Johnny Cueto Leads Kansas City Royals Back to the ALCS

Johnny Cueto put on a display of pitching clinic from the mound on Wednesday, suffocating the Houston Astros and leading the Kansas City Royals back to the ALCS with a 7-2 win.

The pitcher reminded everyone why he was traded in the first place. Skeptics claimed that the Royals had wagered too much of their future on him by trading away a number of prospects in July. Needless to say, Cueto has began justifying his role.

“I woke up today on the right foot,” Cueto said. “As soon as I woke up, I felt something magic, that this was Game 5 and I had to show up for everybody, for this team and the fans.”

Cueto dominated the game that night allowing the Royals to rally once again for a decisive victory against the Houston Astros.

Johnny Cueto had reassured his teammates before the game that he would perform well. And he certainly exceeded the expectations of everyone by near perfect performance.

The Astros had played well the entire season, but their surprise loss to the Royals will offer little consolation. Cueto was in no mood to let the Astros have their way, as he allowed only two hits – a single by Evan Gattis and a second-inning homer by Luis Valbuena – before retiring the next nineteen batters that he faced.

He struck out eight of the batters without a walk showing the world why the Royals had spent so much to get him from the Reds.

“Johnny Cueto was unbelievable,” Royals Manager, Ned Yost said. “He knew the magnitude of this game. I think we all did. And he came out from the first pitch and had everything going.”

Cueto had displayed his finest performance in the game since joining the Royals. He won the first postseason game of his career here and made it all possible with little help from the teammates. It was the longest playoff stint by a starter for the Royals since Bret Saberhagen in the 1985 World Series game. Dennis Leonard is the only other player to have more strikeouts than Cueto’s eight strikeouts in a game. Leonard’s achievement dates back to 1978.

Royals Coach, Dave Eiland, was certainly delighted with the performance of Cueto stating that the star player couldn’t have pitched a bigger one than that night. And this was the main reason that the Royals had put so much money on him i.e. to win them big games.

Cueto seemed to be struggling since his arrival at the trade deadline. He had not performed well for the initial thirteen weeks going 4-7 with a 4.76 ERA. This included a dismal five start stretch in which he earned 9.57 ERA.

However, Cueto removed any doubts as to why the Royals had spent so much on him by single handedly leading them to a great and crucial win. The player had dramatically altered his delivery during the game giving little room for the batters to have their way that night.

The Royals will next face Toronto Blue Jays in Game 1 this Friday. The two teams had previously clashed in the ALCS way back in 1985 with the Royals wining seven games. They went on to win their only World Series that year by beating the St. Louis Cardinals.