Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Wade Davis (L) and center fielder Lorenzo Cain celebrate after beating the Toronto Blue Jays in game two of the ALCS at Kauffman Stadium. PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports

Reuters/Kansas City

The Kansas City Royals saw their chance and took it, exploding for five runs in the seventh inning to steal a 6-3 win over the stunned Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday and seize a commanding 2-0 lead in the American League Championship Series.
The best-of-seven series shifts to Toronto for Game Three on Monday, with the Blue Jays desperate for a victory.
It is familiar territory for Toronto, which lost the opening two games of the AL Division Series to the Texas Rangers before coming back to sweep the next three and advance to the next round.
“You don’t like to get in the habit of doing it, that’s for sure,” said Toronto manager John Gibbons. “Our back is against the wall, but it will be good to go back home where we normally play well.
“We feel good. It’s a lot tougher from here. But we have a pretty good team, too.”
Leading 3-0 and with ace David Price on cruise control having retired 18 consecutive batters, Toronto looked poised to level the series until a Kansas City barrage of seventh inning singles during which Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Alex Gordon, Alex Rios and Kendrys Morales, on a fielder’s choice, all drove in runs.
The inning began on an ominous note when Kansas City second baseman Ben Zobrist floated a soft pop fly into shallow right that left Ryan Goins and Jose Bautista staring at each other to make the easy catch as the ball fell fair.
With the two players running to make the catch Goins put up his glove appearing to call off Bautista but then stopped and dropped to the turf as the ball hit the ground between them.
Kansas City left fielder Gordon considered the mix-up the turning point of the game.
“He (Price) was cruising, we got that early at-bat. Price is a tough pitcher,” Gordon said. “I felt like we needed to catch a break and Zobrist’s ball there I think got things going.
“Once this lineup gets moving, it’s one guy after another, and it was a big seventh inning.”
Added Gibbons: “The way I saw it looked like Ryan kind of held him (Bautista) off a little bit and he might have backed Jose up a little bit and the ball dropped in. “They were looking for that one crack because David was so good ... It’s a shame it had to end that way.”
After Toronto opened the door the Royals did not look back, scoring five and adding another on a Moustakas RBI in the eighth.
A regular Cy Young contender rated one of the best pitchers in baseball, Price has not produced the same results in the postseason, where he is 0-7 as a starter.
“The breaks didn’t go our way,” said Goins. “We’ve been down two before and came back so we are going to Toronto (to) take three games.
“I put my glove up and was pretty much saying I’m going to make this play and I didn’t so it’s on me.
“I put my glove up, that’s our sign and it means I’ve got it, and just thought I heard something that I didn’t.”

Harvey, Murphy shine as Mets beat Cubs
Matt Harvey pitched well into the seventh and made a few defensive gems as the New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs 4-2 Saturday in game one of the NL Championship Series.
Daniel Murphy and Travis d’Arnaud belted solo home runs and second baseman Murphy capped off another brilliant performance with a diving snag on a hot grounder before throwing to first for the final out of the contest.
“I found it early and kept with it,” Harvey said. “I was able to mix pitches up.”
“I wanted to go out there and get strikes, mix things up and not get into a routine. And the guys made all the plays behind me,” he added.
Harvey, who faced the Cubs just once in 2015 and went seven scoreless innings, struck out nine, allowed four hits and walked two in 7 2/3 innings. Murphy has now hit homers in three straight games for the Mets, who are playing in their first Major League baseball playoff semi-final series since 2006.
The winner of the series will face either the Kansas City Royals or the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series.
Game two is Sunday in New York before the series shifts to Chicago on Tuesday for game three. Mets rookie right-hander Noah Syndergaard will take the mound against Cubs ace right-hander Jake Arrieta.  
Outfielder Curtis Granderson’s RBI single in the fifth inning gave the Mets the lead for good in front of a crowd of 44,000 at Citi Field stadium.
Harvey has been the subject of an innings limit debate for weeks as he completes his first season following elbow surgery. On Saturday, he recorded an out beyond the seventh inning for the first time since August 11 and only the sixth time in 31 starts.