ALDS Recap

Kansas City Royals at Houston Astros Down 6-2 in the eighth inning and 2-1 in the best-of-five series, it looked

like the Kansas City Royals season was going to be over. But a five run inning allowed Kansas City to rally for an 9-6 win over the Houston Astros to tie their ALDS series at two games each. Houston’s Lance McCullers Jr., a Tampa native and former Gator signee, struck out seven and allowed just two hits in six and a third innings. Despite the impressive effort from the 21-year-old, his team could not hold on to the lead. The Royals win means they can forget two controversial calls that they felt went the wrong way in the game. In the seventh inning, down a run, Terrance Gore stole third and was originally called safe. With the tying run now on third, the Astros challenged the call and won after replay showed Gore’s feet bounce off of the bag for a split second with the wrist of Luis Valbuena’s glove-hand on him. The out ended the inning and a great chance for the Royals to tie. In the eighth, the Royals once again found themselves at the wrong end of a call. After gaining a one-run lead, the inning was cut short by a strike-three call on a high pitch to Luke Gregerson. Fortunately for the Royals, a two-run homer in the ninth inning by Eric Hosmer gave them some breathing room to close out the game. With the series now tied, the winner will be decided on Wednesday night in Game 5. Toronto Blue Jays at Texas Rangers The Blue Jays managed to tie the series with Texas with an 8-4 win in Arlington. Toronto’s offense struggled to put up many runs for the majority of series, but were in usual form for Game 4 on Monday night. The regular season’s best offensive team put up seven runs by the third inning, and added another tally in the seventh. Toronto’s Josh Donaldson, Chris Colabello, and Kevin Pillar each had a homer on the night. Former Rays pitcher David Price was credited with the win despite allowing three runs in three innings in relief of R.A. Dickey. The Blue Jays look to win the series in Game 5 on Wednesday after losing the first two games of the series at home, a feat that only the 2001 Yankees and 2012 Giants have accomplished.