|
| New York Mets' Daniel Murphy rounds first after hitting a home run during the eighth inning of Game 4 of the National League baseball championship series against the Chicago Cubs Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015, in Chicago. |
The latest on the
League Championship Series. The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Royals 7-1,
sending the ALCS back to Kansas City for Game 6. The Mets can wrap up
the NL's spot in the World Series with a win over the Cubs in Game 4,
which started at 8:07 p.m. Here's a look at what's happening (all times
EDT):
11:04 p.m.
Daniel Murphy is in rare territory.
The
New York Mets slugger set a postseason record Wednesday by hitting a
home run for a sixth consecutive game. He connected off Fernando Rodney
with a two-run shot in the eighth inning to give the Mets an 8-1 lead in
an NLCS they led 3-0 coming into the game.
On Tuesday night, Murphy had tied the homer streak mark set by Carlos Beltran in 2004.
---
11 p.m.
"Meet the Mets. Step right up and greet the Mets!"
As team songs go, it's not very catchy.
But
with New York on their way to the National League pennant, you're
almost certainly going to be hearing an awful lot of it around this time
next week. Especially if the Mets, one of the best teams on the road in
the majors this season, stay sizzling hot.
Because
of an American League win in the All-Star game, whichever team emerges
between AL contenders Toronto and Kansas City will be hosting the first
two World Series contests. With a win in Chicago, the Mets would improve
to 4-1 on the road this postseason.
---
9:46
The Cubs finally got a hit off Steven Matz.
Anthony
Rizzo cracked the left-hander's spell with a line-drive single to left
in the bottom of the fourth to load the bases with Chicago trailing 6-0
and no one out. But the rally fizzled fast.
Kyle
Schwarber delivered an RBI groundout sandwiched between Starlin
Castro's line-out to third and Javier Baez's foul popout behind third
base. Matz made his nifty escape having surrendered just the lone run.
---
9:25 p.m.
Mets center fielder Yoenis Cespedes was pulled in the second inning of Game 4 of the NLCS due to left shoulder soreness.
Cespedes
walked and scored on Lucas Duda's three-run homer in the first. He
struck out looking in the second and was replaced by Juan Lagares before
the bottom half of the inning.
The Mets were leading the Cubs 6-0 in the top of the fourth inning.
---
8:34 p.m.
If the past is prologue, the Cubs may want to get a head start at cleaning out their lockers.
First-inning
jitters - and the Mets' home-run hitters taking advantage of them to
build a lead - have gone a long way toward explaining why Chicago is
down 3-0 in games. In what has become a disturbing pattern, back-to-back
homers by Lucas Duda and Travis d'Arnaud off Cubs starter Jason Hammel
put New York ahead 4-0 in the top half of the first.
If
Cubs manager Joe Maddon has any tricks left up his sleeve, this might
be a good time to start using them. His team went down quietly in the
bottom half of the opening frame and Hammel was pulled for Travis Wood
after walking the first batter he saw in the second inning. He was booed
throughout his walk to the dugout by Cubs fans staring at a National
League pennant drought that dates to 1945.
---
7:33 p.m.
From
one T.C. to another: Mets coach Terry Collins has been getting
encouragement from a New York coach who knows a thing or two about
winning.
The Giants' Tom Coughlin has texted him several times during this run.
"I'm
extremely impressed he would take the time," Collins said. "He's got a
lot going on his plate right now to take the time. But he called me when
we won the division, congratulating me."
He
has had a tough time reaching him because it's "like getting through to
the president when you call the Giants." But Collins did leave a
message.
The two don't know each other. But they have some things in common, besides their initials.
Both have endured criticism. And if the Mets win the World Series, both will have led New York teams to championships.
---
7:26 p.m.
Veteran David Ross is starting at catcher for the Cubs.
Manager
Joe Maddon said he decided to go with the right-handed hitting Ross
over Miguel Montero with lefty Steven Matz starting for the Mets. He
would also catch Jon Lester as he usually does in Game 5 Thursday if the
Cubs extend the series.
Ross is hitless in
three at-bats over two playoff games after batting .176 during the
regular season. Montero is 2 for 20 in the postseason.
---
7:17 p.m.
Marco
Estrada pitched one-hit ball into the eighth inning, giving Toronto's
tattered bullpen a rest and leading the Blue Jays over the Kansas City
Royals 7-1 Wednesday to close to 3-2 in the American League Championship
Series.
Toronto forced the series back to
Kansas City, where Yordano Ventura will start for the defending AL
champions on Friday against David Price in Game 6.
---
6:50 p.m.
Right-hander Marco Estrada left with a 6-1 lead after giving up back-to-back two-out hits in the eighth inning.
Royals
catcher Salvador Perez homered into the right-field bullpen for Kansas
City's first run of the game and Alex Gordon followed with a single.
Estrada got a huge cheer and a standing ovation from the crowd of 49,325 as he was replaced by right-hander Aaron Sanchez.
With the Blue Jays facing elimination, Estrada allowed one run and three hits, struck out five and walked one.
Estrada
retired his first nine batters before Alcides Escobar singled to begin
the fourth. Ben Zobrist followed by grounding into a double play.
The Royals didn't have another runner until Lorenzo Cain's two-out walk in the seventh.
---
6:18 p.m.
Troy
Tulowitzki gave the Blue Jays a 5-0 lead with a three-run double off
Kansas City's Kelvin Herrera, the only hit in Toronto's four-run sixth
inning.
Edinson Volquez walked Ben Revere
starting the inning, then hit Josh Donaldson with a pitch. Jose Bautista
ended a 10-pitch at bat by laying off a close 3-2 pitch that had the
Royals bench upset at plate umpire Dan Iassogna's call. Edwin
Encarnacion followed with a bases-loaded walk, bringing Herrera on in
relief.
After Chris Colabello struck out on three pitches, Tulowitzki lined the first pitch on one hop off the wall in left-center.
Blue Jays right-hander Marco Estrada has allowed just one hit through his first six innings.
5:32 p.m.
Marco
Estrada and Edinson Volquez are locked in quite a duel in Game 5 of the
ALCS. Estrada has allowed one hit and faced the minimum through five
innings. Volquez made one mistake and Chris Colabello sent it over the
left-field wall for a 1-0 lead. The Game 1 winner, Volquez has allowed
just three hits.
---
5:05 p.m.
Alcides
Escobar, who else?, had the first hit off Blue Jays starter Marco
Estrada, a groundball single past a diving shortstop Troy Tulowitzki
leading off the fourth inning. Estrada then got Ben Zobrist to ground
into a double play. Lorenzo Cain popped out to second to end the inning.
Escobar entered Game 5 batting .600 in the series.
---
4:55 p.m.
Blue
Jays starter Marco Estrada is perfect one time through the Royals'
lineup, retiring all nine batters.
Kansas City's Edinson Volquez has
made only one mistake, and Chris Colabello hit it for a home run in the
second. 1-0 Blue Jays in Game 5.
4:45 p.m.
Royals
first baseman Eric Hosmer made a fine over-the-shoulder catch in
shallow right field to retire Edwin Encarnacion for the first out of the
second inning in a scoreless Game 5 of the ALCS.
Hosmer made the catch right on the foul line with his back turned toward the infield.
Several Royals players stood on the top step of the dugout and held their caps aloft to salute the catch.
Toronto's
Chris Colabello followed with a ball no one could catch, hitting a solo
homer to left-center off Edinson Volquez. It was the first hit by
either team.
---
3:45 p.m.
It's
Oct. 21, 2015, the day Marty McFly traveled from 1985 to 2015 in "Back
to the Future II," and the Blue Jays were playing along. Just before the
lineups were announced before Game 5, Huey Lewis and the News' "The
Power of Love," the song made famous in the first film of the series,
played over the PA system.
Royals pitcher
Jeremy Guthrie was photographed wearing a pair of sneakers that looked a
lot like the self-lacing shoes that Michael J. Fox wore in the movie.
---
3:11 p.m.
One
loss away from elimination in the ALCS, the Blue Jays don't have $82
million catcher Russell Martin in the starting lineup against Kansas
City's Edinson Volquez.
Dioner Navarro is
behind the plate and batting seventh, because he's worked well with
Toronto right-hander Marco Estrada. The pair teamed up in 20 of
Estrada's 28 starts.
Martin, who signed a
five-year contract with Toronto last November. He hit .240 with a
career-best 23 home runs and 77 RBIs this season.
Navarro, who is in the final year of a two-year, $8 million deal, hit .246 with five homers and 20 RBIs in 54 games.
---
1:10 p.m.
Royals
catcher Salvador Perez has taken a beating this series, with fouls
hitting off his mask, collarbone and one right below the Rawlings gold
label - only for Gold Glove winners - on his chest protector, and that
was
just in Game 4. During the ALDS he even underwent concussion
testing.
But Perez gave a broad smile when he
sat down in the pregame interview room and blurted out, "I feel great
today, guys! Thank you very much."
---
1:05 p.m.
Manager
John Gibbons knows do-or-die games this year. His Blue Jays trailed the
AL Division Series 2-0 then won three straight to advance. The task is
more daunting now, trailing the Royals 3-1 in the best-of-seven set. But
his club could look no further than its own history for some
motivation: Toronto led Kansas City 3-1 in the 1985 ALCS and lost.
Gibbons
said in his pregame talk, David Price, Aaron Sanchez, Roberto Osuna and
even R.A. Dickey, who threw only 48 pitches Tuesday in Game 4, are all
available.
No comments:
Post a Comment