Johnny Cueto was 0-2 with a 5.52 ERA in four career postseason starts heading into Wednesday night. He silenced all the critics when he pitched the Kansas City Royals to the ALCS with a masterful Game 5 performance against the Houston Astros.
Cueto allowed a two-run home run to Luis Valbuena in the second inning and that was it. The right-hander retired 19 straight batters en route to a 7-2 victory and his first career postseason win. He allowed two earned runs on two hits and struck out eight over eight innings. Wade Davis then shut the door in the ninth.
The Royals are back in the ALCS for the second straight year.
Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer began the team's comeback (they were down 2-0 after Valbuena's homer) with an RBI single in the fourth off Astros starter Collin McHugh, who allowed three earned runs on five hits and one walk over four innings.
Alex Rios added a two-run double in the fifth to put Kansas City up 3-2, and that was the beginning of the end. Ben Zobrist contributed a sacrifice fly later in the inning and Kendrys Morales blasted a three-run homer off of Astros left-hander Dallas Keuchel in the eighth.
The Royals powered their way past a tough, young Astros team that was six outs away from an ALCS berth on Monday. They led Kansas City 6-2 in the eighth inning of Game 4, but the Royals responded with a five-run eighth inning in that contest and capped off an incredible comeback to force Game 5.
Houston didn't have an entirely unfavorable matchup with McHugh facing off against Cueto, but the Astros' offense scattered only two hits on the night and struck out nine times. Jose Altuve, George Springer, Carlos Correa, Colby Rasmus and Carlos Gomez went a combined 0-for-17 with six strikeouts after dominating the first four games of the ALDS.
In the end, Cueto justified why the Royals traded for him before the deadline and earned himself some more money in the offseason when he hits free agency. But for now, he'll be focused on facing the MLB's top offense when the Toronto Blue Jays come to town later in the week.
The Royals' last back-to-back ALCS appearances came in 1984 and 1985. After losing in the ALCS in '84, Kansas City came back to win the World Series in '85, which is the franchise's only championship.
