forgot about Cueto and starting chanting for Donaldson.

The fourth inning was run-less. Kansas City, however, scored two runs in the top of the fifth, with Alcides Escobar scoring on a wild pitch and Mike Moustakas hitting an RBI single. The Blue Jays had runs in both the bottom of the fifth and the eighth inning. Ryan Goins hit a long home run and Jose Bautista hit an RBI single.

The Kansas City Royals then scored four more times in the top of the ninth inning. Lorenzo Cain hit an RBI sacrifice fly, Eric Hosmer hit an RBI single, and Kendrys Morales hit a 2-run home run. The game ended 11-8.

Toronto short stop Troy Tulowitzki, whose outstanding play helped pull the Blue Jays ahead, got ejected from the game, apparently for arguing balls and strikes with the umpire, John Hirschbeck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKWE-aA8sOs

Toronto’s attendance of close to 49,751 fans was about 25 percent larger than Saturday’s attendance at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City of 40,357, which is beyond it’s stated capacity. The Blue Jays/Royals ALCS series is hot. And it is serious business for all the players.

“I feel like we’ve played better at home and I felt like the entire night we had great at-bats,” Josh Donaldson was quoted about the series by Yahoo Sports. ”Not just good at-bats, great at-bats.”

“We’re just going to keep fighting,” Alex Gordon, the Kansas City outfielder stated. ”We’ve got a lot of competitors on this team and that’s what you see.”

The Royals booked a reported 15 hits, while the Blue Jays managed 11. There were no recorded errors by either team.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQlcXg8CapE

[Feature Photo by Harry How / Getty Images]