The Toronto Blue Jays celebrate after winning Game 3 of the American League Championship Series against the Kansas City Royals in Toronto on Oct. 19.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
There were few, if any, signs of euphoria within the Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse late Monday night following their 11-8 victory over the Kansas City Royals at Rogers Centre.
There was only a sense of satisfaction for a job well done and that it was time to start getting ready for the next hurdle of Game 4, which will go Tuesday afternoon with an early 4:07 p.m. (EST) start time.
The Royals' lead in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series is now 2-1 and the Blue Jays believe the momentum has swung back in their direction, after losing the first two games on the road.
"There's no quitting in that locker room, I'll tell you that," said Troy Tulowitzki whose demonstrative performance Monday night helped lead the Blue Jays. "No matter if our backs are against the wall, we're faced with elimination, we still believe. That's not the case with every team. There's a reason why we're here.
"And [Tuesday] is a huge game, hopefully we can even up the series and get this thing back to Kansas City and see what happens."
The win would have been classified as decisive were it not for the fact that the Toronto bullpen coughed up four runs to the pesky Royals in the ninth inning that turned an 11-4 laugher into a bit of a concern.
Reliever Liam Hendriks, seeing his first action in the post-season since Oct. 9th against the Texas Rangers, was a tad rusty, entering the game in the top of the inning and getting tagged for three of the runs off three hits.
In came closer Roberto Osuna and he surrendered a home run to Kendrys Morales before regrouping to get the final two outs of the inning.
It was a night of redemption for Ryan Goins, the Blue Jays defensive star whose fielding mistake in the seventh inning in Game 2 in Kansas City on Saturday helped pave the way for a 6-3 Royals comeback win that allowed the Royals their 2-0 series lead.
Goins stoked a key two-run single in the second inning on Monday that moved Toronto in front 2-1.
The second baseman, not known for his power stroke, then clubbed a home run in the fifth that put Toronto firmly in command at 10-4.
"I think you have to put it in perspective," said Toronto third baseman Josh Donaldson when asked about Goins bouncing back after a poor outing. "Ryan Goins is one of the best defensive second basemen in the league. He's been doing that for us all year long. For him to contribute [Monday night] with the bat was huge.
"And we're going to have to come out [on Tuesday] and play just as good, if not better, because you see the quality of team they have over there. They don't stop until the 27th out. They're tough."
Goins said as far as he was concerned, he did not come into the game feeling he had to prove anything.
"There's no need to put any extra pressure on yourself," he said. "Just come out and do what I've been doing all season, whatever I can do to help this team win is what I'm going to do."
Both Donaldson and Tulowitzki also homered in the game and Tulowitzki was ejected in the top of the eighth inning after he got into a jawing session with home plate umpire John Hirschbeck.
Tulowitzki was still seething after Hirschbeck had called him out on strikes an inning earlier.
"I think it was obvious I didn't agree with the called third strike," Tulowitzki said. "And there were other pitches that were questionable. I'm walking out to the field and he's looking at me. And I told him that wasn't a strike. And it was a quick trigger, obviously he was either holding on to something or something was going on. But I didn't think what I did was going to eject me out of the game.
"Obviously you don't want to get ejected right there. Unfortunately I was. But it will be interesting to see what he has to say. Obviously he's been an umpire for a long time. He's a good one at that. And so I am surprised."