Royals’ bullpen gets needed rest as Cueto leads KC to 7-1 win

A dark blue tarp covered the double-barreled pitchers mounds in the left-field bullpen through seven innings Wednesday evening, and a group of Royals relief pitchers remained stationed on a nearby bench.

Unused. Unneeded.

A day after the Royals trotted six relievers into the 14-inning Game 1 of the World Series, starter Johnny Cueto shrunk the relief employment to zero in Game 2.

Cueto fired a complete game in the Royals’ 7-1 win Wednesday, increasing the series lead to 2-0.

And that effectively saved a bullpen in need of a break.

“We were saying that we would do some special things (if) he threw a complete game,” reliever Ryan Madson said. “I don’t think any of us want to keep those promises. We’re just going to let that pass.”

Asked for examples of the promises, Madson smiled and replied, “I can’t elaborate on it, (but) there were some big promises made.”

For good reason. The six Royals relievers combined to throw 150 pitches in the series opener, with eventual winner Chris Young unleashing 53 of those — some of them atypically breaking a threshold of 90 mph.

Before Game 2, Royals manager Ned Yost said Young will still be available to make his previously scheduled start in Game 4 in New York on Saturday, which would equate to three days’ rest after his three-inning relief appearance.

On Tuesday, “our plan for Chris Young was that if we needed him, we would use him 45-50 pitches and he would still be available in Game 4,” Yost said. “It would be just like a short start and then coming back a day early. He hadn’t pitched in six days.”

With Young still slated to start Saturday, Yost said the Royals would turn to Kris Medlen as the potential long reliever, if necessary, in Games 3 and 4 in New York.

Well, actually, he said Medlen would also be the long man in Game 2. He just wasn’t needed Wednesday. Neither were his teammates in the bullpen.

The tarp was finally removed in the eighth inning, when Kelvin Herrera loosened his arm. An inning later, Wade Davis threw a handful of warmup pitches. Yost said he planned to put Davis in the game in the top of the ninth inning before the Royals added three insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth.

Instead, the bullpen gate remained closed — just as it had all game.

This story was originally published October 28, 2015 at 10:54 PM with the headline "Royals’ bullpen gets needed rest as Cueto leads KC to 7-1 win."