Royals rally against David Price and Blue Jays, 6-3

— After managing one hit over six innings, Ben Zobrist’s flyball that fell for a hit began a five-run rally against David Price in the seventh inning Saturday and the Kansas City Royals rolled the rest of the way for a 6-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series.

“We needed to catch a break,” Alex Gordon said, “and Zobrist’s ball was it.”

Closer Wade Davis gave up a leadoff single and walked pinch-hitter Cliff Pennington in the ninth inning, but struck out Ben Revere and Josh Donaldson. Jose Bautista flied out to right field to give Davis his third postseason save and the Royals a 2-0 lead in the series.

The Royals strung together four singles and a double in the seventh inning, getting run-producing hits from Gordon, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Alex Rios, and a run-scoring groundout from Kendrys Morales.

Price, who had at one point retired 18 consecutive batters, fell to 0-7 in seven postseason starts.

“I gave up hits at the wrong time,” the left-hander said. “I felt good. It’s a very scrappy team. They put the ball in play. They continued to battle. It’s just a tough loss.”

The reigning AL champions have won nine consecutive ALCS games dating to a seven-game series against Toronto in 1985, the year they won their only World Series. The major league record is 10 victories in a row, set by Baltimore in the 1960s and 1970s.

The Blue Jays head home for Game 3 on Monday night in dire trouble. All but three of the previous 25 teams to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven era have won the series. Toronto reached the ALCS after trailing Texas, 2-0, and winning three games in a row in a best-of-five division series

“We’ve been here before,” shortstop Troy Tulowitzki said, “but it’s not a place we want to be.”

On Saturday, Ryan Goins drove in a run against Yordano Ventura in the third inning, ending at 18 innings a scoreless streak by Royals pitchers. Edwin Encarnacion hit a run-scoring single and Tulowitzki a run-scoring double to put Toronto ahead, 3-0, in the sixth.

Price threw first-pitch strikes to 12 of 14 batters at one point, and struck out the side in the sixth inning.

“We just needed to catch a break,” Moustakas said. “Price was throwing the ball unbelievable. We got the early hit and he was kind of cruising. We just needed to find a way to get a runner on base so we could do what we can, keep the line moving.”

That came when Zobrist sent a popup to shallow right field to start the seventh inning, and Goins gave chase from second base and Bautista from right field. Both wound up letting it drop for a single.

“I put my glove up and pretty much was saying, ‘I’m going to make this play,’ and then I didn’t make the play,” Goins said, “so it’s on me.”

Lorenzo Cain followed with a single to extend his postseason hitting streak to 11 games, matching a franchise record. Hosmer’s single got the Royals on the board and Morales hit a run-scoring groundout before Moustakas, who was two for 25 and no runs batted in in the postseason, hit a tying double to right field.

Gordon’s double gave Kansas City the lead. Rios had a single against reliever Aaron Sanchez to close the book on Price, who was charged with the five runs in the inning.