MLB The Show_ Kansas City Royals vs Seattle Mariners (S24 ALCS G3)

Festivities wrapping up, the crowd is electric, and we'll be back to get it going right after this. A whole bunch of different offerings, only three pitches in the repertoire, so he knows he'll have to work in all three effectively and probably pitch backwards sometimes just to... Gigantic blast. That's his fifth homer in the series, and they add a pair. It's 2-0. Not wasting any time in that in bad mood. Aggressive, and it paid off. The hitter aggressive on the first pitch of an at-bat. You watch him from the on-deck circle, so when you step in the box, you're ready to pull the cards out. Really good run that's way. Defense shouldn't be their mechanics, but the thing that you can do consistently every single game is play great defense. Game three. Nice enough and ripped it into the outfield. First base side. Lariano here, 2-0. Here's the 0-2. Swings, threw it, and that's a strikeout. An idiot strikeout there on just three pitches, and that's what a good power pitcher can do to you. He's in his spots, middle of the strike zone. Sometimes he bats over before it really begins. He is back for strike three. Came inside with that two-strike pass. Two down, nobody on. And a swing and a miss, and that's that. So they make short work of him there. We've played two full, it's the Royals two, and the Mariners nothing. Crushed. His second home run of the game, and they add on. It's five, it's in. And just like that, his home run streak is up to six. No, he's an absolute machine, working really well at the plate right now. He just can't miss every time he swings. Came out of his shoes on that one, but managed to keep his mechanics intact long enough to get to the ball, didn't through it, and it went a long way. And a pitch. Swing and a pop-up. Foul territory for the catcher. And puts the squeeze on that one. And there's one down. Jim Labruce. Swing and he breaks. Liner to second and picked on the hop. Tosses to first, and the Mariners set down one, two, three. Mariners go down quietly there. Still up against the six, nothing deficit. That's his third home run of the game, and they add a run. It's eight, nothing. Yes, it is. Tons of loud contact. Man, it's been impressive. He's putting on an absolute show in this one. Man, there's no better time than the postseason to go off at the plate like this. I mean, a three-homer game, always special, but pulling it off in October during the biggest games of the year. Mechanics there typically likes to shoot the ball. That's Gus. Two outs. Goes down looking. Royals eight, and the Mariners nothing. Kicks and deals. Punch out there, and that's the first out. In the air, out towards left center. Pulls it in on the run. So two down. So here's the Royals' D.H. Big Daddy. Three for three, and he's homered three times. Swing and a drive. It's 11, nothing. Sitting first pitch fastball, and that's what he delivered. He guessed right, squared it up, and he made it look way too easy. Wow, this is awesome. I mean, a four-homer game, they're just so rare. They're so special, and just so tough to pull off as well. Everything has to line up for you, but of course, you've got to make it happen too. And these are the types of performances that people just... Ripped on a line to center. Catching you in the inning. That gets the team fired up in the dugout. Kenny Haney. Right side. Pulls it in, and they're right side. Foul territory. And there's two away. Only two hits allowed so far tonight. So I don't think that one will disrupt the momentum. All that could catch up. Hard hit, left side. They take the horse out, and that'll do it. One left for Seattle. They trail in this one, 11 to nothing. It's the right fielder, Frank Taveras. A sliding stop, it's short. It's there. That's a great play. We're seeing some awesome pitching, but a huge part of the shutout so far has been the defense making great plays like that behind their pitcher. They feed off of one another. Here's the bottom half of the eighth inning. Swing and a miss. Ball for strike three. Hits it, misses. It's a strikeout. On the ground. Let's the defense work behind him. Getting ahead, it counts. He's been able to do that consistently. You see the results. That to right. And he makes the catch. And there are two outs. No bad out, round 22. It didn't take long to get a result for that at bat. I could watch base hits like that one all day long. It's a frustrating day for the offense, but we're there. And a ground ball to first. Steps on the bag himself. In the series, up now three games to none. Pretty demoralizing on the other side. Again, you want to get this thing over as quickly as possible. So stay focused, come back for the next game, and close out this series. Here's another look at the numbers from this shutout victory. Well, it takes a team effort to produce a shutout. I mean, sometimes you just got to tip your cap. 11-0 your final score. From Chris Singleton and our entire outstanding crew here at MLB The Show, I'm Jon Schaub. Thanks for joining us.