A whisper on the wind, and the Jays were done
KANSAS CITY— So Ryan Goins saw a ghost, or heard one, and that’s where it started. Maybe you can blame the ghost. With nearly 40,000 Kansas City fans screaming at him, Goins was chasing a pop-up when he thought he heard a scrap on the wind: I Got It. Except, he didn’t. The ball dropped, and the bottom fell out of the Toronto Blue Jays right after that. If you want to blame Goins, go ahead, because he does.
“I thought late that I heard something,” said Goins after a shocking 6-3 loss to the Kansas City Royals in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. “And it wasn’t . . . ”
He trailed off, sort of. But that wasn’t why the Blue Jays lost. It’s not why this team is in an 0-2 hole. It was a factor, a butterfly flapping its wings, but there were other winds blowing, too. This wasn’t the Texas Rangers making three straight errors. This was a team getting beat.
“One small mistake opened the door for them,” said Toronto right fielder Jose Bautista, tight-lipped and clearly angry. “We’re a great team, we’re playing good baseball, and today was just one of those days where a small mistake can open the door for another team. So we’re not going to overanalyze it.”
It was a screw-up, sure. Bautista said he didn’t hear anybody shout anything, and there was no confusion, and Goins said he couldn’t have heard one voice in the crowd with all that noise, so it’s a mystery.
Except that after Goins screwed up there was a man on first and no outs in a 3-0 game in which Toronto’s starting pitcher, David Price, had been a merciless, vengeful god for six innings. Until he wasn’t.
“I don’t think I struggled,” said Price, who was tagged with his record-tying seventh consecutive post-season loss. “It’s frustrating, but I didn’t struggle.”
Yes, and no. Through six innings Price had allowed three balls to be hit out of the infield and had retired 18 batters in a row. Finally, after so many strangely rough playoff outings, he was himself again. He needed just 66 pitches to get through six innings and you thought, this is why you pay this man his money, or somebody else does. That playoff monkey on his back was getting flung into orbit. David Price wasn’t screwing around.
And then the ghost yelled, but everything after that was earned. A Lorenzo Cain single, opposite field. An Eric Hosmer single, 3-1, no outs. A Hosmer hit-and-run as Kendry Morales grounded out, taking away a potential double play ball, and it was 3-2. Price was still making pitches, but they were getting hit. Mike Moustakas, single, and Bautista’s throw to the plate was wide, 3-3. Alex Gordon, double to the gap, on a two-seam fastball that ran towards the middle, the one pitch Price said he’d have liked to have back. 4-3.
“Their at-bats, they were able to fight tough pitches off and really find a way to scrap away some hits,” said Jays catcher Russell Martin. “There weren’t many well-struck baseballs. They’d seen his cutters and changeup and they just fought them off until they found a pitch they could do something with.”
But Price didn’t put them away the way he had for six one-hit innings. Even Alex Rios managed a single to make it 5-3. Price threw 66 pitches in six innings, and 30 in the seventh. The floor gave way.
“I just gave up hits at the wrong time,” said Price. “I felt good. That’s a pretty scrappy team and they continued to battle, again and again. Good things are going to happen. I know it.”
He needs to say that, maybe. Price isn’t a lousy playoff pitcher, but he has done some lousy pitching in the playoffs. You can say manager John Gibbons left him in too long, but Price’s pitch count was still reasonable and it’s becoming clear that Gibbons doesn’t much trust his bullpen outside of Aaron Sanchez and Roberto Osuna. You can say the Goins error opened the gates, but the Royals got five more legitimate hits after that. Price didn’t blame Goins. Price just got beat.
“It happens,” said Price. “It’s prob- ably going to happen again. You’ve got to be able to move forward and I didn’t do a good job of that.”
Baseball can change so fast and it can change back, and this series is a long way from over. People will blame Price, and Goins, and Gibbons, sure. But beneath all that, this Toronto team has scored three runs in two games, and that allows the little things to become enormous.
Ryan Goins heard a ghost, and Price continues to be haunted by one.