Edinson Volquez pitched six shutout innings for a Game one ALCS win (photo/MLB)
The night belong to Edinson Volquez and there was nothing the Toronto Blue Jays were going to do about it. Hitting in the high 90’s on the radar gun, painting the corners and working up in the zone all night, left the visitors frustrated as they managed just two hits on the night against Volquez and three for the game.
The Royals grab game one of the ALCS with a 5-0 win. Game two is Saturday afternoon.
Alcides Escobar hit two doubles in his first two at-bats. The second drove in Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain followed with a single that scored Esky with a single off Marco Estrada for a 2-0 lead in the third. Salvador Perez followed with homer to left field that just cleared the wall in the fourth and Eric Hosmer and Kendrys Morales tacked on two more off LaTroy Hawkins to put the game away.
Volquez started that game on August 2nd when tempers flared between the two teams. In that matchup, he challenged hitters inside, which led to stare downs and protests by the Toronto hitters. Volquez says Perez approached him before this game about doing something a little different against a team that likes to pull.
‘How you feel pitching down and away?’ And I said, ‘I feel sexy tonight,'” Volquez said after the game.
What also helped was that Volquez didn’t fall behind in the count much. He started 15 of the 24 batters he faced with a strike and eight of the Toronto hitters either fell behind 0-2 or hit the second pitch for an out.
Kelvin Herrera threw nine pitches, all strikes for an easy seventh. Ryan Madson gave up one hit in the eighth and Wade Davis, with the extra runs got the night off, as Luke Hochevar pitched the ninth.
Ned Yost on Volquez (VIDEO/MLB)