Redemption and resilience

Closer James McArthur gets another crack at the Brewers.

After the Royals’ crushing defeat on Tuesday night, Vinnie Pasquantino had this to say about closer James McArthur:

“If James (McArthur) thinks that anybody's lost confidence in him he's in the wrong locker room. ... I know when he goes out there, we’re going to win the game…I grounded into two double plays (Monday) night. I was pretty much the Brewers' best player...and I know the guys had my back (Monday). James has got nothing to worry about. He’s nasty. Hitters don’t want to face him. They had a good night off him. Good for them. Hat tip to them. We get back at it tomorrow. Hopefully, he gets in there to close the game. We’ll see what happens.”

And then manager Matt Quatraro followed it up on Wednesday just ahead of the series finale against the Milwaukee Brewers:

“He’s going to keep getting opportunities to pitch in high leverage. We’re not backing away from it. He’s good. Sometimes you get beat.”

Then, wouldn’t you know, after throwing 30 pitches while surrendering the lead to the Brewers on Tuesday, McArthur was pressed back into action to save the game after reliever Tyler Duffey couldn’t shut the door in the ninth.

Funny how baseball works, isn’t it? Less than 24 hours after taking the loss, McArthur is back out there, again facing William Contreras in the ninth inning. When Contreras dug into the box on Tuesday, there were two outs in the ninth and the Brewers had a scant one percent chance to win the game. The Milwaukee catcher doubled, which opened the floodgates to a disaster loss for the Royals.

I’m not sure you could find a higher leverage situation for a pitcher than what McArthur faced in the ninth inning on Wednesday. Duffey had walked the first two batters he faced—an awful start to the ninth inning for a club still nursing the hangover of the previous night’s defeat—and then gave up a double to Brice Turang to score one, put runners on second and third and draw the score to 6-3.

That was the situation facing McArthur when he entered the game. The game doesn’t wait for anyone. Pasquantino asserted his confidence in the reliever and said he hoped he would be back out there, closing again, right away. His wish was granted by the Baseball Gods. Nothing like getting back on that bicycle immediately after falling off.

The right-hander offered a first-pitch slider just off the edge of the plate. Contreras was geared up for a fastball and couldn’t stop his swing as the pitch slid ever so slightly out of the zone. It was, in Pitching Ninja parlance, a sword.

It’s a reminder of how filthy that pitch can be for McArthur. As Vinnie said, he’s nasty. Watching that first pitch you can understand why opposing hitters are reluctant to face him.

The next pitch was a fastball, almost in the same location, but in the zone. Contreras was late on in, but made good contact, sending a 99 MPH screamer to the right side. Garrett Hampson who, after a series of moves in the seventh and eighth innings, was playing first base for the first time in his major league career, handled the grounder and took it to the bag for the second out of the inning. Yeah, an inherited run scored from third, but the infield was playing back, conceding that run. The outs were more important in that situation.

It’s amazing how the ball will find the player who doesn’t normally play the position, isn’t it? Hampson has made a career of being versatile defensively. He has played up the middle at both short and second base and has a few innings under his belt at third. He knows how to field a ground ball. Yet you cannot discount the difficulty in making that play at first. The ball is spinning in a manner that would be unique to Hampson. Then there’s just the angle he’s seeing the play unfold. It’s not an easy play by any stretch.

That left one out to go for McArthur and the Royals. This is where everything went sideways the game before. On this occasion, all it would take was one pitch. McArthur fired a fastball down and out of the zone. Christian Yelich, who was playing in his first game since missing time with a lower back strain, couldn’t resist and swung over the pitch, hitting a tapper back to McArthur at the mound. An easy flip to Hampson at first and the threat was extinguished and the ballgame was over.

Three pitches. Two outs. One win.

One thing I’ve noticed about this team is that they are a team, in the true sense of the word. It’s not 25-cabs-for-25-guys. This is a group of guys who have each other’s back. We’ve seen closers surrender leads before and there’s always the requisite “we believe in our guy” platitudes that come after such losses. The way this particular team rallies around guys who fail—and there’s plenty of failure in this game—is something I don’t think I’ve seen before from a Royals team. It’s not some hollow platitudes that nobody believes. These guys are all-in as a team.

Again, that speaks to the leadership and the character assembled in the clubhouse. Salvy is the captain. Bobby is a leader in his own right. And Vinnie will stand up for anyone. Three strong personalities that all set the tone in the most positive of ways. Throw in the manager who understands the percentages and that success is never guaranteed and continues to have the backs of his players…That kind of support only fosters a cohesive clubhouse.

As the season unfolds, this Royals team may be the most unique group I’ve seen take the field at Kauffman Stadium.