It worked out pretty well last year, didn’t it?
The Kansas City Royals had a definitive formula to winning games during last year’s postseason, and quite frankly it is what they tried to rely on for much of the last two regular seasons.
The plan was simple enough: play a little small ball, maybe get a little lucky and squeeze out some timely hits to overcome shaky starting pitching. Then hand the rock to the back of the bullpen and watch it cruise through the final nine, or more, outs. It was a strategy that carried them to within a win of the 2014 World Series trophy, so it seemed wise to go with it again now.
The Royals did that Friday afternoon in Game 2 of the American League Division Series to snatch a come-from-behind 5-4 victory over the Houston Astros at Kauffman Stadium. The win evened the best-of-five series that now heads south to Houston for Game 3 on Sunday.
In a small nutshell, the Royals rebounded from Johnny Cueto’s shaky outing, kept it close enough until Eric Hosmer and Kendrys Morales could get some BABIP luck, let the other team’s bullpen falter for the tying run and then got a couple of timely hits from Alcides Escobar and Ben Zobrist late before calling on the back end of the bullpen to shut down the other team and record the win.
All of that should be familiar if you watched last year’s playoffs, as SportsTalkFeed.com noted:
It was your typical Royals game plan down the stretch. Keep the game close, KC offense takes lead off bullpen, Herrera/Madson/Davis end it
— SportsTalkFeed. com (@SportsTalkFeed) October 9, 2015
The Royals’ rotation had a 4.12 ERA and 1.31 WHIP during last year’s postseason, and this year it went into the ALDS with a 4.34 ERA, the worst number of any of the playoff rotations this fall. Cueto, the arm they traded for in July and figured would be their playoff ace two months later, was inconsistent during his time in Kansas City, and that continued Friday as he allowed a disappointing but not surprising four runs in six innings.
Cueto's performance was not all bad, though. All of the damage came in the first three innings, and he left the game having put down 12 of the last 14 hitters he faced. He exited down two runs, but he did not mope, knowing what the Royals’ magic is capable of producing in October.
"He finally really got dialed in after the third inning and kept us in the game," Royals manager Ned Yost told reporters in his postgame press conference. Josh Vernier of 610 Sports Radio noted Cueto's actions:
Johnny Cueto is practically standing on the field, and has been this whole inning. Top-steppin' it, clapping anxiously. #Royals
— Josh Vernier (@JoshVernier610) October 9, 2015
Minutes later, after Lorenzo Cain laced a double to right, Hosmer and Morales got a couple of hole-seeking hits and Mike Moustakas walked to load the bases. Salvador Perez, who homered in the second inning, walked to force in the tying run a batter later.
With the game tied, Yost did not hesitate. He went to the first head of his three-headed bullpen beast, one that had a makeover for this postseason after last year’s closer, Greg Holland, who was lost last month to en elbow injury. Kelvin Herrera had the seventh inning, just like a year ago, with Ryan Madson in the eighth and Wade Davis, last year’s eighth-inning man, taking over as closer if everything went according to plan.
Herrera, who hit 100 mph with his fastball, gave up a single but nothing more. That set the table for Escobar, who tripled to start the bottom half of the seventh, and Zobrist, who had his pinnacle moment with the Royals after they traded for him in July.
The plan continued after that. Yost gave the ball to Madson, who until this year had not pitched in a major league game since 2011 because of a ridiculously difficult recovery from Tommy John surgery. Madson, with his 2.13 ERA and 0.96 WHIP in the regular season, fell right in line with the plan, pitching a clean inning with two strikeouts.
From that point, the Astros' hope was fleeting. Because the next reliever through the bullpen gate was Davis, arguably the best in baseball over the last two seasons, armed with a 0.97 ERA, 0.82 WHIP and 12.1 strikeouts per nine innings. To finish the regular season, he had allowed just one earned run since Aug. 16.
“I'm sure you guys have heard,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch told reporters in his press conference, “he’s a pretty good reliever.”
But there was hope for Houston in the ninth. Davis walked Preston Tucker with one out and quick-footed, but sometimes-careless Carlos Gomez replaced him as the runner. And before Davis delivered his next pitch, Gomez was picked off first base after a review overturned the original safe call. Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan provided his insight on what's typical when it comes to Wade Davis pitching:
It is a standard rule that you don't get picked off in a one-run game in the ninth inning. It is especially true with Wade Davis pitching.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 9, 2015
A batter later, the game was done, and the Royals avoided total disaster by splitting their two home games to start the series.
During last year’s postseason, the Royals found themselves underdogs through the entire month. This year they had the American League’s best record, and in this series they are favorites based on that fact.
Maybe the expectations are different now. Maybe the pressure is different this time. But one thing has remained the same: The Royals are going to win exactly as they have, because it’s worked pretty well for them so far.
All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.
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