TORONTO -- The internal skeleton of every architectural wonder is a rarely seen yet necessary element, supplying the broad shoulders where the grand facade can rest.
That internal skeleton for the Kansas City Royals is with its bullpen, a group not only strong enough to help prop up the rest of the team, but talented and deep enough that even a straightforward manager like Ned Yost will adjust his sometimes rigid style to accommodate it.
Throughout these playoffs Yost has made nary a lineup change and when it’s time to go the bullpen, it’s usually to give his guys a full inning each. His talent pool dictates that a four-out save or a situational reliever is rarely necessary.
On Tuesday in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, though, Yost showed a sense of urgency when his team had the potential to move one victory away from a second-consecutive World Series berth.
Thanks to five innings of underrated mop-up work from Kris Medlen during Monday’s 11-8 defeat to the Toronto Blue Jays, Yost had all of his late-inning arms lined up in a row, ready to back up starter Chris Young, who had not started since Oct. 2.
It couldn’t have worked out any better for Yost, whose chief criticism in this series has perhaps been a slow hook with his starters. So with Young at 4⅔ innings of work, Yost called upon his relief staff to take it the rest of the way. His moves worked to perfection.
Not only did four relievers deliver 4⅓ scoreless innings, but the offense supplied nine insurance runs after Young left the game to take a 14-2 victory and a 3-1 lead in the series.
“Yeah, I mean you just keep rolling,” said Luke Hochevar, who came on in the fifth inning for Young and went 1⅓ innings. “Obviously the character of those guys down there in the bullpen, nobody is ever satisfied and there is always something we can improve on and push forward toward. That’s what you continue to do.”
Yost felt the timing was right for Hochevar, who has now pitched 5⅔ scoreless innings in this postseason after missing the playoffs last year while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
“My mindset was with [Josh] Donaldson, [Jose] Bautista, those guys, I really didn't want them seeing Chris for the third time,” Yost said. “But to get us into the fifth inning right there with the lead, he just pitched a great game. He had the one at-bat against Donaldson where he hit the double off of him. Outside of that I thought he pitched great.”
Hochevar got Donaldson on a foul popup to end the fifth, and even though Bautista singled off of him in the sixth, a double-play grounder helped to erase the potential threat.
“Yeah, it’s very rewarding,” Hochevar said about pitching in the postseason. “Like I have said a thousand times before, I would rather experience what we experienced last year while hurting than ever experience it healthy. Now to have the opportunity to experience it healthy, it’s just as sweet.”
Hochevar handed the ball off to Ryan Madson, who had an interesting perspective on the day. Since Young had spent so much time in the bullpen this season (16 appearances, in fact), Madson considered Game 4 somewhat of a bullpen day from start to finish.
“Yeah, I would say so,” Madson said. “And there is definitely no ego there. He is going to get outs and get the game going and get to the later innings where we’re powerful and where we win games.”
How negligible is Young’s ego? He laughed off the notion that falling one out short of a victory would bother him.
“I could care less about the personal wins,” Young said. “This is a team game, and it always has been, and it always will be. Wins, for a pitcher, is somewhat of a ridiculous stat and has been for a long time. And for me, the only thing I care about is the team winning the day I play, and we did.”
Two things have brought the Royals’ ridiculously impressive bullpen depth to light in the past two days. Not only was Medlen pitching in relief Monday after getting strong consideration to start Tuesday’s game, Wade Davis is completely fresh heading into a potential series clincher on Wednesday.
“Having [Young] out there all year long and then getting another high-quality starter out there [in Medlen] for a long guy is unbelievable,” Madson said. “We’re pretty spoiled out there.”
The bullpen isn’t just spoiled, the entire roster feels like it is.
“It was nice for [Young] to go out there and give us four strong innings and he gave the offense a chance to give [the relievers] a lead,” first baseman Eric Hosmer said. “I think we did a good job of being able to save Wade and I don’t think [Kelvin] Herrera’s pitch got up too much. We got our guys down there ready to go tomorrow, so it’s a good situation for us.”