How KC Royals bullpen rebounded in pivotal Game 2 victory against New York Yankees

Kansas City Royals manager Matt Quatraro didn’t have any hesitation turning to left-handed reliever Angel Zerpa in Game 2 against the New York Yankees.

A few nights earlier, Zerpa had a night he’d like to forget. He didn’t execute in high-leverage situations and surrendered one run and two walks.

One of those walks came with the bases loaded. It resulted in the Yankees tying Game 1 and eventually winning 6-5 at home.

Quatraro could’ve switched up his bullpen rotation. However, he stuck with Zerpa and was rewarded with a better outing in Game 2.

This time, Zerpa pitched a scoreless inning and earned the win as the Royals evened the American League Division Series.

Final score: Royals 4, Yankees 2.

“We put Zerpa in that spot the other day because we believe in him,” Quatraro said. “It didn’t work out that way. But today you saw more of what we would have expected. Now, he struck out Soto and that doesn’t happen all that often. We were hopeful to get him out. The double play was enormous. The defense was outstanding all the way around.”

The Royals stuck with Zerpa and the rest of their late-inning relievers. Quatraro turned to veteran pitchers John Schreiber and Lucas Erceg on consecutive days. In Game 1, the duo contributed two of the team’s eight walks.

It was a different story in Game 2. The Royals bullpen rebounded and protected a three-run lead down the stretch. The Yankees didn’t score their second run until the ninth inning after third baseman Jazz Chisholm hit a solo homer.

Zerpa relieved Royals starter Cole Ragans in the fifth inning. He gave way to Schreiber and left-handed reliever Kris Bubic.

Bubic pitched two innings and didn’t allow a run. He struck out two batters and earned his third hold of the postseason. From there, the Royals turned to Erceg to close the game.

Erceg allowed Chisholm’s homer, but was able to nail down his third save in the playoffs. The Yankees registered four hits and struck out three times against the Royals bullpen.

“All around clean baseball game,” Erceg said. “Everyone did their jobs and everyone competed their butts off. And for us to be in that position heading back to Kansas City and take the divisional series back is going to be big time for momentum and what we want to accomplish.”

The Royals bullpen has thrived in recent weeks. Prior to Monday’s game, KC relievers had a 1.95 ERA (20 earned runs in 92 ⅓ innings) in their last 25 games. It was the second-best mark in the majors, behind the Cleveland Guardians.

In late September, the Royals bullpen had a scoreless streak of 27 ⅔ innings. The success helped define roles for multiple relievers. Quatraro has seen the growth in each reliever and is proud of their effort.

“You don’t ever expect you’re going to keep a team like that scoreless out of the bullpen,” Quatraro said. “But to keep them in check, our guys — that was more representative of what our guys can do than what the other night was.”