Royals-Orioles Game 1 Bullpen Battle Sets Tone for Rest of ALCS

For all the weirdness that unfolded in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series Friday night, there was one thing that went as expected.

Most everybody figured the bullpens would be a big factor in the matchup between the Kansas City Royals and the Baltimore Orioles. So far, it looks like most everybody had the right idea.

Mind you, an expectation for the ALCS being turned on its head also had a hand in determining the final outcome of Game 1. Whereas the Orioles seemed to have a marked power advantage, it was the Royals who broke out the big bats at Oriole Park at Camden Yards en route to an 8-6 win and a 1-0 series lead.

Alcides Escobar's solo home run in the third inning gave the Royals their first lead. Much later, Alex Gordon joined the club and led off the top of the 10th with a solo shot that broke a 5-5 tie. Later in the inning, Mike Moustakas provided insurance with a two-run shot.

That insurance ended up being important. Royals closer Greg Holland flirted with danger in the bottom of the 10th, allowing a run on two hits and a walk. He survived, though, getting Nick Markakis to ground out.

That put an end to not only the game, but a bullpen battle that had been raging since the middle innings.

Neither Royals right-hander James Shields nor Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman lasted beyond the fifth. Tillman allowed five earned runs in four-and-a-third, while Shields allowed four in five innings.

Once their work was done, it was all about the bullpens. Via ESPN.com, here's the final damage:

Royals Relievers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Orioles Relievers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Brandon Finnegan	0	2	1	1	1	0	0	INF
Kelvin Herrera	2	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
Wade Davis	2	0	0	0	0	4	0	0
Greg Holland	1	2	1	1	1	1	0	9.00
Total	5	4	2	2	2	7	0	3.60
Tommy Hunter	0.2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Kevin Gausman	1.2	1	0	0	1	1	0	0.00
Andrew Miller	1.1	1	0	0	0	3	0	0.00
Zach Britton	0.1	0	0	0	3	0	0	0.00
Darren O'Day	1	1	2	2	1	1	1	18.00
Brian Matusz	0.2	1	1	1	0	1	1	13.50
Total	5.2	5	3	3	5	6	2	5.19

The Royals bullpen clearly had the better day, and it was obviously able to outlast Baltimore's.

But the day the Orioles bullpen had doesn't look so bad if you focus on what Tommy Hunter, Kevin Gausman and Andrew Miller were able to do in relief of Tillman. Hiding in Darren O'Day's shaky final line is a huge double play he got in the ninth inning (more on this later) to bail out an erratic Zach Britton.

In other words: Right up until the 10th inning, Game 1 treated baseball lovers to a dandy of a bullpen battle.

You know, just like everyone drew it up.

Virtually every preview of the Royals vs. Orioles ALCS matchup highlighted the bullpen in some way. Dan Connolly of The Baltimore Sun summed it up the best:

"

The Orioles' primary formula for victory this season has been to keep the game close until it becomes a battle of the bullpens. It worked most of the year and then unfolded perfectly in the American League Division Series. ...

... It won't be so easy in the AL Championship Series, which begins with Game 1 against the Kansas City Royals on Friday night at Camden Yards. Because the Royals bullpen can match manager Buck Showalter's group explosive arm for explosive arm.

"

From a statistical perspective, this was especially true in the second half.

The Royals and Orioles carved their way to the two best records in the American League after the break, largely because of dominant relief work. While the Orioles bullpen posted an MLB-best 2.66 ERA, according to FanGraphs, Kansas City's was fifth at 2.87.

In the case of the Orioles, what was already a sneaky-good bullpen became downright excellent when Miller arrived in a deadline-day trade with the Boston Red Sox. He was one of three Orioles relievers to post an ERA under 2.00 down the stretch, with Britton just missing at 2.22.

In the case of the Royals, their bullpen's second-half dominance was all about their deadly trio of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Holland becoming, well, even more deadly. All three posted ERAs under 1.00 in the second half, essentially becoming baseball's answer to the Warriors Three.

"All we're trying to do is get up by one run," Moustakas told Connolly. "If we get up by one run in that game, you've got to face Kelvin Herrera, Greg Holland, Wade Davis, and good luck to that. Those guys have been absolutely lights out for us."

As such, the great matchup lined up for the ALCS was also a matchup with a twist: It was to be Baltimore's depth against Kansas City's Herrera-Davis-Holland super-trio.

The latter was the victor in Game 1, in large part because of the sheer excellence of Herrera and Davis. And while them dominating is nothing new, the Orioles should be wary of how Royals skipper Ned Yost was willing to use both of them to get six outs.

Rob Carr/Getty Images

Especially with Herrera, as getting a six-out appearance from him involved calling his number when trouble was brewing in the sixth inning. Yost was hesitant to do that both in the regular season and in the American League Wild Card Game against the Oakland A's. Based on what happened in Game 1, you wonder if he learned his lesson from Brandon Moss' big three-run homer.

However, Yost didn't quite have a perfect tactical night.

When Shields was struggling his way through a rough fifth, hard-throwing left-hander Brandon Finnegan was warming in the pen and represented an ideal matchup for the lefty-swinging Ryan Flaherty. Instead, Yost left Shields in, and Flaherty hit a two-run single that turned a 5-2 Royals lead into a 5-4 advantage.

On the flip side, there was Showalter's night. Despite how it all turned out, it's hard to take issue with how he managed his bullpen. If anything, it's easier to focus on one characteristically brilliant decision he made when he lifted Britton for O'Day in the ninth inning.

Most managers likely would have let Britton, Baltimore's ground-ball master of a closer, try to finish off the inning. Instead, Showalter called for O'Day to face Billy Butler in a matchup that Grantland's Jonah Keri thought had an obvious outcome:

He was right. So too, obviously, was Showalter.

So all told, here's what Game 1 told us about the ALCS bullpen matchup:

• Yost isn't afraid to get the most he can out of the Herrera-Davis-Holland trio, which bodes well for the Royals.
• Yost having a moment of tactical doofus-ness while Showalter having a moment of tactical brilliance bodes well for the Orioles.
• The strong showing of Baltimore's pen before the 10th also augurs well, as it went to show that its depth isn't worthless in the face of Kansas City's big trio.

The message for both sides: Get as much as you can against that day's starter. Because once the game is handed over to the bullpens, things are going to get tense.

For the guys in uniform, that'll mean an exhausting series. For the rest of us, it'll mean fun viewing.

Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference unless otherwise noted/linked.  

If you want to talk baseball, hit me up on Twitter.