Chris Young remained steady Tuesday to help the Royals beat the Blue Jays 14-2 in Game 4 of the AL Championship Series.
Young, who gave up two earned runs in 4 2/3 innings, did more than enough to allow the Royals' hot bats to lead the way from start to finish and push the Blue Jays to the brink of elimination.
MORE: Must-see photos from the ALCS | Young OK with early hook | Jays on brink
Here are our five takeaways from Game 4:
1. Lorenzo Cain keeps on hitting. Cain, facing potentially his final at-bat of the game, singled off of Ryan Tepera in the top of the seventh inning to extend his postseason hitting streak to 13 games, the longest in Royals history. Cain did ultimately bat again — in the next inning — and he delivered a two-run single. He finished the game 2 for 3 with a run, three RBIs, two walks and a stolen base.
2. The Royals might still be scoring runs. Last we checked, this game was indeed over, but for a while it looked as though the Royals might keep scoring runs deep into the night. After putting up four runs in the first inning, Kansas City went on to score eight more runs, seven of which occurred in the seventh inning or later.
Scoring runs late in games is nothing new for the Royals this postseason, as they've scored 31 runs in the seventh inning or later in their last six games.
MORE: Game 4 was sublimely ridiculous
3. The addition of Ben Zobrist put the Royals over the top. Zobrist, who seems to find himself on the trading block every year because of his ability to play multiple positions, was traded from the Athletics to the Royals before the July 31 non-waiver deadline this season. The move went under the radar, mainly because Zobrist missed over a month in April and May recovering from knee surgery, but he made sure all the teams initially clamoring for him realized what they missed this postseason.
Heading into Game 4, Zobrist was batting .355 with seven runs scored, four doubles and three RBIs, including a 3-for-5 performance with three runs and three doubles in Game 3. He hit a two-run shot in the first inning Tuesday. Zobrist is the kind of scrappy, patient hitter the Royals lacked at the top of their order during last season's World Series run, and his addition could lead them all the way this time around.
4. The stage was too big for R.A. Dickey. The 40-year-old knuckleballer has carved out a respectable career, but pitching in Game 4 of the ALCS was a bit out of his league, and it was evident rather quickly.
After giving up a leadoff single to Alcides Escobar, who became the first player to hit safely leading off the first inning in four straight postseason games, Dickey gave up the homer to Zobrist. The Royals added two more runs in the inning, taking a 4-0 lead. Outfielder Alex Rios led off the second inning with his third career home run off Dickey.
Dickey was pulled with two outs in the second inning for Liam Hendriks.
5. Stealing bases has become too risky. The stolen base is one of the most exciting plays in baseball. It's something that exhilarates fans and can change the course of a game. But MLB is slowly taking the play out of the game with questionable replay decisions.
The Royals have now been burned twice this postseason by replays on stolen bases. The first came in Game 4 of the ALDS when Terrance Gore was initially ruled safe while attempting to steal third base. The play was challenged and overturned. A similar incident happened Tuesday when Rios clearly beat the throw to second base, but his feet came off the bag as he finished his slide and Troy Tulowitzki applied the tag.
Both calls were right in the end, but baseball didn't bring in replay for instances like this. If players can just touch the player throughout the entire steal process and still get people out, managers will grow hesitant to send their players.
What's Next: Game 5, Wednesday, Oct. 20, 4:07 p.m. ET on FS1 — Kansas City, with a chance to clinch, will send Edinson Volquez (13-9, 3.55 ERA) to the mound to face off against Marco Estrada (13-8, 3.13 ERA).