David Price Was Perfect, Right Up Until The Royals Comeback

On the first pitch of Game 2 of the ALCS today, Alcides Escobar singled to right field off David Price. It was an inauspicious start for Price, yet after that pitch, he would retire the next 18 batters. It was the best pitching he’d ever done in the playoffs.

The Blue Jays helped him by breaking the game open in the sixth. The cascade all started when a Josh Donaldson foulout was ruled out of play when it hit a wire. After escaping with that lucky bounce, Donaldson hit an infield single, then scored. Crucially, the Jays wasted a bases-loaded, one-out situation and left the inning with three runs.

Price held up his end and struck out the side in the back half of that inning, and it appeared that the Jays were on their way to even up the series. All Price had to do was get through the meat of the order in the seventh inning.

Maybe he would have, were it not for Ryan Goins and Jose Bautista’s collective misreading of a Ben Zobrist pop-up (the play was ruled a hit). Much like the Jays did earlier, the Royals seized on their second chance and hammered Price. It was typical Royals fare: all singles, save for one fielders choice and a double.

Joe Buck and Harold Reynolds speculated that the shifting light was partially to blame for what happene. The game started with the mound in the sun and the box in the shade, and by the sixth inning, it was all shaded up. Whatever the cause, Price’s postseason woes continued. He is now 2-6 in his playoff career and has never allowed less than two runs.

The Royals, on the other hand, completed an emphatic comeback for the second time this week. In a potential elimination game on the road, the Royals scored five in the eighth inning against Houston. They seem to have an ability to cluster their offense and take full advantage of the first signs that the opposing starter is having trouble. The series is headed back to Toronto, where the Blue Jays must win to stay alive.

Photo via Getty