Johnny Cueto pitches Kansas City Royals past Houston Astros, into ALCS

This performance by Cueto was what the Royals exactly traded for at the trade deadline.

The right-hander stepped up big-time on the big stage, holding the Houston Astros to two hits over eight innings as the Kansas City Royals won 7-2 Wednesday night in fifth and decisive game of the American League Division Series.

He was unbelievably good,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He knew the magnitude of this game. He came out from the first pitch, just had everything going. He came in after the eighth inning and was lobbying to go back out in the ninth.”

Cueto walked none and struck out eight, his high in 15 starts with the Royals, including two starts in the ALDS.

“I don’t think they had a chance,” said Royals right fielder Alex Rios, whose two-run, fifth-inning double put Kansas City on top for good.

While Cueto was brought in to be the staff ace, he was disappointing until Wednesday. In one five-game stretch, all losses, Cueto had an earned-run average higher than 9.00, and overall he was 4-7 with a 4.76 ERA in 13 regular-season starts for Kansas City.

“There’s no doubt that he knew there some talk out there (about) what was wrong with Johnny Cueto,” said Cueto, with catching coach Pedro Grifol acting his interpreter. “But that today was the game that (I) was going to show everybody what (I am) all about in big games. And that’s what (I) did.”

When the Royals needed him the most — win or go home until spring training — Cueto came through for his first postseason victory. He was 0-2 with a 5.52 ERA in his four previous playoff starts.

“He showed why he’s going to make himself a lot of money,” said losing pitcher Colin McHugh. “He’s one of the top free agents on the market.”

When Wade Davis breezed through the ninth, the Royals could celebrate.

Game 1 Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada gave up the most home runs in the National League a year ago – 29 as a Milwaukee Brewer.

The toll has been paid and his account balanced–Johnny Cueto delivered exactly what he was brought to Kansas City for.

Hours before the game, Ned Yost settled into his for a press conference and strummed his finger against the microphone. “He came out from the first pitch, just had everything going, had his two-seamer, had his changeup, had his cutter”. The Royals scored seven unanswered runs in games four and five against Houston, and have outscored their opponent 14-2 in the last eleven innings.

Johnny Cueto shook both his fists as he strutted off the diamond, as if absorbing the electricity pulsing through Kauffman Stadium, a ballpark galvanized by the finest outing of Cueto’s brief Royals career. “Hats off to him”. He proceeded to retire the next 19 hitters in order, the longest such streak by an AL pitcher in the postseason since Don Larsen’s flawless game in the 1956 World Series.

With a awful loss in the first game, there was absolutely no way they could bounce back to do anything relevant, or so we thought.

Collin McHugh (1-1), who won the divisional series opener for Houston, allowed three runs in four-plus innings.

“I felt like I let the team down a little bit, especially if I (had) got out of the inning down two, I felt like we had a shot to come back”, Keuchel said.

The only problem was the Astros had not won their series against Kansas City and went on to lose that game, and the series deciding game on Wednesday.

But after scoring one of the most debated runs in recent memory the Texas Rangers looked set to join them in an all-Surprise ALCS.

Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain drove in runs off Estrada (1-1), while Eric Hosmer and Kendrys Morales tacked on two more off LaTroy Hawkins to put the game away.

The Royals forged ahead with a three-run fifth and sent McHugh to the showers. Rounding out the top five are: Austin (5.4), Hartford (5.2) and St. Louis (5.1).

The Kansas City Royals acquired the right-hander in a July 26 trade with the Cincinnati Reds, a rent-an-ace acquisition.

Toronto led their season series 4-3, with a few bad blood emerging from the teams in August when players from each team were hit by pitches.

If Cueto were the same pitcher he was down the stretch – the one who couldn’t get strikeouts and had a low ground-ball rate – he’d be in a world of trouble against the Jays. You’ve still got to win three in a row, but before that first game in Texas, Joe Torre was down there.

At this point, I don’t know how much run differentials mean in a short series.

-RHP Pat Neshek. Usually death to right-handed hitters, they hit.315/.371/.539 against him in the second half of 2015.

“We kind of raised the bar of Astros baseball for sure and kind of earned the respect of people who didn’t believe in us before”, George Springer said after the game.