KANSAS CITY — Toronto Blue Jays pitcher David Price had a one-hitter going and had a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning of Saturday’s Game 2 of the ALCS, but the Royals came out of the inning with a 5-3 lead on their way to a 6-3 win.
“You knew somewhere over the course of the game we were going to mount some type of challenge there,” said Royals Manager Ned Yost.
The Royals will now head to Toronto with a 2-0 lead in the series.
The lone hit off of Price before the seventh inning was an Alcides Escobar single to lead off the bottom of the first.
Ben Zobrist led off the seventh with a blooper to right, which landed between second baseman Ryan Goins and right fielder Jose Bautista. Both had a chance to make the catch, but neither reached out for it.
It was the start of a five-run inning for Kansas City.
Two batters later, Eric Hosmer singled in Zobrist to put the Royals on the board.
A Kendrys Morales groundout allowed Lorenzo Cain to score and Mike Moustakas drove in Hosmer with a hit to right field to tie the game at 3-3.
After a Salvador Perez strikeout, Alex Gordon put Kansas City up 4-3 with a double. That would be the end of Price’s day after allowing five runs on six hits and striking out eight.
“Price is a tough pitcher and I felt like we needed to catch a break and Zobrist’s ball there got things going,” Gordon said.
Alex Rios then singled in a run to cap off the run for the Royals.
Moustakas added to Kansas City’s lead with a single to right to drive in Cain in the eighth.
Moustakas went 2 for 4 with two RBI.
Luke Hochever relieved starter Yordano Ventura in the sixth after Edwin Encarnacion and Troy Tulowitzki each drove in a run to put Toronto up 3-0.
Hochever got a popout and a groundout to keep the damage limited.
Ventura allowed three runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked three and struck out six.
“I thought he threw the ball great,” Yost said. “We stayed with him in that sixth inning because we felt like his stuff was still good, but he just started battling his command.”
Danny Duffy earned the win by pitching a perfect seventh. Kelvin Herrera only gave up a double in the eighth and Wade Davis closed it out.
Toronto got two on with a single and a walk in the ninth, but Davis got two straight strikeouts and a fly out to right to end the game.
First pitch for Game 3 in Toronto is scheduled for 7:07 p.m. Monday.