At home, Blue Jays try to regain comfort zone
With Royals up 2-0, Toronto seeking boost in offense.
Hip-hop music blared over the loudspeakers in an eerily empty, moodily lit Rogers Centre as Jose Bautista and the Toronto Blue Jays went through an easy workout on an off-day in the American League Championship Series.
With their backs against the wall again, there’s no place they’d rather be.
“We’re down 2-0 right now, we’ve got three games at home. These guys here, they’re comfortable and we’ve definitely got the crowd behind us,” outfielder Ben Revere said Sunday. “We definitely feel much more comfortable being back at home.”
After Kansas City took the first two games at home, Game 3 is in Toronto tonight. The Blue Jays’ Marcus Stroman faces Johnny Cueto in a matchup of Division Series Game 5 starters.
“This series is not over, not even close,” Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain said after testing the bounce of the turf and the glare of the light in the closed-roofed stadium.
In the chilly air of Kansas City, the Blue Jays scored just three runs and had zero home runs.
Now, they are more than ready to play in front of another raucous crowd that has filled their ballpark — and got rowdy in the deciding Game 5 against Texas. So much so, security should be beefed up for the ALCS.
No more deep alleys of Kauffman Stadium where their drives died. No more unfriendly fans who played tricks with Ryan Goins on the fly ball that changed the tenor of Game 2, setting off a fiverun rally that led to a 6-3 win for the Royals.
“Kansas City’s park is really big,” Revere said. “Some of the balls we were hitting there, they were going nowhere. Now we’re back home, some of those balls that were crushed are going to go over the heads or go in the gaps more.”
Of course, the Blue Jays will have to figure out a way to beat Cueto and his multitude of pitches. The trade-deadline acquisition from Cincinnati has found his dominant form after struggling in late summer. He gave up two runs in eight innings against Houston in Game 5 of the Division Series.
“He’s just a guy that is constantly trying to change your timing at the plate, whether it’s with his quick pitch or his shimmy on the mound, and he’s got six pitches,” Jays center fielder Kevin Pillar said. “But ultimately you’ve got to throw the ball over the plate … .”
Cueto has had success against Blue Jays players. He has allowed two homers in 88 career plate appearances, with Troy Tulowitzki (with Colorado) and Edwin Encarnacion going deep.