The Royals had one of the stingiest bullpens in baseball this season, but the back end was especially dominant.
Kelvin Herrera, who usually handles the seventh inning, had a 1.41 ERA in 70 games. Wade Davis, the eighth-inning guy, had a 1.00 ERA in 71 appearances. And Greg Holland had a 1.44 ERA while saving 46 games, one shy of his franchise record set just last season.
Herrera pitched 5 2-3 scoreless innings against Baltimore, allowing just two hits. Davis went five scoreless innings, also giving up two hits. Holland was the only one to give up a run, but he still managed to save all four games, joining Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley as the only pitchers to accomplish the feat since the ALCS went to a best-of-seven format.
All three relievers have four-seam fastballs that approach 100 mph, and all three have a devastating secondary pitch.
But that's where the similarities end. The three of them took very different paths to reach this point, key cogs in a perfectly tuned strikeout machine.
World Series begins on Tuesday
Herrera exploded onto the scene two years ago, a fireballer who never seemed to quite know where his fire balls were headed. What little command he had finally failed him last season, and he was banished to the minor leagues, where he was able to rein everything in.
"He's meant so much to this team over the last few years," Holland said. "He's tough."
Just about as tough is Davis, who at one point was considered an after-thought in the trade that brought staff ace James Shields over from Tampa Bay in December 2012.
The Royals tried to use him as a starter, but for some reason he couldn't get on track. So almost out of desperation, they sent him back to the bullpen, where he'd had success in Tampa Bay. Everything suddenly clicked. By the time the Royals were climbing into contention last season, Davis had become a lock-down eighth-inning reliever.
Davis didn't allow a run from April 23-June 25, a streak of 20 appearances and 22 1-3 innings. It took 43 appearances, 45 1-3 innings and 179 batters before he allowed an extra-base hit. When Holland sustained a minor injury late in the season, Davis closed out three games.
"He's a guy that just comes in and goes right after you with his stuff," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "He's a guy that's a tremendous competitor."
In that respect, he's a bit like Holland, who has come out of nowhere to become one of the game's top closers. He was drafted by the Royals in the 10th round out of Western Carolina, and was in the big leagues three years later. But after scuffling during that first-call up, Holland proved he belonged in his first full season, eventually taking over the ninth inning.
He never gave it up, compiling a 1.86 ERA in 246 games over the last four seasons.
Tough to beat Royals' relievers
No wonder Showalter and every other opposing manager have learned the best chance of beating the Royals is to beat their starters. If they have the lead by the seventh inning, the chances of mounting a comeback against their "Big Three" aren't very good.
"Just get us through six in the ballgame and we can turn it over to the bullpen guys," Yost said. "We've got a lot of confidence in everybody we've got down there. Our offence has a lot of confidence in everybody we've got down there, too, because they know, hey, look, let's keep it close, let's get it to the bullpen, and if we can take a lead and get it to the bullpen, odds are we're going to be celebrating a victory at the end of the day."
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