KC Royals: Top Ten Moments During 2015 Postseason
Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Wade Davis – Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports
5) Wade Davis in Game 6 of ALCS
For the last two seasons, Wade Davis has been dominant out of the bullpen. Once a starter for the Royals after being traded from Tampa Bay, Davis found his niche in the bullpen, especially as the eighth inning guy last year.
The middle member of the H-D-H trio, Davis had career seasons in 2014 and 2015. No one thought Davis would have a better season than he did in 2014, but he did just that. After posing a 1.00 ERA in 2014, Davis improved to a 0.94 ERA in 2015. He allowed eight runs ALL SEASON LONG and only seven of them were earned!
Davis deserved that moment though. He deserved to win it for the Royals for the final time this season.
Anyway, now onto his big moment from the playoffs. Wade Davis himself could have just been listed as the biggest moment from the postseason, but there was one moment that outshone the rest, and that moment was in Game 6 of the ALCS.
The Royals were leading the series three games to two and needed one more game to make it to their second consecutive World Series.
After Jose Bautista had tied the game at three runs apiece with a two-run homer off Ryan Madson, Davis took the mound to try and limit any further damage. He got out of the inning safely, but a rain delay stopped the game for close to an hour.
Once the game resumed, Lorenzo Cain helped the Royals take the lead after Eric Hosmer singled to deep right. Cain scored all the way from first on a throwing error by Bautista.
It’s all too fitting that Wade got to record the final three outs of the World Series.
The ninth inning almost always meant it was time for Wade Davis (at least once Greg Holland was done for the year due to needing surgery), but could he pitch after an hour long rain delay?
Davis did indeed come out for the ninth and within no time, Toronto had a man on third with no outs. It seemed evident that the Blue Jays were going to either take the lead or at the very least tie the game up. Davis then walked Kevin Pillar, which led to a guy being on first and third with no outs.
Never fear though. Davis came through as he always did by getting Dioner Navarro and Ben Revere to strike out swinging and Josh Donaldson (of all people) to ground out to Mike Moustakas, who tossed the ball Eric Hosmer to end the game.
It’s all too fitting that Wade got to record the final three outs of the World Series even though by that point, the Royals really didn’t need him to close it out (they were up by five runs).
Davis deserved that moment though. He deserved to win it for the Royals for the final time this season.
Next: In the clutch once again