'Pure electricity': Royals on verge of MLB playoff series win after Cole Ragans gem

BALTIMORE – It was 2 hours, 25 minutes of crisp playoff baseball theater Tuesday afternoon, the margins for error virtually nonexistent, the best-of-three format ensuring that either the Kansas City Royals or Baltimore Orioles would emerge on the wrong end of this standoff, and face elimination just hours later.

And for 10 Kansas City Royals whose names would dot the box score, Game 1 of their American League wild-card series was their first glimpse of postseason baseball, a battle not only against the talented Orioles but also in regulating their own emotions, calming the heart when needed and letting it rip when the situation dictated.

The youngest team in Major League Baseball passed the test like the savviest of veterans.

You could see it in Cole Ragans, the 26-year-old left-hander who saw former Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes hang zero after zero at Camden Yards, and simply strolled to the mound and matched him, inning after inning.

It was evident in closer Lucas Erceg, who entered with the tying and winning runs on base in the eighth inning and stranded them by retiring 44-home run man Anthony Santander and shrugging off a leadoff walk and a flurry of pinch-hitters in the ninth.

And none too surprisingly, the game’s decisive tally was provided by transcendent shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., whose first playoff heroics from what will be a long and decorated career came on a modestly struck but well-placed soft line drive to left field, plating the game’s only run in the sixth inning.

The Royals survived the Orioles and their 41,506 full-throated fans, survived the efficient and remarkable Burnes, and notched their first playoff victory since winning the 2015 World Series. Their 1-0 triumph means that, behind veteran Seth Lugo, they can sweep this series in Game 2 Wednesday and ensure playoff baseball comes to Kauffman Stadium next week in the AL Division Series.

And when they take the field at Camden Yards for the 4:38 p.m. ET start, they will no longer be postseason newbies.

“It’s my first playoff experience,” says Erceg, acquired from the Oakland Athletics at the trade deadline and thrust into the highest-leverage role in the Royals bullpen.

“And now I know.”

Don’t they all.

Game 1 delivered a classic, thanks almost entirely to Burnes and Ragans, who was acquired from the Texas Rangers in June 2023 and has only raised expectations and exceeded them in the 15 months since.

Tuesday, he brought the most devastating version of his five-pitch mix, most notably a 96-mph fastball that had more crackle than usual Tuesday. It only made his knuckle curve, slider and a changeup he constantly buried to Orioles hitters all the more effective.

Yet it wasn’t the pitch mix so much as the, oh, shall we say, moxie he showed in the game’s biggest moments.

It seemed Kansas City gave the Orioles the opening they needed when, in a scoreless game, left fielder MJ Melendez misplayed a Ramon Urias fly ball into a one-out double in the fifth. Cedric Mullins dropped a gentle single into center, putting runners at the corners.

Ragans was undeterred.

Striking out No. 9 hitter James McCann was one thing. But when the lineup flipped and shortstop Gunnar Henderson came to the plate, Ragans would be asked to dig deeper.

He did not blink in the face of Henderson’s 37 homers and .893 OPS, pounding him with three consecutive fastballs before throwing perhaps his best pitch of the day – a slider that started high and ducked below the zone, Henderson flailing at it to end the threat.

Ragans, an All-Star this year whose gentle Florida Panhandle mien generally delivers calm and thoughtful insights, let loose with a roar. Threat over.

“I mean, you could tell he was bearing down right there,” says Royals manager Matt Quatraro. “And we know how good Henderson is at the plate, and to get the strikeout there, that's enormous for us, and you could see the emotion on Cole's face.

“You know, it gave the dugout a huge boost.”

Says Ragans: “Got out of a jam right there. Let a little bit out, yeah.”

Perhaps it was just coincidence, but the Royals – arguably the most offensively challenged among the dozen clubs in these playoffs – finally scratched up a run. Burnes helped by finally blinking, issuing a one-out walk to No. 9 hitter Maikel Garcia, who promptly stole second against the slow-to-the-plate right-hander.

One out later, it was Witt’s turn. Earlier Tuesday, designated hitter Vinnie Pasquantino was activated after missing five weeks for thumb surgery. Minus Pasquantino, perhaps Witt doesn’t get a pitch to hit.

But Burnes went after him. And Witt – the AL’s batting champion at 24, the man with 109 RBI this year – drove in the biggest run of his career. Just a little bingle – but nothing more would be needed on this day.

“As Tommy Pham says,” Witt says of his sage teammate playing in his fifth postseason, “whenever you allow the other team to score 0 runs, you have a 99.999% chance to win that game.

“I like our odds whenever we do that.”

Oh, but there were still 12 more outs to go. And Ragans, after providing a shutdown sixth inning after Witt’s RBI, felt cramping in his left calf.

So lower-leverage guys Sammy Long and Kris Bubic each were asked to eat an inning, but Bubic only got the first two outs of the eighth before giving up a walk to Henderson and a single to Jordan Westburg.

Erceg, who saved 14 games this year, 11 for the Royals, would be asked to get four outs.

“It was kind of indescribable,” says Erceg. “You feel the presence of the crowd, the culmination of a season-long effort to get to this point. Just to be in that situation is really special.”

After retiring Santander on a second-pitch grounder, Erceg stormed off the mound – and right past the third base umpire seeking to check his pitching hand for banned substances. Adrenaline, man.

It became his enemy when Erceg started the ninth with a full-count walk to pinch-hitter Ryan O’Hearn. Enter veteran catcher Salvador Perez, the last remaining member of Kansas City’s 2015 titlists, to pay him a visit.

“I kind of lost my process. I noticed I was going a little too fast on the mound,” says Erceg. “I’m glad I picked up on that and kind of hit the reset button. Salvy came out to the mound and kind of reset me.”

Says Quatraro: “You know, (Perez) is a tremendous person, a tremendous leader, but in those instances, that's the guy we want out there to understand what's happening.”

And so Erceg locked it in. He ran the count full to Adley Rutschman and then nicked the very bottom of the zone with a changeup. Colton Cowser flied out to center.

Finally, Erceg finished it, fanning pinch hitter Heston Kjerstad to put the Royals on the brink of advancing.

It was the first 1-0 playoff game since Houston’s 18-inning victory over Seattle in the 2022 AL Division Series. And the first of what the Royals hope are many times they ride Ragans – who struck out eight and walked none – this October.

“Six innings, no runs? You tell me,” Perez said playfully. “Amazing, man. He was good today.”

Says Erceg: "Pure electricity. The guy wants it. We all want it but he proved it by going out on the mound and absolutely shoving."

And Ragans, in a sense, already knew the key to playoff baseball before even throwing a pitch.

“What we've done as a team to get to this point, it's good enough,” he says. “It's what's got us here.”

Soon, it may send them back home. The grim reality for the second and third wild cards is they are not guaranteed a home playoff game. But now they have two shots to win one game at Camden Yards, punch it for New York and take on the Yankees in the ALDS.

And then, finally, back to Kauffman Stadium.

“Hearing the crowd here,” Witt says of the Camden Yards throng, “I can't imagine it at the K.”

The Orioles, meanwhile, are suddenly facing another playoff sweep after Texas beat them 3-0 in the 2023 ALDS. Baltimore has lost nine consecutive postseason games, dating to when Kansas City swept them in the 2014 ALCS.

“It's win or go home,” says Burnes, who pitched into the ninth, needing just 84 pitches, in what could be his last start for Baltimore before hitting the free agent market.

“I think this is a team that I’d be willing to run out there against anyone.”

Yet the Royals already felt that way coming in – and the vibes are only getting better after snatching Game 1. Sure, it’s too soon to say they’re just getting started.

But that is the goal, and one they proved more than capable of reaching in their first playoff encounter.

“We want to play baseball,” says Ragans, “for another month.”

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cole Ragans puts KC Royals on verge of ALDS with gem vs Orioles