KC Royals: Top Ten Moments During 2015 Postseason
Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Johnny Cueto (47) celebrates after defeating the New York Mets – Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
9) Johnny Cueto
It was late July of the 2015 season and the Kansas City Royals were poised to make yet another October run. The only problem was their starting rotation. Yordano Ventura and Danny Duffy weren’t performing like a number one and two pitcher, Jason Vargas was hurt frequently, and Jeremy Guthrie was… Jeremy Guthrie. Need I say more?
Dayton Moore made a bold decision one Sunday morning in July, and that was to acquire ace pitcher Johnny Cueto from the Cincinnati Reds. The Royals gave up a lot to only have Cueto on their team for a few months, but they were willing to take the risk. One of the names Kansas City traded for Cueto was Wildcard hero Brandon Finnegan. Fans were not the happiest about that.
Cueto had a rocky regular season, but the Royals acquired him to be their guy during the postseason. If he could dominate on the mound during the playoffs, then all would be forgiven.
The reason he’s this low on the list is due to some of his postseason performances being stinkers. His first playoff appearance as a Royal was in Game 2 of the ALDS against the Houston Astros. He gave up four runs in six innings.
He had two phenomenal pitching performances during the playoffs, and that’s EXACTLY what Dayton Moore was wanting when he went out and got him.
Game 5 of the ALDS is when we saw Cueto be the Cueto we expected to see. He pitched eight innings of two run ball in a game that the Royals went on to win 7-2 and punch their ticket to the ALCS.
Really, this should have been a shutout for Johnny, but an inning ending play was botched and therefore a guy was on first and the next Astro up to the plate smashed a home run to put two runs on the board.
Cueto’s next start was in Game 3 of the ALCS in Toronto and he sucked. He made it less than three innings and gave up eight runs. It was brutal. Kris Medlen stopped some of the bleeding, but it was too late, as the Royals went on to lose that one 11-8.
The final start of Cueto’s days as a Royal (well, we’ll assume that for the time being) saw him pitching a complete game against the Mets in Game 2 of the World Series. It was a 7-1 game and the Royals took a 2-0 lead in the World Series. What a note to go out on, right?
We all said that if the Kansas City Royals won the Word Series, that the Johnny Cueto trade would be worth it. Well, the Royals won the World Series, my friends, so I’d say the trade was worth it. He had two phenomenal pitching performances during the playoffs, and that’s EXACTLY what Dayton Moore was wanting when he went out and got him.
Well done Johnny. Well done.
Next: Heavy hearts