Johnny Cueto Tosses Impressive Game, Royals Advance

The Kansas City Royals gave up a lot to get longtime Cincinnati Reds pitching ace Johnny Cueto on their roster when the trade deadline ended for the year. The rest of the year wasn’t up to Cueto’s anticipation, having a 4.76 ERA over 13 starts before the season’s end. In Game 2 of the ALDS, he gave up seven hits and caused four runs to be scored against him. But all of that did not matter for only one game counted for the pitcher and that was last night’s Game 5 elimination game against the Houston Astros. “I woke up today on the right foot,” Cueto said. “As soon as I woke up, I felt something magic, that this was Game 5 and I had to show up for everybody, for this team and the fans.”

Cueto definitely woke up on the right foot for he delivered a superb performance pitching eight innings and allowing only two hits, with the last 19 batters being retired including eight strikeouts. The Astros only came up with two runs for the night. “Johnny Cueto was unbelievable,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He knew the magnitude of this game. I think we all did. And he came out from the first pitch and had everything going.”

On the other side, the Royals bats were swinging throughout the night with right fielder Alex Rios hitting a two-run double and designated hitter Kendrys Morales sealing the deal for the Royals to advance with a three-run home run to have the team win in a 7-2 bout.

With this, the Royals will be back in the ALCS for the second year in a row facing the Toronto Blue Jays to have a spot for the World Series. The last time these two teams met in the ALCS was in 1985 with the Royals winning it all for the only time in team history.