The Kansas City Royals won Game 2 of the World Series over the NY Mets 7-1 on Wednesday night and the team now leads 2-0 heading into Game 3. The Mets could not get things going against starter Johnny Cueto, who pitched a complete game for Kansas City after the bullpen was taxed in Game 1.
Cueto allowed only two hits in the game and he gave the Royals a two game lead in the World Series over the Mets. The Mets now will have Game 3 at home and the team needs to win one of the next two games to force the Royals to play another at Citi Field. Noah Syndergaard will be on the mound for the Mets in that game and Terry Collins said that the team needs to start hitting the ball more to get back into the series.
According to the NY Times, out of the 51 teams that have won the first two games of the series, 41 have gone on to win the title. Two teams that were able to come back from 2-0 down included both the Royals and the Mets when they won championships in the 1980s. DeGrom, who is considered the best starter for the Mets, had been great through the playoffs, but he gave up four runs and six hits while walking three batters.
The Royals do not strike out much and the Mets pitchers thrive on strikeouts and right now the hitters are winning that battle. The fifth inning was the decisive one for deGrom, as the Royals were able to get to him and added some runs with four in the inning. The team finished with 10 hits and they later added three runs in the eighth inning to push it to 7-1. The Royals can win the series without returning to Kansas City if they can win two over the next three games. Cueto has pitched better at home than on the road and that was key on Wednesday night, as the Kauffman Stadium crowd was behind the pitcher from the start. Cueto would pitch Game 6 if the Mets can force that game back in Kansas City.
Lucas Duda had the only two hits for the Mets and those were singles and according to ESPN, Cueto pitched the first complete game by an AL pitcher since Jack Morris did it back in 1991. DeGrom had been 3-0 in the postseason coming into the game.
