Just as the Royals planned (sort of), Johnny Cueto shines in moment of truth

Johnny Cueto’s meltdown before a rambunctious crowd in Toronto in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series was testament enough to a gathering sense of his inability to process such pressure.

But the result also was delivered with the insinuation of a certain flakiness in Cueto.

It wasn’t just the way Cueto appeared as he came off the mound that day smiling — while surely grimacing inside — to the jeers of Blue Jays fans after he was removed from a debacle in which he’d be charged with eight runs in 2 innings of an 11-8 loss.

The perception also stemmed from his allusion to being thrown off by the mound height being different on the field than it had been in the bullpen and by a suggestion that he had been flustered by some sign-stealing of the Blue Jays.

Coming from a fellow whose heralded arrival as an ace had disintegrated through a series of turbulent starts later attributed to the placement of Sal Perez’s glove, events in Toronto seemed to confirm either a deficiency of intensity or accountability.

But in Game 2 of the World Series on Wednesday at Kauffman Stadium, before a world-wide audience and under fierce scrutiny, Cueto repudiated any such perception with a redemptive night.

“He likes,” pitching coach Dave Eiland said, “to redeem himself.”

Befitting the reputation he’d earned before the Royals acquired him in July, he uncoiled a sterling complete-game performance to smother the Mets to a run and two hits in the Royals’ 7-1 win.

“Every team in baseball wanted this guy at the deadline for a reason,” Eiland said, “and we saw that tonight.”

The victory paved by the man who, it turns out, did the precise job he was brought here to do extended their lead over the Mets to 2-0 as the series moves to New York for the next three games … if all are necessary.

“Hopefully, we don’t have to use (Cueto) any more,” said center fielder Lorenzo Cain, mindful that Cueto wouldn’t pitch again until Game 6. “But if we do, I don’t expect anything less.”

Some mystery remains in trying to understand how Cueto can be prone to such extremes, but he said he was motivated by the moment at hand and also by the chance to honor teammate and Dominican countryman Edinson Volquez, whose father died before Game 1 on Tuesday.

“I dedicated that game to Volquez’s dad and the whole family,” Cueto said through translator Pedro Grifol. “And thank God it turned out that way.”

For some context on the way it turned out, consider that it was the first complete World Series game by an American League pitcher since Jack Morris did it for Minnesota in Game 7 in 1991 against Atlanta.

Cueto also became the first pitcher in a World Series game since Atlanta’s Greg Maddux in Game 1 in 1995 to throw at least nine innings while allowing no more than two hits.

“Tonight was everything we expected Johnny to be …,” manager Ned Yost said. “Just a spectacular performance by him.”

In remarkable contrast to his last appearance, which featured Blue Jays fans after the game chanting, “We want Cueto,” this time Cueto over and over would hear approving chants of his name along the way to retiring 16 of the last 17 batters he faced.

Just as planned, you might say, if you didn’t mind a few detours and hiccups and tweaks on the way here.

After all, the Royals sought Cueto because they believed him to be among the final crucial pieces they’d need not just to make another deep playoff run but, in fact, to win the World Series.

So say what you will about the fact he won’t be performing on the road and that with so many ups and downs for him since arriving in Kansas City it was hard to know what could be expected even here.

You can’t do what he did on Wednesday, or for that matter in the decisive Game 5 of the American League Division Series (eight innings, two runs) against Houston, without a deep reservoir of inner strength and substance.

For everything else that’s happened, exasperating moments and promising blips, those two nights in particular makes it tough to say it wasn’t all worth it for the Royals.

Even if he’s been confounding or frustrating at times, not just to fans but to the Royals themselves.

The oddities of his brief time here, likely to end when he enters free agency after the season, perhaps all were encapsulated in Toronto:

Initial optimism after the previous start against Houston … some trouble early that the Royals hoped he’d work through … and then a knockout punch that left all wondering anew what he is about.

In this case, that seemed to be more called into question the next day, even if inadvertently.

Yost noted that Cueto’s relief that day, Kris Medlen, had no trouble with the mound and teammate, and Volquez said sign-stealing should be no distraction — and if it’s happening it’s your own fault.

While they denied a lack of faith in Cueto on the road was a factor, the Royals then contoured their World Series rotation, essentially, to make sure he’d pitch only at home.

Yost would emphasize the “energy” Cueto gets from the home crowd, not the opposite aspect of the dynamic.

And entering the game on Wednesday, Cueto was fixated on the here and now.

“What happened in Toronto happened in Toronto. That's over with,” he said. “We’re here in the World Series. I’m not thinking about that. Toronto is not here in the World Series.”

And as turbulent as it was for Cueto along the way, he is here with the Royals — just as it was, mostly, designed.

This story was originally published October 28, 2015 at 10:56 PM with the headline "Just as the Royals planned (sort of), Johnny Cueto shines in moment of truth."