Royals reliever earns biggest save yet

Royals relief pitcher Blaine Boyer is not a hero.

Or so he declared Tuesday afternoon at the Rogers Centre, some 36 hours after he took the wheel of the Royals’ chartered bus on a highway in Toronto and successfully steered the team to safety after a large sheet of ice cracked the bus windshield and shards of glass hit the driver.

“I’m fine — we’re fine,” he said. “I’m not a hero. It’s crazy!”

An apropos word to describe the Royals’ last two days. After extreme cold forced the Royals to postpone Sunday’s series finale at Kauffman Stadium, the team’s plane to Toronto was delayed for three hours as a spring storm halted travel in the Upper Midwest. The Royals landed at Pearson International Airport around 11 p.m. and a convoy of two buses departed for the team hotel within 45 minutes.

But part of the way through what should have been an uneventful trip into the Yorkville neighborhood, a sheet of ice slipped off the roof of the lead bus, carrying staff members, and smacked into the windshield of the bus that was carrying players.

The sound was so loud players panicked and hit the floorboards to shield themselves. Then Boyer glanced up from his spot near the front of the bus, where he usually sits, and saw driver Fred Folkerts covered in blood. Boyer sprung to action, checked on the driver and took the wheel from him, navigating the bus a short distance to the side of the road.

Cubs: Activated first baseman Anthony Rizzo from the 10-day disabled list. Rizzo had been sidelined by lower back tightness. He got the start for Tuesday’s series opener against St. Louis.

Yankees: Reliever Tommy Kahnle was placed on the 10-day disabled list with right shoulder tendinitis. Kahnle is 1-0 with a 6.14 ERA in six appearances.

Marlins: Catcher J.T. Realmuto was activated from the disabled list to make his season debut against the Yankees. He had been sidelined by a bruised back since March 11.