Cole Ragans brings the KC Royals to the brink of ALDS with Gem against Orioles

BALTIMORE – It was 2 hours and 25 minutes of crisp playoff baseball theater on Tuesday afternoon, the margin for error was virtually non-existent, the best-of-three format ensured that either the Kansas City Royals or the Baltimore Orioles came out on top would emerge from the end of this stalemate, and just a few hours later they would be threatened with elimination.

And for 10 Kansas City Royals whose names would appear on the list, Game 1 of their American League wild-card series was their first glimpse of postseason baseball, a battle not just against the talented Orioles but for their own Regulating emotions and calming the heart when needed and letting it out when the situation requires it.

Major League Baseball’s youngest team has passed the test like its most seasoned veteran.

You could see it in Cole Ragans, the 26-year-old left-hander who, watching former Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes hang zero after zero at Camden Yards, simply strolled to the mound and attacked him inning after inning.

This was clearly demonstrated by Lucas Erceg, who entered the game in the eighth inning with the game-winning runs on base and tied it with the loss of 44-home run man Anthony Santander and a leadoff walk as well as a flurry of pinch-hits. had hitters reeling in the ninth inning.

And not surprisingly, the game’s winning hit came from standout shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., whose first playoff heroics in a long and successful career came with a modestly hit but well-placed soft line drive to left field The game’s only run came in the sixth inning.

The Royals outlasted the Orioles and their 41,506 raucous fans, outlasted the efficient and remarkable Burnes, and earned their first playoff victory since winning the 2015 World Series. Their 1-0 triumph means they finish behind veteran Seth Lugo in this series Win Game 2 on Wednesday and ensure playoff baseball games come to Kauffman Stadium next week in the AL Division Series.

And when they take the field at Camden Yards for kickoff at 4:38 p.m. ET, they will no longer be postseason newcomers.

“It’s my first playoff experience,” said Erceg, who was acquired from the Oakland Athletics at the trade deadline and thrust into the highest-leverage role in the Royals’ bullpen.

“And now I know.”

Not all.

Game 1 delivered a classic, thanks almost entirely to Burnes and Ragans, who were acquired from the Texas Rangers in June 2023 and have only raised and exceeded expectations in the 15 months since.

On Tuesday, he brought the most devastating version of his five-pitch mix, particularly a 96-mph fastball that had more crackle than usual on Tuesday. This only made his ankle curve, slider and a changeup that he constantly buried to Orioles hitters even more effective.

It wasn’t so much the pitch mix, but rather the, shall we say, moxie that he displayed in the game’s biggest moments.

It appeared Kansas City had given the Orioles the chance they needed when, in a scoreless game, left fielder MJ Melendez misplayed a fly ball from Ramon Urias in the fifth for a one-out double. Cedric Mullins dropped a soft single up the middle, putting runners on the corners.

Ragans was undeterred.

Hitting No. 9 hitter James McCann was one thing. But when the lineup was flipped and shortstop Gunnar Henderson took his turn, Ragans was asked to dig deeper.

Facing Henderson’s 37 homers and .893 OPS, he didn’t shy away, hitting him with three consecutive fastballs before throwing perhaps his best pitch of the day – a slider that launched high and ducked below the zone, which Henderson responded with who slammed his fist to end his danger.

Ragans, an All-Star this year whose gentle Florida Panhandle impersonation generally delivers calm and thoughtful insights, lets loose with a roar. Threat over.

“I mean, you could tell he was right down there,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “And we know how good Henderson is at the plate, and to get the strikeout there, that’s huge for us, and you could see the emotion on Cole’s face.

“You know, it gave the dugout a huge boost.”

Ragans says: “I got out of trouble straight away. Let it out a little, yeah.”

Maybe it was just a coincidence, but the Royals – arguably the most offensively challenged of the dozen teams in these playoffs – were finally able to get a lead. Burnes helped by finally blinking and issuing a one-out walk to No. 9 hitter Maikel Garcia, who promptly secured second against the slow right-hander.

One later it was Witt’s turn. Earlier Tuesday, designated hitter Vinnie Pasquantino was activated after missing five weeks due to thumb surgery. Minus Pasquantino, maybe Witt won’t get a throw to bat.

But Burnes went after him. And Witt — the AL’s batting champion at 24, the man with 109 RBI this year — drove in the biggest run of his career. Just a little banter – but that’s all we needed that day.

“As Tommy Pham says,” Witt says of his wise teammate, playing in his fifth postseason, “whenever you allow the other team to score zero runs, you have a 99.999% chance of winning the game.”

“I like our chances whenever we do this.”

Oh, but there were still 12 outs to go. And after Ragans caused a sixth-inning shutdown following Witt’s RBI, he felt cramps in his left calf.

So Sammy Long and Kris Bubic, the lower-leverage players, were asked to eat an inning each, but Bubic only got the first two outs of the eighth before giving up a walk to Henderson and a single to Jordan Westburg.

Erceg, who saved 14 games this year, including 11 for the Royals, would have to get four outs.

“It was somehow indescribable,” says Erceg. “You feel the presence of the audience, the culmination of years of effort to reach this point. Just being in this situation is really special.”

After knocking Santander out with a second-pitch grounder, Erceg stormed off the mound — and right past the third-base umpire, who was trying to check his pitching hand for banned substances. Adrenaline, man.

It became his enemy when Erceg started the ninth with a full-count walk to pinch-hitter Ryan O’Hearn. Veteran catcher Salvador Perez, the last remaining member of Kansas City’s 2015 title roster, pays him a visit.

“I kind of lost my case. I noticed that I was driving a little too fast on the hill,” says Erceg. “I’m glad I understood that and hit the reset button, so to speak. Salvy came to the mound and kind of set me back.”

Quatraro says: “You know, (Perez) is a great person, a great leader, but in cases like this, that’s the guy we want out there to understand what’s happening.”

And so Erceg finished the ball. He counted Adleyrutschman all the way and then snatched the last point in the zone with a substitution. Colton Cowser flew out to center.

Finally, Erceg finished off the ball by firing up pinch-hitter Heston Kjerstad, putting the Royals on the brink of advancing.

It was the first 1-0 playoff game since Houston’s 18-inning win over Seattle in the 2022 AL Division Series. And the first thing the Royals hope to do is face Ragans this October – who has eight strikeouts scored and drew no walks.

“Six innings, no runs? Tell me,” Perez said playfully. “Amazing, man. He was good today.”

Erceg says: “Pure electricity. The guy wants it. We all want it, but he proved it by going on the mound and absolutely pushing.”

And Ragans, in a sense, already knew the key to playoff baseball before he even threw a pitch.

“What we’ve done as a team to get to this point is good enough,” he says. “That’s what got us here.”

Soon it could send her home. The grim reality for the second and third wild cards is that they are not guaranteed a home playoff game. But now they have two chances to win a game at Camden Yards, beat for New York and face the Yankees in the ALDS.

And then finally back to Kauffman Stadium.

“When I hear the crowd here,” Witt says of the crush at Camden Yards, “I can’t imagine it at the K.”

The Orioles, meanwhile, are suddenly on the verge of another playoff victory after Texas beat them 3-0 in the 2023 ALDS. Baltimore has lost nine straight postseason games since Kansas City’s victory in the 2014 ALCS.

“It’s win or go home,” said Burnes, who managed just 84 shots in the ninth in what may have been his final start for Baltimore before hitting the free-agent market.

“I think this is a team I would play with against anyone.”

But the Royals felt that way right from the start – and the mood only got better after they won Game 1. Of course, it’s too early to say they’re just getting started.

But that’s the goal, and one they proved more than capable of achieving in their first playoff meeting.

“We want to play baseball for another month,” Ragans said.

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Cole Ragans brings the KC Royals to the brink of ALDS with Gem against Orioles

ByJasper

By Jasper

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