The Kansas City Royals took Game 1 of the 2015 World Series thanks to late-inning heroics from a few of their players. The New York Mets need to rebound in Game 2 to avoid going into an 0-2 hole before heading back to Citi Field.
Jacob deGrom will take the mound in hopes of tying up the series for New York, but he'll be going up against Johnny Cueto, who is no easy opponent despite his recent struggles.
Here's what to expect in Game 2.
3. Both defenses won't be pulling that nonsense again, so expect a more disciplined game
First came Yoenis Cespedes' blunder in the first inning when he allowed Alcides Escobar's fly ball to bounce off his foot and into left field, which resulted in the leadoff inside-the-park home run. Somehow it wasn't ruled an error.
That put the Royals up 1-0.
Then Eric Hosmer uncharacteristically (and quite terribly) misplayed a ground ball off the bat of Wilmer Flores in the top of the eighth inning. The miscue allowed Juan Lagares to score from second base when the ball rolled into right field and the Mets took a 4-3 lead.
Luckily for Hosmer, Alex Gordon bailed him out and tied the game in the ninth with a solo home run.
But the most devastating error came in the bottom of the 14th when Mets captain David Wright bobbled a hard hit ground ball from Escobar and then made a bad throw that pulled first baseman Lucas Duda off the bag. Zobrist singled Escobar to third base in the next at-bat and that was the end of the night for New York.
Kansas City won two at-bats later when Hosmer hit a sac fly to score Escobar.
The Royals had the 10th-best fielding percentage in the MLB and the Mets had the 12th, so don't expect errors to determine any game from this point forward.
2. Total DEGROMINATION
George W. Bush once said: "There's an old saying in Tennessee, I know it's in Texas, it's probably in Tennessee. It says 'fool me once, shame on ... shame on you. You fool me, you can't get fooled again.'"
Something like that.
The bottom line is that the Mets' pitchers will not be fooled by the Royals for a second consecutive night. Although Matt Harvey pitched very well last night, the Royals got to him at certain points in time, which ended up being the difference.
All it takes is one or two at-bats in the playoffs to determine the outcome of a game.
Throwing a first-pitch fastball down Broadway to Alcides Escobar in the bottom of the first was a mistake. The fact that Ben Zobrist was the most dangerous hitter for the Royals last night was also a symptom of (somewhat) poor game planning.
That won't happen again with Jacob deGrom on the mound. Remember in Game 5 of the NLDS against the Dodgers when Los Angeles kept getting deGrom into jams and crushed his fastball early in the night? The right-hander adjusted and worked around hitters, threw more offspeed stuff and kept his poise with runners on base.
Not that Matt Harvey didn't do that, but deGrom already experienced such a struggle in a high-pressure situation and he'll be up for the task if need be.
deGrom is 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 27 strikeouts in three starts this postseason and he was 6-4 with a 2.80 ERA against top-10 offenses in 2015. Don't expect that to be any different tonight.
1. The Mets will knock Johnny Cueto out early
We really don't know what Cueto will bring. He could come out and throw a gem like he did in Game 5 of the ALDS against the Houston Astros. He could come out and throw a dud like he did in Game 3 of the ALCS against the Toronto Blue Jays.
He'll at least be home, which is an advantage, but let's not forget Cueto has spent his entire career in the National League before coming to the Royals at the trade deadline. The Mets have plenty of experience against the right-hander and that's not good news for Cueto.
He's 3-4 with a 4.02 ERA and 1.37 WHIP in 11 starts (65 innings) when facing New York, and now that the stakes are higher and the Mets boast the best offense they've had in years, Cueto is mostly at a disadvantage.
And even if he does have a solid outing, the Royals are going to need to give him more than two runs of support if they want to stand a chance. Good luck doing that against deGrom. Cueto is 2-10 with a 4.31 ERA and 1.25 WHIP in 12 starts this season where he has gotten between zero and two runs of support.
Prediction: Mets 6, Royals 2
