ROYALS NOT SWEATING
Kansas City not worried about call, instead focused on winning at home
The Kansas City Royals offered no apologies for being unable to close out the American League Championship Series.
But a borderline pitch in the crucial sixth inning of Wednesday’s eventual 7-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays — that was another story.
It came at the end of a 10-pitch at-bat by Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista, with Toronto holding a mere 1-0 lead.
After five consecutive foul balls, Royals starter Edinson Volquez tried to sneak a curve over the outside corner.
“I saw the pitch. I was like, ‘Come on, man, that ball curved past the plate. That’s supposed to be a strike,’ ” Volquez recalled of home-plate umpire Dan Iassogna calling it ball four.
Afterward, Volquez got quite a surprise from catcher Salvador Perez.
“Salvy after the game came in, and he said the umpire apologized,” Volquez said. “He thought it was a strike.”
Of all the things instant replay can overturn, the home-plate umpire calling balls and strikes isn’t one of them.
“I thought the pitch to Bautista was definitely a strike,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “And I thought we had a chance on him swinging, but we couldn’t get anybody’s attention on it.”
A bases-loaded walk and a three-run double from Troy Tulowitzki later, the Blue Jays were on their way to forcing Game 6 on Friday in Kansas City.
Had the pitch gone the other way, perhaps Toronto still would have gone on to win.
But the Royals were in no mood to dwell on might-have-beens.
“We’re focused on playing good baseball right now,” outfielder Alex Rios said. “I don’t think we’re focused on what the umpires have to say.”
“He’s a human being, too,” Volquez said of Iassogna. “Everybody make a mistake. It’s nothing you can do with it.
“You got to move forward and play another game.”
The Royals still managed to win one of the three games at Rogers Centre, where the Blue Jays tied for the league’s best home record.
“In reality, your goal is to come to Toronto — a foreign environment, a hostile environment — and at least win one,” Yost said.
“Then you go home and win one there and the series is over.”
Yordano Ventura will take the mound in Game 6 against Blue Jays ace David Price.
Yost likes his team’s chances with the 24-year-old right-hand- ed pitcher, who has had an upand-down year but finished the regular season as the Royals’ best starter.
“I think Johnny Cueto coming, Eddie’s influence helped him a lot, being a young pitcher, developing, getting confidence back.”
Ventura allowed three runs in 51⁄3 innings in Game 2 as the Royals mounted a late comeback against Price to win.
But in the playoffs, momentum is fleeting.
Just ask the Blue Jays, who were trounced 14-2 in Game 4 but turned the tables on the Royals in Game 5.
“When you’re playing every day, you’ve got to have a shortterm memory in this game. You have to flush it out,” first baseman Eric Hosmer said. “We’ve got a 3-2 lead, and we’re heading back to Kansas City.
“That’s where we play our best baseball, and everyone is still feeling pretty good about the series.”
To get back to the World Series for a second consecutive season, the Royals will have to get back to the things that made them successful: hitting line drives, playing solid defense and relying on strong pitching.
“To have a good bullpen and the great defense plays a big part in us being very, very successful — not only last year but this year too,” Yost said. “We can stop rallies with defense, our pitchers have confidence knowing that they can pitch to contact because we can make plays defensively.”