Cueto Retires Last 19 Batters He Faces And Leads Royals To ALCS

By David Conde
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Updated: October 14, 2015

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The Kansas City Royals scored seven runs in the eighth and ninth inning of Game Four on Monday to erase a 6-2 deficit and force a Game Five.

On Wednesday, they put their fate into the hands of starter Johnny Cueto and he tossed what has to be his best performance of the season to lead KC to the ALCS.

Both teams did not put up a run in the first inning, but in the second the Astros got on the board when Luis Valbuena hit his first home run of the postseason, a two-run shot over the right field wall to put Houston up 2-0. But that would be the last time any Astros batters would reach base.

Cueto settled down and after the home run retired the next 19 batters he would face until he exited the game after the eighth inning.

As for the Royals offense, they finally got a run on the board in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single off the bat of Eric Hosmer to pull within 2-1.

In the fifth and with two runners on, Alex Rios hit a ground ball that was just fair over the third base bag to score two runs and Ben Zobrist hit an RBI sac fly to put the Royals up 4-2.

Astros Ace Dallas Keuchel made a relief appearance in the eighth inning and with two runners on base, Kendrys Morales put the game away for good with one swing of the bat, as he launched a line drive three-run shot over the center field fence to extend the lead to 7-2.

In the ninth, Wade Davis retired the Astros in order to end the game and secure the comeback victory.

Game Note

After the Valbuena home run, Royals pitchers combined to retired the last 22 Houston batters

Top Performers

Astros
Luis Valbuena – 1 for 3, HR, 2 RBI

Royals
Kendrys Morales – 1 for 3, HR, 3 RBI
Alex Rios – 2 for 3, Double, 2 RBI
Johnny Cueto – 8 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 8 K

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David is the Founder and Executive Editor of Legends On Deck®. He was a Senior Editor for MetsMerizedOnline, MetsMinors.net and Contributor for Hardballchat.com. David's idea for Legends on Deck is to be a site where passionate fans of the game have a place to read about their favorite baseball teams. The site is also for people who have a talent to write or even take photographs and need a platform to share their work. The passion of following the Minor Leagues can be seen all over the site as the players journey's are what drives the LOD team to share their content. David's passion is making available a site that people can have fun sharing and reading. You can also reach out to David at daconde24@gmail.com