New York Mets, Kansas City Royals now one game away from reaching World Series.
Royals go up 3-1 in effort to make 2nd straight Series
TORONTO — An early flurry and a late barrage delivered the Royals to the doorstep of their second World Series berth in a row.
The Royals whipped the Blue Jays 14-2 on Tuesday in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series and now own a 3-1 lead.
In his first playoff start in nine years, Chris Young limited the Jays to two runs on three hits. He left with two outs in the fifth to prevent Josh Donaldson from receiving a third crack at him.
Ben Zobrist and Alex Rios homered off knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, who could not complete the second inning. The Royals unleashed a four-run fusillade in the seventh against the flammable relief duo of LaTroy Hawkins and Ryan Tepera, then hounded Tepera for three more runs in the eighth.
Edinson Volquez has a chance to win the series when he starts Game 5 on Wednesday in a rematch against Game 1 counterpart Marco Estrada.
A day after Johnny Cueto self-immolated on the mound, the Royals benefited from an implosion by Dickey. He exited after recording only five outs and allowed five runs.
Trailing 5-0, the Blue Jays returned fire in the third. Donaldson smoked an RBI double, and Jose Bautista drove in a run on a groundout.
After Dickey left the game, former Royal Liam Hendriks stymied his opponents for 41⁄3 scoreless innings. But the spell broke as soon as Hawkins entered in the seventh. He, Tepera and Mark Lowe combined to surrender nine runs in
2 ⁄3 innings. It got so out of hand that the Blue Jays brought in backup infielder Cliff Pennington to pitch in the ninth. He gave up two singles before retiring Zobrist for the final out.
Lorenzo Cain went 2for-3 with three RBIs and extended his postseason hitting streak to 13 games.
Alcides Escobar got a hit leading off for the fourth straight game, starting this one with a bunt down the third-base line. He finished with four RBIs.