Royals Escape Jaws of Defeat in Extras
After suffering two consecutive three game sweeps, the Royals defeated the Blue Jays, but it wasn’t without a little luck.
Five times the Blue Jays had two runners on and less than two outs, but only scored in two of those situations. The Royals helped themselves by getting double plays in the other three innings, which was enough to keep themselves alive and sneak into extra innings.
The key play came at the end of the fourth inning. Lyle Overbay hit a drive to centerfield with one out and two runners on, Adam Lind on second and Vernon Wells on third. David DeJesus made the catch and threw Lind out at third before Wells scored. Without that play, the game may never make extra innings.
As a team, the Blue Jays went 3-16 with runners in scoring position, struck out seven times and didn’t walk once. With 13 hits and a loss, they looked pretty similar to the home team. Hmm. As a team that relies more on homers and doubles than stringing hits, that’ll happen, despite a Yunel Escobar homer in the third inning.
That’s not to discount the job by Kyle Davies. He got hit, but other than a third inning double by Edwin Encarnacion and and home run by Yunel Escobar, he only gave up singles, and walked nobody. Over seven innings, he only threw 93 pitches, so the Blue Jays were aggressive, but he matched it by throwing strikes.
There weren’t any big bombs for the Royals, as most of their runs came on scratch hits or ground outs. But they took advantage of most opportunities. The tying run was a great example of that, as Scott Podsednik led off the bottom of the tenth with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly. Following a Billy Butler single and Jose Guillen walk, Chris Getz (running for Butler) scored on a single by Alberto Callaspo that snuck through after going off Kevin Gregg‘s glove and into center field.
Stars of the Game
Yuniesky Betancourt, 1-4, 2 RBI
Jason Kendall, 1-4, 2 RBI
Scott Podsednik, 1-5, tripled and scored tying run
David DeJesus, 1-5, but made the big play in the fourth to save a run
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