Royals rookie Brandon Finnegan dazzles in postseason debut

One month into his big-league career, Royals rookie left-hander Brandon Finnegan already has enjoyed two champagne-soaked clubhouse celebrations — not too shabby for a kid who only reached the legal drinking age in April.

“I could get used to these celebrations,” Finnegan said. “It’s a lot of fun. You see it on TV all the time — guys popping champagne bottles because they just won something. The fact I’m a part of it two months after college is, man, it’s a whirlwind and it’s also a blessing.”

Barely three months ago, Finnegan, 21, was drafted 17th overall in June’s first-year player draft then pitched for TCU in the College World Series.

On Tuesday, he delivered 2 1/3 innings of gutsy relief after the Royals forced extra innings during a wild 9-8 victory against Oakland in the AL Wild Card Game.

“Finnegan, this guy was something special tonight,” Royals ace James Shields said. “His composure was unbelievable. He had ice in his veins. It’s the biggest stage in the world. There’s no other baseball game on TV right now, and this guy came out here and obviously pitched his butt off.”

Finnegan struck out three of the nine batters he faced and allowed only one run on one hit with a walk in a mostly dazzling — and possibly season-saving — 29-pitch outing.

Royals manager Ned Yost called Finnegan’s performance phenomenal.

A’s manager Bob Melvin acknowledged as perhaps the game’s key component.

Finnegan himself remained in disbelief.

“I’ve always dreamed of being in the pros, but it still doesn’t feel real,” said Finnegan, who called the performance far and away the best moment of his baseball life.

“Oh, God, yeah — I’m 21, pitching in a postseason the year I got drafted,” Finnegan said. “That’s hard to explain.”

Finnegan needed only eight pitches to mow through the 10th, which he finished with a double fist pump after striking out pinch-hitter Nick Punto to end the inning.

“You’ve got 40,000 fans screaming and yelling then you get a strikeout to end the inning, it gets you going pretty well,” Finnegan said. “It was hard not to celebrate on that.”

Finnegan kept the party going an inning later, working around a two-out single by Josh Donaldson by freezing A’s designated hitter Brandon Moss with a 2-2 fastball for another inning-ending strikeout.

Moss already had smashed a 407-foot, two-run home run off Shields in the first and added a 418-foot, three-run blast to dead center off Yordano Ventura in the sixth, but he had no answer for Finnegan’s 95 mph fastball on the outside corner.

“I just went after him,” Finnegan said. “I’ve got to stay aggressive. It doesn’t matter if it’s Babe Ruth up there; I’ve still got to stay aggressive and in the zone. Luckily, I did.”

It’s that uncanny ability to pump strikes that earned Finnegan a September call-up and prompted Yost to pull him aside Monday and tell him he’d made the postseason roster.

“The big thing is, he’s throws strikes and that’s why Ned put stock in him,” said Art Stewart, the Royals’ senior advisor to general manager Dayton Moore. “For me, I thought he was the key to the game.”

Finnegan’s only hiccup was a leadoff walk to Josh Reddick in the 12th.

Reddick eventually came around to score with Jason Frasor pitching, but Finnegan wriggled off the hook when Eric Hosmer’s one-out triple sparked a two-run rally in the bottom of the inning.

“(Finnegan’s) been great all year,” left fielder Alex Gordon said. “It’s unbelievable that he was playing in college a couple months ago and stepping in like this and doing his thing. They drafted him for a reason, to come up here and get things done like he has been. Give credit to the guys that drafted him. They saw something special, and he’s showing it.”

This story was originally published October 1, 2014 at 7:04 PM with the headline "Royals rookie Brandon Finnegan dazzles in postseason debut."