Royals’ Johnny Cueto is in complete command in 7-1 victory over Mets

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Johnny Cueto was too excited to walk, too amped up to jog. As a raucous crowd chanted his name, Cueto skipped and danced to the mound for the ninth inning. He jumped over the foul line and into greatness, and he was taking his team with him.

He was Johnny Freaking Cueto.

The trade deadline came and went in 2014, with the Kansas City Royals reaching for their first postseason trip in 29 years, and the front office brought in Jason Frasor, a fourth or fifth option for the bullpen.

The trade deadline came and went this year, and the Royals brought in Johnny Freaking Cueto, the kind of golden arm usually dispatched to a metropolis along the lines of Los Angeles, Chicago, New York or Detroit. The Royals were playing to win this year.

So Cueto got those last three outs, the first American League pitcher to complete a World Series game in 24 years. He pounded his heart. He delivered. After Cueto tamed the New York Mets in a 7-1 victory in Game 2 of the Series, the Royals are halfway to a title.

“That’s what they brought me here for, to help win a World Series,” Cueto said.

No guarantees for a parade, but the odds are heavily stacked in the Royals’ favor. The last nine teams, and 15 of the last 16, to take a 2-0 lead in the Series have gone on to win.

The Series moves to New York for the next three games. Cueto would not pitch again unless the Series returns to Kansas City.

“Hopefully, we don’t have to use him any more,” outfielder Lorenzo Cain said.

Cueto gave up two hits, one an infield single and the other a bloop single over an infield shifted the other way. He retired the last 16 of the final 17 batters he faced, making 122 pitches in becoming the first AL pitcher to complete a Series game and give up so few hits since 1967.

After a somber and taut Game 1 — starting with the death of the father of Kansas City starter Edinson Volquez and continuing through a 14-inning, post-midnight contest — the Royals broke loose in Game 2. Cueto said he dedicated the game to Volquez’s father, and what a game it was.

The Mets carried a 1-0 lead into the fifth inning, but the Royals put men on first and second with none out. That brought up Alcides Escobar, who tried to bunt the runners along, not because Manager Ned Yost ordered him to do so, but because he thought it was a good idea.

The first bunt was popped foul. The second was also foul.

Another foul bunt would mean a strikeout, so there would not be another bunt. So Escobar, who was trying to make an out, rapped a single into center field, driving in the tying run.

The next two batters made out, and that would have been the end of the inning had Escobar succeeded in making an out. For the Mets, alas: three more singles and four runs. The Royals batted around and had the lead for good.

Escobar, the most valuable player of the AL Championship Series, leads all players with 20 hits this postseason. He is two shy of Derek Jeter’s major league record for hits by a shortstop in a postseason.

Alex Gordon, the longest-tenured Royals player, made his debut in 2007. He remembers losing season piled upon losing season, his first winning season in 2013, his first postseason in 2014. Yeah, he remembers the day the Royals got Cueto.

“We were excited,” Gordon said. “It definitely gave us a huge boost.”

Gordon recalled how impressed he was when Cueto pitched here in May, for the Cincinnati Reds.

“Complete game,” Gordon said. “Might have been a shutout.”

There was a shutout that day, but the Royals threw it. Cueto lost, 3-0. But you can jar memories when you are Johnny Freaking Cueto, and you can carry the Royals to within two victories of glory.