TORONTO -- Now that Johnny Cueto has mastered a home playoff start, it is time for him to figure out the puzzle that is a hostile environment in October.
Coming off a dazzling start that allowed the Kansas City Royals to conquer the division series in a decisive Game 5, the team’s rental ace will get a chance to match it Tuesday in Toronto, where crowds inside the Rogers Centre have been as intense as they come.
The Royals are in good shape in the American League Championship Series after winning two games at home this weekend, with Cueto lined up to possibly put his team on the doorstep of a return to the World Series.
“Game No. 5 was a decisive game; you win, you keep going, you lose you go home,” Cueto said through an interpreter Sunday. “My mentality was, I'm going to give everything I've got as long as I can. And this game is very similar. My approach is going to be the same and I'll give it all I've got as long as I can.”
Which version of Cueto shows up for Game 3, though, is anybody’s guess. His erratic performances since joining the Royals after a late-July trade from the Cincinnati Reds create questions, not to mention his two previous road payoff starts that won’t go on his highlight reel any time soon.
In a 2013 National League wild-card game at Pittsburgh, while Cueto was a member of the Reds, he was undone to the tune of four runs on eight hits, two of which were home runs, in only 3 1/3 innings. And in a 2012 National League Division Series game at San Francisco, he lasted just one batter (eight pitches) before he strained an oblique muscle.
That 2012 disappointment was not performance-related, but it wasn’t exactly a triumphant day either, although the Reds did earn a 5-2 victory.
If Cueto has anything resembling the ace-like stuff he had Wednesday against the Houston Astros, the Royals will be sitting pretty.
Cueto not only retired the last 19 batters he faced in the ALDS clincher at Kauffman Stadium, he was so dominating -- with two hits allowed over eight innings -- that he threw just one pitch from the stretch all night.
There was nothing to foreshadow Cueto’s Game 5 dominance, which means there is no telltale sign that he can do it again. And dominating the Astros at home is nice, but Tuesday he will square off against the high-powered Blue Jays, in their park, with dimensions that suit their long-ball style.
Cueto did step up in a do-or-die game in his most recent start; this outing doesn’t have the same win-or-go-home stakes to it.
One thing that helped Cueto to come through when it counted Wednesday was that he remained sure of himself despite a 4.76 ERA over 13 starts with the Royals. One key that could keep that confidence high is his fastball, which was firm Wednesday, inching up to the 96-mph range.
“He said going into Game 5, you're going to see the real Johnny Cueto,” manager Ned Yost said. “I thought Johnny threw the ball well in the first start that he had in the playoff game too. Stuff ticked up a bit in Game 5.”
If he can bring the entire package back for a repeat performance in a road game, then the trade to bring him aboard goes from unfulfilling to exactly what the club was looking for, just on a slightly delayed basis.
“Thank God the staff gave me the opportunity to pitch (Game 5),” Cueto said. “As far as the confidence, I've never lost confidence. That was a game I was scheduled to pitch and that was a game we needed to win as an organization and as a team. Thank God it worked out.”