Royals table-setters, top hitters besting Blue Jays counterparts
Leadoff man Escobar hitting .600 with 5 RBIs
The Kevin Pillar highlight-reel catches have been fun to watch. So, too, was the six sterling innings spun by Cy Young Award candidate David Price on Saturday and the Troy Tulowitzki and Josh Donaldson home runs on Monday. But …
The Blue Jays are one loss from playoff elimination and one only needs to look at the production from the top of the Toronto and Kansas City lineups to understand one of the many reasons the Royals hold a three games to one lead in the American League Championship Series.
Slap-hitting shortstop Alcides Escobar has been the most productive hitter by far in the series, posting a sizzling .600 batting average.
Here's a breakdown of his series:
- Game 1: 2-for-3, (two doubles) two runs, one run batted in.
- Game 2: 1-for-4
- Game 3: 4-for-5 (three singles, triple), 3 runs scored
- Game 4: 2-for-3 (two singles), run, 4 RBIs
.<a href="https://twitter.com/alcidesescobar2">@alcidesescobar2</a> is 2nd SS in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/postseason?src=hash">#postseason</a> history to have a line with at least 4 hits and 3 runs scored. <a href="https://t.co/AExR4mafpr">pic.twitter.com/AExR4mafpr</a>
—@MLBStatoftheDayIn Tuesday's 14-2 drubbing, Escobar's bunt single to start the game led to the first of four runs against Blue Jays knuckleballer R.A. Dickey in the first inning as the Royals never let Toronto back in the game.
From Elias: Alcides Escobar is first player to hit safely to lead off 1st inning in 4 straight games in a postseason series.
—@jcrasnickIt's hard to imagine Escobar, who has had success swinging at the first ball thrown by several Blue Jays pitchers, entered the game with a career .298 on-base percentage.
Kansas City is 48 games above. 500 when Escobar is their leadoff hitter, a stretch that includes 17 victories in 23 playoff contests.
With Escobar slumping in early September, Royals manager Ned Yost actually removed him from the leadoff spot and used second baseman Ben Zobrist and left-fielder Alex Gordon as his table-setters but the team went 8-13, so Escobar was back atop the batting order with one week left in the regular season.
Zobrist, the No. 2 hitter, is 7-for-18 (.389) in the ALCS with seven runs scored after hitting .276 in a regular season split with the Oakland Athletics and Royals, who acquired the veteran in a July 28 trade. He hit a two-run homer in Tuesday's first inning.
Formidable duo
Lorenzo Cain and Eric Hosmer are hitting .357 and .313 for the 3-4 spots. They each have at least one hit in each game of the ALCS, with Cain adding two stolen bases.
For the Blue Jays, leadoff man Ben Revere was 2-for-3 with a run and walk in Tuesday's one-side loss but that effort only raised his series average to .188. In Games 1-3, he was 1-for-13 with three strikeouts, a far cry from the .319 mark and .354 on-base percentage he posted in 56 games with Toronto following a July 31 trade from Philadelphia.
Josh Donaldson, who hits behind Revere, tried to ignite the Blue Jays offence with a double and stolen base Tuesday but to no avail. He is hitting .333 in the series with a home run and four RBIs.
You know who's been bad in this series? Jose Bautista.
—@jessespectorCleanup hitter Jose Bautista, a hero with his winning three-run blast in Game 5 of the ALDS against Texas, has been a disappointment at the plate in the ALCS with just two singles in 12 at-bats (.167). He's walked six times against five strikeouts but has only scored twice in the four games.