By Jeffrey Flanagan and Brian McTaggart / Courtesy of MLB.comThe Royals, the defending AL champions, open the ALCS on Friday (6:30 p.m. CT on FOX/Sportsnet) against the Blue Jays at Kauffman Stadium. It’s a rematch of the 1985 ALCS, won by Kansas City in seven games. The victory likely helped boost the mood of the local community in the wake of the heartbreaking news of the two Kansas City Fire Department firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty on Monday night. The Royals honored their memories in pregame ceremonies.
A performance like Wednesday’s is what the Royals had in mind when they traded with the Reds to acquire Cueto, who struggled during an awful late-season five-game stretch in which he carried a 9.57 ERA. But Cueto was nails when it mattered most, setting down the last 19 hitters he faced Wednesday, as he became the first to retire the last 19 he faced in a postseason game since Phillies ace Roy Halladay set down 21 Cardinals in a row in 2011. The 19 consecutive batters retired were the most by an AL pitcher in the postseason since Don Larsen’s perfect game for the Yankees in the 1956 World Series.
| Game | Date | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Gm 1 | Oct. 8 | HOU 5, KC 2 |
| Gm 2 | Oct. 9 | KC 5, HOU 4 |
| Gm 3 | Oct. 11 | HOU 4, KC 2 |
| Gm 4 | Oct. 12 | KC 9, HOU 6 |
| Gm 5 | Oct. 14 | KC 7, HOU 2 |
“Games like this is where you see Johnny Cueto, the real Johnny Cueto come out,” Cueto said. “I told my teammates I was going to show up today and get this ‘W’ for them. I woke up today on the right foot. As soon as I woke up, I felt something magic that this was Game 5 and I had to show up for everybody, for my team and the fans.”
• Determined Cueto superb in winning clincher
“He was unbelievably good,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. “He didn’t make a bad pitch all night. That pitch that [Luis] Valbuena hit was a good pitch. He came in after the eighth inning and was lobbying to go back out in the ninth. And I’m like, ‘Look, I got the best reliever [Wade Davis] in the game down there; he’s going to come in and close it out.'”
The Astros’ storybook season ended after winning the AL Wild Card Game presented by Budweiser over the Yankees and having a 2-1 lead in this series over the Royals. Valbuena had given Houston a 2-0 lead on Wednesday with a two-run jack in the second inning.
“It’s very tough. There’s not a man in that room that wanted the season to end,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “There’s going to be 29 teams that go through what we’re going through today. There’s going to be one champion. So it hurts. It hurts to know that we put everything that we could into this season and it ends abruptly. Seasons like this end really quickly, and you’re never ready for it. It never feels good.”
Alex Rios put the Royals ahead with a two-run double to left in the fifth inning. and Kendrys Morales, who homered twice in Game 1, sealed it with a three-run homer in the eighth off Astros ace Dallas Keuchel, who came on in relief.