The Toronto Blue Jays were trying to stave off elimination in game five of the ALCS as the Kansas City Royals were looking to wrap up the AL pennant in Toronto at the Rogers Centre.
It was a pitching duel for most of this game, but as the game reached the later innings, the Blue Jays offense came to life and broke this game open.
The pitching matchup in this one dominated the early innings as one guy took the mound with elimination at stake while the other had less pressure on him, but could have pitched his team to the World Series.
Kansas City sent Edison Volquez to the mound and turned in a good outing through five innings, but once he reached that sixth inning, things sort of blew up on him.
The Blue Jays opened the scoring in the second inning when Chris Colabello blasted a solo shot to get Toronto going. It wasn't until the sixth, however, that the Blue Jays took control.
In that sixth inning, Toronto put together a four run inning to take control. Volquez lost some battles and loaded the bases before walking Edwin Encarnacion to force in the first run. That was followed by a big bases clearing double by Troy Tulowitzki to give the Blue Jays a 5-0 lead.
That ended the outing for Volquez as he lasted five plus innings giving up five runs on three hits while walking four and striking out two.
The Blue Jays weren't done though. In the seventh, Jose Bautista added on with an RBI double to score Josh Donaldson and extend the lead to 6-0.
The Royals finally got on the board in the eighth inning when Salvador Perez hit a solo shot. That ruined the shut out and ended the outing for Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada who pitched a marvelous game.
Estrada went 7.2 innings giving up one run on three hits while striking out five and walking one on 108 pitches. Pitching into the eighth inning was big for the Toronto bullpen who worked nearly all of game four.
The Blue Jays still weren't done scoring. Kevin Pillar ripped an RBI double over the head of Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain which scored Tulowitzki from second and gave Toronto a 7-1 lead heading to the ninth.
Finally in the ninth, the Blue Jays brought on closer Roberto Osuna and he went 1-2-3 to preserve the win and give the Blue Jays another chance.
The Royals hold a 3-2 lead in the series as it heads back to Kansas City for game six, needing to win just one more game to advance to their second straight World Series.
One could assume that the pitching matchup will be David Price for the Blue Jays facing off against Yordano Ventura for the Royals.
They will have a travel day Thursday before game six takes place Friday in KC. First pitch is scheduled for 8:07 p.m. EST on FS1.
WP: Marco Estrada
LP: Edison Volquez