Kansas City Royals: Revisiting the 2015 ALCS Game 4

The fourth, fifth and sixth innings were well-pitched for both teams. Hendriks gave up a single with two outs to Rios in the top of the fourth, but Rios was caught stealing second to end the top. Chris Young had a quick three up, three down fourth, allowing the Royals to stay ahead.

In the fifth, Hendriks answered Young, retiring the three Kansas City Royals he saw. In the bottom of the fifth, Young recorded two outs but allowed a single to Revere. The Royals decided it was time to bring in Luke Hochevar to replace the starter. Hochevar quickly recorded the out and ended the fifth. The sixth went in a similar fashion, with Hendriks and Hochevar both sitting down the three batters they each faced.

In the top of the seventh, Toronto brought in LaTroy Hawkins to replace Liam Hendriks. Hawkins’s struggles started right away. After a walk to Perez, Alex Gordon and Rios answered with singles to center, loading the bases. The Royals brought in the speedy Paulo Orlando to pinch run for Rios. Toronto made a change as well, bringing in Ryan Tepera to replace Hawkings.

Escobar quickly got to Tepera hitting a sacrifice fly, allowing Perez to score and advancing Gordon and Orlando to third and second, respectively. On a wild pitch to Zobrist, Gordon ran in for a score, while Orlando made it safely to third. Zobrist made it to first on a walk and then quickly to third on a single from Cain which saw Orlando make it home to score. Wanting to keep the fire going, Hosmer sent a sacrifice fly to center, allowing Zobrist to make the run home.

Tepera finally stopped the inning, pitching Morales into a flyball out, but the damage had been done and the Royals were up 9-2. Ryan Madson was brought in by the Royals to pitch the bottom of the seventh. He allowed a single from Troy Tulowitzki to start but followed up with two strikeouts and a groundout to close the inning.