Ned Yost's tactics work out and Bruce Bochy's don't in Game 2
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Many pundits figured Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost would find himself at a tactical disadvantage throughout the Major League Baseball playoffs. And yet, when pitted against the likes of Bob Melvin, Mike Scioscia, Buck Showalter and now Bruce Bochy in the World Series, the Royals have seemed to manage just fine.
In Game 2 against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night, Yost's maneuvers turned out better than those of Bochy, particularly in the sixth inning, when the Royals rallied and built a lead they would keep through the last out of 7-2 victory that tied the Series at a game apiece.
And it was Bochy's decisions, not Yost's, that were being questioned.
Bochy's bottom of the sixth
Is it possible that Bochy stuck with starter Jake Peavy too long, and then not long enough? Peavy had been cruising, having retired 10 straight to help keep the score tied 2-all. The concern: Peavy had never, in seven postseason starts, ever gotten past the sixth inning.
After a bloop single by Lorenzo Cain to lead off, Bochy didn't have left-hander Javier Lopez ready for Eric Hosmer, who instead drew a walk to put the Royals in business with no outs.
"First two innings he was a little erratic, but he was right on," Bochy said of Peavy. "I mean, he really was throwing the ball well. So, no, I can't say I was going to make a change there because he gave up a bloop hit. I was going to let Peavy face Hosmer."
Earlier in the game, Peavy had allowed an RBI single to Billy Butler so, after 66 pitches total, Bochy turned to Jean Machi "to give Butler a little different look."
Butler rolled with the change, lining a high changeup into left field for a go-ahead RBI single. Bochy continued going with matchups, using Lopez against Alex Gordon, who flied out to left — that worked out. The next pitcher, Hunter Strickland, did not. He threw a wild pitch, allowed a two-run double to Salvador Perez and a two-run home run to Omar Infante in a postseason nightmare from which he could not wake soon enough.
Yost had used pinch runner Terrance Gore to replace Butler — which was curious, considering Hosmer blocked Gore's best chance to steal a base. As it turned out, because of the Giants defensive alignment — the infield played in and the outfield shallow — Butler would have been able to score on Perez's double, which split the gap in left-center.
Strickland's appearance also featured a brief but unfortunate benches-clearing argument with Perez, which distracted from a troubling truth for the Giants: Their bullpen isn't as good as that of the Royals. (Then again, whose is?) Bochy needed a fifth pitcher, left-hander Jeremy Affeldt, just to end the inning.
Going to Sergio Romo to start the sixth, or instead of Strickland or Machi once the Royals started trouble, might have been the better play.
Yost's top of the sixth
Bochy had let two batters hit against Peavy before calling the pen, but Yost gave his starter, Yordano Ventura, a three-batter leash a half-inning earlier. Ventura, who was throwing in the upper 90s but lacked command on his breaking pitches, allowed a soft single to Buster Posey and a well-placed infield single to Hunter Pence, sandwiched around a fly ball by Pablo Sandoval, to start the top of the sixth.
Yost using Ventura against the meat of the Giants order seemed risky and perhaps reckless, but getting the game to that point set up Kelvin Herrera for a five-out hold, which allowed Wade Davis to pitch the eighth and Greg Holland to take the ninth. That's been the Royals best formula for winning. Yost didn't mix and match lefty vs. righty like Bochy did because he doesn't need to.
"It's a huge luxury for me," Yost said. "After the sixth inning, my thinking is done. I don't have to mix and match. My concern innings, if you will, before the game, are the fifth and the sixth inning, if I've got to mix and match [those]. But once we get past the sixth inning, my guesswork is done. We've got a pretty good recipe for success with Herrera, Davis and Holland."
Yost is no wizard, and hasn't been managing like one (even if it seems like he hasn't made a costly mistake in about three weeks). But he knows his team's strengths and his own limitations. He did the best he could to just get out of their way.
"First do no harm," should be the lynchpin of any managerial oath. Yost was a great doctor in Game 2. Bochy, who like any skipper is only as good as his players performance, was only so-so directing them.
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David Brown is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rdbrown@yahoo-inc.com and follow him on Twitter!
