KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Following the final out, after Johnny Cueto completed his two-hitter, several hundred fans remained in Kauffman Stadium, wanting one more look at the Kansas City Royals.
The next time they see Cueto and his teammates may be in a parade.
The Royals defeated the New York Mets, 7-1, on Wednesday night in Game 2 of the World Series, taking a two-game lead into Citi Field this weekend with a chance at capturing their first championship since 1985.
“There’s still a lot of work yet to do,” first baseman Eric Hosmer said. “Last year we took a 2-1 lead in San Francisco and were feeling pretty good about ourselves.”
Kansas City wore down Jacob deGrom with persistence and prowess, then pounced. Hosmer hit a tiebreaking, two-run single with two outs in a four-run fifth inning that included 14 foul balls.
Nineteen hours after Hosmer’s sacrifice fly won a 14-inning thriller, Cueto varied his delivery with occasional quick pitches and kept the Mets off balance. An excited crowd stood on its feet for long stretches to cheer on the rainy night.
The teams take Thursday off, then Citi Field hosts its first World Series game on Friday, when rookie Noah Syndergaard starts for the Mets and Yordano Ventura for the Royals.
Forty-one of the 51 teams to take 2-0 leads in best-of-seven World Series have gone on to win the title, including the last nine. The Atlanta Braves stumbled against the New York Yankees in 1996.
Kansas City had the best contact hitters in the major leagues this season, missing on just 19.7 percent of swings. The Dodgers and Cubs swung and missed 58 times in deGrom’s first three postseason outings, but he got just three swings and misses against the Royals — his career low.
“We don’t swing and miss,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “We find ways to just keep putting the ball in play until you find holes.”
Of deGrom’s 94 pitches, 23 were fouled off by the Royals.
“I told Jake, ’Not everything has to be a strike,’” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “’You’ve got to move it around. You’ve got to change speeds, give them something to look at. If you continue to pound the strike zone, they’re going to put it in play,’ and that’s what they did.”
Cueto has struggled on the road, but since the Royals acquired the free-agent-to-be from the Cincinnati Reds in July, he’s been on the spot at Kauffman Stadium. He pitched two-hit ball over eight innings to win Game 5 of the American League Division Series against the Houston Astros, and Kansas City lined up its World Series rotation to have Cueto starting Game 2 and Game 6, if need be, at home.
Cueto struck out four and walked three. The two hits were the fewest allowed in a World Series complete game by an AL pitcher since the Boston Red Sox’s Jim Lonborg threw a one-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1967.
Both New York hits were soft singles by Lucas Duda, an infield roller to third that took advantage of the shift in the second inning and an opposite-field RBI single to left in the fourth. Cueto let loose some emotion at the end of the eighth inning, when Alcides Escobar made a nifty play to retire Juan Lagares for the final out. As Escobar sprinted past him, Cueto exchanged a flamboyant high five with the shortstop.
After Yoenis Cespedes flied to center for the final out, Cueto pointed to the sky and was congratulated by catcher Salvador Perez. Cueto pitched the first Series complete game by an AL pitcher since the Minnesota Twins’ Jack Morris won Game 7 against Atlanta in 1991.
“That’s what they brought me here for, was to help win a World Series,” Cueto said.
DeGrom, 3-0 in the postseason coming in, allowed four runs, six hits and three walks over five innings. Pitching with seven days’ rest, deGrom held Kansas City to one hit through four innings but got in trouble in the fifth, when he walked Alex Gordon on a 3-2 slider leading off.
Alex Rios followed with a single and Escobar fouled off a pair of bunt attempts before driving an 0-2 slider up the middle for a tying single.
Ben Zobrist’s grounder advanced the runners, and Lorenzo Cain fouled off four pitches before a flyout to short center. Hosmer singled off the mound into center field for a 3-1 lead, and Kendrys Morales’ singled in another run.
Gordon added an RBI double in the eighth off Jon Niese, a ball off the glove of shortstop Wilmer Flores. Paulo Orlando followed with a sacrifice fly against Addison Reed, and Escobar tripled in a run.
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