Royals manager Ned Yost craftily engineers AL All-Star Game victory
CINCINNATI – For all the bluster about too many Kansas City Royals in this 86th All-Star Game – four in the starting lineup, seven on the roster – perhaps everyone overlooked the Royal who'd be quite instrumental in the American League locking down home field advantage in the World Series.
Manager Ned Yost, oft maligned and rarely afforded the acclaim of a pennant-winning skipper, turned the Midsummer Classic into what looked like just another Royals victory – a pitching plan he worked to perfection and one questionable move that turned out brilliantly.
The AL's 6-3 victory over the National League on Tuesday night at Great American Ball Park ensured that if the Royals recreate the magic of a pennant-winning October, they have the chance to finish the 2015 season exactly where 2014 ended – at home, in Game 7 of the World Series.
And while game MVP Mike Trout's impact was undeniable – a leadoff home run and three runs created by his on-base presence – the outcome was very much in doubt in the fifth inning. It was a 1-1 deadlock, two runners were on and reigning NL MVP Clayton Kershaw on the mound. Due up: Nelson Cruz, who ranks in the top five in every AL power-hitting category, and is hitting left-handers at a .388 clip this season.
No matter. Yost stuck to his plan of sending up Fielder, who was 3 for 15 lifetime against Kershaw and batting .276 against lefties this year.
The numbers suggested Cruz bat. The personnel down on the field saw a different situation.
"Fielder's, like, the best hitter on the planet," says Royals reliever Wade Davis. "It doesn't even matter who's pitching. Get a siren when he's coming – a tornado siren."
Said Yost: "When I saw Kershaw out there, I had Prince Fielder, and know how tough an out he is. It doesn't matter if it's left- or right-handed. I felt good about Prince doing exactly what he did."
And what he did was drive a Kershaw fastball to left field for the go-ahead RBI single. After Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain followed with an RBI double, the AL led 3-1, Kershaw had been toppled and the game swung dramatically in Yost's favor.
As so often happens.
"He's got a knack," says Twins closer Glen Perkins, who would pitch the ninth inning, "for pushing the right buttons."
Yost masterfully handled the Royals bullpen in guiding them through the October playoff gauntlet in 2014. Tuesday night was like trading in a Lexus for a Maserati.
A quartet of top-flight starters – Dallas Keuchel, David Price and Chris Archer – got the AL into the sixth with a 3-2 lead. Then, Yost's blueprint came into play.
"The sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth, we wanted guys accustomed to coming in in those situations," he said of the AL roster construction. "We looked at power-arm closers and power-arm set-up guys to get us through those last four innings."
Indeed, Yost hoped to use Archer for two innings, but the Tampa Bay Rays ace gave up a leadoff homer in the sixth to Andrew McCutchen, cutting the lead to 3-2 before he retired Todd Frazier on a ground out.
In came Zach Britton to start Yost's parade of closers. The Baltimore Orioles lefty – who's striking out 10.1 batters per nine innings this year – struck out Bryce Harper for the second out before his throwing error on a Paul Goldschmidt grounder and a Yadier Molina single created perhaps the most important at-bat of the night.
With no right-hander warming, Giants manager Bruce Bochy summoned Troy Tulowitzki to pinch hit, but Britton induced a fielder's choice groundout to preserve the lead.
More important, it preserved a game plan Yost couldn't wait to share with his AL bullpen.
Earlier this week, Royals pitching coach Dave Eiland phoned his Twins counterpart, Neil Allen, with some news: The ninth inning belongs to Perkins.
Monday, Yost cornered Yankees reliever Dellin Betances and delivered a simple message.
"Be ready for the seventh inning," Betances recalled. "So I already had it in my mind to get ready. And I felt good."
Davis, of course, works for Yost every day, and knew the eighth inning was his.
Those three handled the last nine outs with aplomb, striking out three and yielding just two hits and Perkins a ninth-inning run.
"I wish I had been in the dugout and been able to watch them up close," Davis said of an AL staff that combined on a six-hitter. "It's pretty much the way (Yost) planned it out.
"He told all us how he hoped it would go – and that's how it pretty much went."
And now the AL champion can count on some home cooking come October.
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