Bob Lutz: Davis, Holland lock down Game 3 for Kansas City

As a long-time follower and fan of baseball, I would like to explain something to you who are pounding your chests for the Kansas City Royals.

Getting outs in the eighth and ninth inning is not supposed to be this easy. Especially not in a World Series against a team that has won two of the past four world championships, has been unbeatable at home in the their past two World Series appearances and sent its 3-4-5 hitters to the plate in the bottom of the ninth Friday night trailing Kansas City by a run.

But Wade Davis and Greg Holland are simply awesome. Historically grand. Amazingly efficient. Whatever superlative you can think of, it applies to these guys.

I’m leaving Kelvin Herrera, normally the seventh-inning guy and a reliever who has also had a special season, out of the discussion for now. We’ll get to Herrera and his heart-stopping Friday momentarily.

For now, though, let’s focus on Davis and Holland. The Davis-Holland Tunnel. You can enter anytime you like, but you can never leave.

KC led the Giants 3-2 in the eighth. A frenzied crowd at AT&T Park was expecting to celebrate a comeback win after San Francisco scored twice in the sixth to get within a run.

The Giants, though, didn’t even sniff a comeback win.

Davis retired San Fran in order in the eight with a couple of strikeouts.

And in the ninth Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence went down like three puppies after a long walk. Posey popped a ball to left fielder Alex Gordon, while Sandoval and Pence both grounded out to Holland. Mel Ott, Willie Mays and Barry Bonds could have batted in the ninth for the Giants and it wouldn’t have mattered.

Kansas City has a 2-1 lead in the World Series. The Royals could wrap this thing up in San Francisco, but are assured of at least getting the Series back to Kauffman Stadium. They’ve won 10 of 11 games in the postseason and have caused a nation of baseball experts to incessantly scratch their heads. A wild-card team with 89 regular-season games is unbeatable in the highest-stakes games anyone on the Royals has ever played.

KC won Friday night’s game the way it has won so many this season. Starting pitcher Jeremy Guthrie was really good, getting the game to the sixth. The defense was again superb, with right fielder Lorenzo Cain making outstanding catches to end the first and second innings. And there was some clutch hitting by Alex Gordon and Eric Hosmer in the sixth, when the Royals scored twice to take a 3-0 lead.

But the story of 2014 for the Royals will be this bullpen. This remarkable, nearly-unscathed bullpen that drops an anvil on the opposition’s head night after night.

Kansas City is now 84-1 this season, including the postseason, when leading after the eighth inning. Holland hasn’t blown a save since July 24; Friday’s was his 27th straight.

And Davis? Where do we start with Davis?

The man doesn’t break a sweat when he’s out there. His expression never changes. He has mastered pitches that drop off tables and it would take a man with the strength to carry a tree trunk to the plate to make solid contact against him.

Davis and Holland have combined to pitch 155 2/3 innings in 2014, including the 11 postseason games. They’ve allowed only 84 hits and 20 earned runs while striking out 226. A microscope is required to see their 1.16 ERA.

They never have a bad night. They’re not always perfect, but a game almost never gets away from them. They make pitching the eighth and ninth innings look like a piece of cake. And 29 other general managers in baseball are jealous, wondering why they can’t have cake.

There were tense moments in Friday night’s game, which is where Herrera comes in. He was summoned in the sixth, an inning earlier than his usual appearances, after Guthrie allowed a leadoff hit to Brandon Crawford and an RBI double to Michael Morse, who had earlier launched a foul ball into orbit down the left-field line.

Guthrie, no doubt, had to come out of the game. But Herrera was shaky and walked the first batter he faced, Gregor Blanco, before getting Joe Panik, Posey (who’s not doing much) and Sandoval.

The surprise of the night was when Herrera came to bat in the top of the seventh after a two-out hit by Jarrod Dyson. Herrera had never batted at any level of professional baseball and it was logical to question manager Ned Yost’s decision to send him up in that spot with left-hander Brandon Finnegan ready to go.

Herrera struck out, then walked Pence to start the San Francisco seventh. Yost chatted with his coaches in the Royals’ dugout but didn’t come up the steps. And on a 3-2 pitch, after unnecessarily nibbling on the corners, Herrera blazed one of his 100 mph – or close to it – fastballs past Brandon Belt.

But Herrera was making too many hearts pound, so Yost finally went to Finnegan, who just a few months ago pitched in the College World Series for TCU. Showing remarkable poise for a rookie, he got Juan Perez on a fly ball and fanned Crawford.

The game belonged to Davis and Holland. They locked it in a safe place.

This story was originally published October 24, 2014 at 11:24 PM with the headline "Bob Lutz: Davis, Holland lock down Game 3 for Kansas City."