Matz marvels as Jays beat Royals 5-1 in doubleheader opener

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Steven Matz held the Kansas City Royals without a hit into the sixth inning, and Jonathan Davis and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered to give the Toronto Blue Jays a 5-1 victory in the seven-inning opener of their doubleheader Saturday.

Matz (3-0) only allowed a pair of walks before Nicky Lopez's blooper to left with one out in the sixth. Matz gave up Andrew Benintendi's two-out double later in the inning for the only other blemish on an otherwise dominant performance.

The left-hander, who gave way to Rafael Dolis for the seventh inning, struck out five around those two walks and two hits while allowing Kansas City to hit just five balls out of the infield.

Other than a shaky first, the Royals’ Mike Minor matched Matz pitch for pitch most of the way.

Minor (1-1) retired his first two batters before Guerrero and Randal Grichuk hit back-to-back singles and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. drilled a two-run double off the wall. That was all the runs until Davis hit his first homer of the year off the left-field foul pole leading off the fifth and Guerrero tagged his second homer of the series leading off the sixth.

Even if Matz didn't allow a hit all game, his sterling start wouldn't have been an official no-hitter because teams or pitchers must play at least nine innings to qualify. The decision to shorten doubleheader games to seven innings apiece for the 2021 season means Matz and the Blue Jays would have needed at least two extra innings for it to count.

The only no-hitter in Blue Jays history is Dave Stieb’s 3-0 win over the Indians on Sept. 2, 1990.

Regardless, the Blue Jays were glad to have Matz's masterful performance after Friday's rainout. Their starting rotation has been shredded by injuries just three weeks into the season, including in a 7-5...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Matz-marvels-as-Jays-beat-Royals-5-1-in-16108984.php