World Series 2015: Latest Comments, Top Highlights After Game 2

The New York Mets are officially in trouble.

It was the Johnny Cueto show in Game 2 of the World Series Wednesday, and the pitcher threw a complete game and allowed a single run and two hits on the way to the 7-1 victory. The Kansas City Royals now lead the Mets 2-0 in the Fall Classic and are two victories away from their first championship since 1985. 

Only Lucas Duda tallied a hit for the Mets during the loss, and he only managed two singles. ESPN Stats & Info put Cueto’s performance into historical context:

Jacob deGrom failed to match Cueto’s effort on the Mets' side and allowed four runs, six hits and three walks in five difficult innings. Kansas City’s hitters worked deep into the counts and frustrated the Mets ace throughout the evening.

In fact, the Royals only struck out three times during the entire game, two of which came against deGrom. Kansas City only struck out two times against Matt Harvey in six innings in Game 1, so it was more of the same against the typically dominant New York starters.

Eric Hosmer notched a two-run single in the fifth to break the 1-1 tie, and Alcides Escobar, who hit an inside-the-park home run in Game 1, tallied two RBI, one of which came on a critical triple in the eighth inning. 

Jim Rome of CBS Radio believes the Mets have an uphill climb ahead of them for the rest of the Fall Classic following Wednesday’s loss:

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Cueto—who became the first pitcher from the Dominican Republic to throw a complete game in the World Series—discussed the most important performance of his career, per Anthony DiComo and Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com: "I want to thank God for this opportunity and this outcome. And it's a lot of pride being able to do what I did out there today and to do it for all of the Dominican."

Kansas City manager Ned Yost praised his pitcher in the aftermath, per DiComo and Flanagan: "Tonight was everything we expected Johnny to be. He was on the attack. He kept the ball down. He changed speeds. It was just a spectacular performance by him."

While Cueto was excellent, deGrom struggled against the pesky and deep Royals lineup.

New York manager Terry Collins commented on his pitcher’s outing, per DiComo and Flanagan: "They did exactly what people said, and they put the ball in play. I told Jake, 'Not everything has to be a strike. You've got to move it around. You've got to change speeds, give them something to look at. If you continue to pound the strike zone, they're going to put it in play.' And that's what they did."

Collins wasn’t the only one who recognized Kansas City’s greatness from New York’s side. Third baseman David Wright acknowledged his team’s overall issues against the Royals, per Matt Ehalt of the Record: “I think they’ve outplayed us. Simple as that. When you pitch better, hit better, play defense better you’re normally going to win." 

There seems to be little reason for optimism for the Mets given the 2-0 deficit and the fact that 41 of 51 teams in baseball history to win the first two games in the best-of-seven World Series went on to win the series.

However, deGrom pointed to New York’s impending games at home as reason for hope, per DiComo: “We've still got to win four. We're going home and we like playing at home. Hopefully we win those three there.” 

That would dramatically shift the momentum.

Highlights 

The star of the game was Cueto, and MLB.com provided the highlights of his outing:

The turning point for the Kansas City offense came in the fifth inning when Hosmer notched his two-RBI hit, as MLB.com shared:

The Escobar triple in the eighth inning essentially put the game on ice. Here is a look at that play, via MLB.com:

Escobar wasn’t just making plays with the bat, as MLB.com highlighted:

Game 3 Prediction

It would be easy to point to Kansas City’s contact-happy offense as the kryptonite for the Mets’ flame-throwing pitchers and say this series is over. While the Royals will eventually win the championship, New York will find a way to pull closer in the series with a victory in Game 3.

For one, scheduled starter Noah Syndergaard has been tremendous in the playoffs with a 2.77 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 13 innings. He even played the role of hero out of the bullpen in the divisional series against the Los Angeles Dodgers and will once again be asked to save this Mets team Friday.

He will do just that.

On the Kansas City side, Yordano Ventura has been somewhat inconsistent in the playoffs with a 5.09 ERA in four appearances. He hasn’t gone more than 5.1 innings in a single postseason start, either, and won’t be able to match Syndergaard’s effort.

What’s more, Citi Field will be rocking, and New York is 3-1 there in the playoffs. That record will be 4-1 after an emotional Game 3 win.