2015 World Series Game 2
New York Mets at Kansas City Royals
http://gty.im/494724314
The Mets and Royals battled it out for a World Series record-tying 14 innings in Game 1. The Royals walked off with a sacrifice fly five hours and nine minutes after Alcides Escobar hit an inside-the-park home run on the first pitch of the game. Both bullpens were taxed and they are both hoping that their starters can go deep into Game 2.
The Mets have their ace, Jacob deGrom, on the mound. He is 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA and 27 strikeouts in this postseason. The Royals are sending Johnny Cueto to face the Mets. Cueto only had one start in the ALCS, and he gave up eight runs on six hits in two innings. The Royals will need a much better performance from him if they are going to take a two game lead.
Pitchers Duel
Cueto started out by getting the first four Mets that he faced, including one strikeout. He gave up a one-out single to Lucas Duda, but that was wiped out three pitches later when Travis d’Arnaud hit into a double play. Cueto again put the Mets down 1-2-3 in the third, picking up his second strikeout. He got into some trouble in the fourth when he walked two of the first three batters he faced. Yoenis Cespedes hit what looked like an inning ending double play, but Mike Moustakas’ throw pulled Eric Hosmer off the base. Duda made the Royals pay for the mistake by blooping a hit into left to drive in Daniel Murphy. Cueto settled down and came back with a 1-2-3 fifth inning.
[iframe id=”http://m.mlb.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=526582183&topic_id=63106348&width=400&height=224&property=mlb” autoplay=”no” maxwidth=”400″]
As good as Cueto was, deGrom was just a little better in the early innings. He put down the first seven Royals in order before walking Alex Gordon. DeGrom struck out Alex Rios and got Alcides Escobar to ground into a force out to end the third. The Royals put some pressure on deGrom in the fourth. Zobrist reached on an error to lead off the inning and Hosmer got the first hit for the Royals on a ball that just did not quite stay in the glove of Juan Legares. Kendrys Morales grounded out to first, leaving runners at second and third with one out. Moustakas walked to load the bases before Salvador Perez grounded out to short.
Royals Break Through
Alex Gordon led off the bottom of the fifth with a walk. Rios singled up the middle to move Gordon up to second. Escobar hit another single up the middle to drive in Gordon and move Rios up to second. Zobrist grounded out to first to move runners up to second and third with one out. Lorenzo Cain lined out to center, but it was not deep enough to drive in the run from third. Hosmer came through with a ground ball up the middle to drive in Rios and Escobar to give the Royals the lead. Morales singled to right and Hosmer hustled to third. Moustakas grounded one through the hole on the right side to drive in Hosmer and move Morales to third. Perez grounded out to end the inning, but the damage was done. The Royals led 4-1 after five innings.
[iframe id=”http://m.mlb.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=526584883&topic_id=94796514&width=400&height=224&property=mlb” autoplay=”no” maxwidth=”400″]
Cueto answered with a quick 12 pitch inning, getting Curtis Granderson to ground out, David Wright to fly out to center, and Murphy was called out on strikes.
Hansel Robles came in to pitch for the Mets in the bottom of the sixth. Gordon sent Lagares to the track in center field. Cespedes made a leaping grab at the wall on a drive by Rios for the second out. Escobar grounded out to third for the third out. The score remained 4-1 Royals as they went to the seventh inning.
Cueto Cruising
Both teams needed their starters to go deep and Cueto delivered. He gave up just one run on two hits and two walks while striking out four in the first six innings. The tarp was still on the mound in the Royals’ bullpen in the seventh inning. Sixteen pitches later and Cueto had the same numbers through seven innings.
http://gty.im/494747384
Jon Niese came in and worked around a one-out walk to get out of the seventh. The Mets were now six outs and three runs away from being down two games to none.
Cueto came in to pitch the eighth inning at 98 pitches. Michael Conforto hit a drive to the warning track in center field. Wilmer Flores hit a rocket right to Moustakas for the second out. Escobar made a great barehanded play to get Lagares for the third out.
Royals Open It Up
Moustakas hit one under the glove of Duda for a single to right to lead off the bottom of the eighth. Perez hit a double into the left field corner to put runners on second and third with nobody out. Gordon hit a ground ball off the glove of Flores, who was playing in, that ended up as an RBI double for Gordon with Perez advancing to third.
[iframe id=”http://m.mlb.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=526602483&topic_id=94796514&width=400&height=224&property=mlb” autoplay=”no” maxwidth=”400″]
That forced the Mets to go to Addison Reed to take over for Niese. Paulo Orlando, who came in for Rios defensively, hit one to the track in left for a sacrifice fly that drove in Perez and moved Gordon up to third with one out. Escobar hit a two-strike fastball over the head of Lagares for an RBI triple to make it 7-1.
[iframe id=”http://m.mlb.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=526604183&topic_id=94796514&width=400&height=224&property=mlb” autoplay=”no” maxwidth=”400″]
That chased Reed, and Sean Gilmartin came in to pitch. Gilmartin got Zobrist to ground out and Cain to pop out to end the inning with no further damage. The Mets were down to their last three outs, down by six runs.
Cueto came out to try for a complete game. He got Granderson to ground out for out number one. Wright grounded out to third for out number two. Cueto got Cespedes to fly out to right field to end the game and give the Royals a two games to none lead in the World Series.
[iframe id=”http://m.mlb.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=526610283&topic_id=94796514&width=400&height=224&property=mlb” autoplay=”no” maxwidth=”400″]
Player of the Game: Johnny Cueto
On a day that the Royals needed their starter to chew up some innings, Cueto went the distance. He pitched nine innings, giving up a run on two hits and three walks while striking out four. The Royals bullpen pitched eight innings in Game 1 and Cueto’s complete game made sure that they would go into Game 3 rested.
Game 3 (Royals lead 2-0)
The series moves to New York for Games 3, 4, and 5. The Mets need a win in order to have a realistic shot at winning the World Series. The Royals will go with Yordano Ventura, who has had a rough postseason so far, with just one win in four starts. The Mets are counting on Noah Syndergaard, who is pitching on 11 days rest, to get them in the win column. The New York crowd will be ready to cheer their team on to a victory.