The highly anticipated NLCS between the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs began on the right foot for the Mets, winning 4-2. The Kansas City Royals took a 2-0 lead in the ALCS after a 6-3, come from behind victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Kansas City Royals beat Toronto Blue Jays 6-3, Take 2-0 series lead
David Price was having himself a great day, taking a huge step towards breaking the perception of him being an awful playoffs pitcher. But then came the 7th inning, and everything fell apart. Price was close to flawless up to that point, but gave up five runs in the 7th, and by the time the flow was slowed down, it was too late. The Blue Jays “wasted” their ammunition early in the game against Yordano Ventura. Facing David Duffy and the rest of the bullpen, they couldn’t get anything.
Ryan Goins started the scoring in the game with an RBI double in the third. In the sixth inning it seemed the Blue Jays were finally distancing themselves away from Kansas City, getting an RBI single from Juan Encarnacion and then a big double from Troy Tulowitzki. But this was a day of wasted opportunities, finishing with just 3-of-16 with runners in scoring positions. At some point, Price had to start throwing bad balls, and the Royals had to start taking advantage of that.
The pressure started in the 7th, and when Eric Hosmer reached the plate, he already had two guys on base. His single started the points coming in the Royals way, and was followed by a Kendrys Morales groundout and RBI, Mike Moustakas with an RBI single, Alex Gordon with a double to score Moustakas, and Alex Rios single to score and another Moustakas RBI in the 8th, this time with Price watching from the dugout.
New York Mets beat Chicago Cubs 4-2, Take 1-0 series lead
Jon Lester had a rough day on the mound while Matt Harvey ended up striking out nine batters in almost eight innings. At the plate, Curtis Granderson with two RBIs, Daniel Murphy with a home run in the first inning and Travis d’Arnaud hitting a home run of his own gave the Mets a lead in the NLCS between two teams that are used to losing, instead of being this close to the World Series.
Lester gave up eight hits in his 6.2 innings and while the bullpen, the Cubs’ excellent bullpen, didn’t allow a single hit after he came off, it didn’t really make a difference. While Jeurys Familia did allow a hit, the Cubs never really got close once Nick Schwarber hit another postseason home run. It did spark some hope in the team, but from that moment it was difficult getting anything through. The Cubs got just five hits the entire games, including Dexter Fowler going o-for-4. The team’s starting pitching isn’t strong enough from top to bottom to survive without run support.