KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Steven Matz kept the Kansas City Royals unsuccessful in the sixth inning, and Jonathan Davis and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made a win to give the Toronto Blue Jays a 5-1 victory in the opening seven innings of the season. its double header. Saturday.
Matz (3-0) only allowed a couple of walks before Nicky Lopez’s faller left with an outside in the sixth. Matz left Andrew Benintendi’s double later in the inning for the only other flaw in an otherwise dominant performance.
The Blue Jays had to settle for a division. In the night cap, as the Royals followed veteran Ervin Santana’s starting point with four first-team pitchers before Salvador Perez’s goal, two and out, gave them a 3-2 victory.
As for left-handed Matz, he scored five around those two runs and twice while allowing Kansas City to hit just five balls off the field before giving way to Rafael Dolis for the seventh inning.
“It’s fun to get into a groove early in the season, especially when you have a lineup like this,” said Matz, who struggled with injuries during his six seasons with the Mets. “It simply came to our notice then. I’m trying to take advantage of each outing, take a little of each outing and improve a little each time. That is the goal for the future. “
Aside from an unstable first, Mike Royor of the Royals coincided with Matz’s throw for the throw most of the way.
Minor (1-1) withdrew his first two batters before Guerrero and Randal Grichuk got consecutive singles and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. drill a two-stroke double against the wall. It was all over until Davis got his first homer of the year off the left field goal post that led to the fifth and Guerrero scored his second homer in the series that won the sixth. .
“There are some good defensive plays behind me,” Minor said. “It seemed to me that the strike area was a bit tight, so many of the launches I threw, did not advance. I put myself behind the boys. And then I left home racing. ”
Even if Matz did not allow a success throughout the match, his sterling start would not have been an official non-hit because teams or pitchers must play at least nine innings to qualify. The decision to shorten the header games to seven innings each for the 2021 season means Matz and the Blue Jays would have needed at least two extra innings to be able to count.
The only non-hitter in the history of the Blue Jays is Dave Stieb’s 3-0 victory over the Indians on September 2, 1990.
“We had a good start today. Matz threw the ball well, “Royals coach Mike Matheny said.” He had a good late move: you could tell the guys didn’t see the late move. Really without letting in, using the back door. “
The Blue Jays certainly rejoiced to have Matz’s masterful performance after Friday’s rain. His initial rotation has been broken by injuries just three weeks into the season, including a 7-5 loss to Kansas City on Thursday night.
In the hood, the Blue Jays sent Tommy Milone to the mound against Ervin Santana of the Royals.
Traveler Santana hadn’t grabbed a big league mound since April 24, 2019 with the White Sox. Santana spent the 2013 season with the Royals and started for them for the first time in 2,761 days.