Royals’ Volquez in Dominican Republic for father’s funeral

Cueto won his second straight start at Kauffman Stadium this postseason.

“He was electric”, Royals slugger Eric Hosmer said.

In Game 2, he was far better than deGrom, and the Royals took a commanding 2-0 lead in the Series with a 7-1 victory.

Volquez said he was in a lot of pain as his eyes welled with tears while he attended his father’s memorial service a day before the funeral.

The rating was up 22 percent from the 7.3/12 for San Francisco’s 7-1 romp over Kansas City in the first game last year and the viewers were up 22 percent from last year’s 12.2 million.

All nine men in the Royals lineup batted in the fifth, and the four runs and five hits allowed by deGrom in the inning both tied career worsts. A few fans wore wigs resembling Cueto’s long, dark dreadlocks – including the Royals’ mascot, Slugerrr. The series now shifts back to New York, with the Mets searching desperately for an antidote for the Royals’ relentless attack.

“We knew that going into the game, I think we’ve said it before, that they don’t swing and miss”, deGrom said. “I want to finish it there”.

“Our plan for Chris Young was that if we needed him, we would use him 45 to 50 pitches, and he still would be available Game 4”, Yost said. “It just shows you right now with us not hitting how big Dan Murphy really was in the NLCS with the home runs”. Pitch location was the issue for deGrom.

His father, the man who prodded him to take up baseball, was dead. I’ve learned that they don’t try to do too much with the baseball. “They keep the line moving”, catcher Travis d’Arnaud said.

The 40,410 fans in Kauffman Stadium were standing and serenading Cueto as he came out for the ninth inning, and they were screaming his name as the game ended.

Cueto also avenged his last start, in which he allowed eight runs in two innings, one of the worst postseason performances in history.

“This isn’t the ideal position to be in, that’s a given”, Wright said after going 0-for-4 against Johnny Cueto.

Cueto struck out four and walked three in the lowest-hit Series complete game by an American League pitcher since Boston’s Jim Lonborg threw a one-hitter against St. Louis in 1967.

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

De Grom had held Kansas City to one hit through the first four innings but soon got in trouble in the fifth, when he walked Alex Gordon leading off. He then tallied an RBI single in the fourth inning by blooping a ball between Moustakas and left fielder Alex Gordon.

Ben Zobrist’s grounder advanced the runners, and Lorenzo Cain fouled off four pitches before a flyout to short centre.

Gordon added an RBI double in the eighth on a ball that scooted under Mets shortstop Wilmer Flores’ glove and trickled 40 feet into left field. Pablo Orlando’s sacrifice fly scored Salvadore Perez. However, the Mets were picked by many to finish third in the NL East, behind the favorite Nationals and a potential wild-card team in Miami.

With the Mets now trailing in the World Series two games to none, they will look to Noah Syndergaard to right the ship Friday night in Game 3 at Citi Field in New York. He set down 16 of the final 17 batters he faced, helping Kansas City to a 2-0 lead.

The man who found it, Blake Esfeld, watched Game Two with his 8-month-old son, Weston, at their Stapleton home Wednesday.