CHICAGO — Ned Yost knew his bullpen was overflowing with talent, but the Kansas City Royals’ manager found out just how deep the well goes this weekend at U.S. Cellular Field.
He was the main reason Kansas City won two of the first three games against the Chicago White Sox.
The Royals’ bullpen was already the envy of baseball coming into the season, but it’s gotten even deeper with pitchers who have closing experience, blazing fastballs and Yost’s trust.
“We had a dominant bullpen last year, but we’re stronger this year because we have the ability to mix and match and keep guys fresher, with (Ryan Madson), (Franklin Morales) and (Luke Hochevar),” Yost said. “We had Herrera, Wade Davis and (Holland) and not a lot of backup there (last year), but now if we use Wade two days in a row, we can interchange with (Hochevar) and Madson. We’ve just got so many quality interchangeable pieces down there. It gives us a little bit of an advantage.”
Opposing managers might say it’s more than just a little advantage.
The Royals had already shortened games by trying to get a lead by the seventh inning for the trip of Herrera, Davis and Holland. Now it’s a race to get a lead through the just first five innings.
Hochevar, who missed all of last season because of Tommy John surgery, appears back to top form. Madson converted a save Saturday in the marathon 13-inning game and right-hander Joe Blanton earned his first career save Sunday in the Royals’ 4-1 win in the series finale.
Right-hander Yohan Pino was recalled Sunday, and right-hander Chris Medlen is set to come off the 60-day disabled list Monday to give Yost yet another quality relief option.
“What you’ve got is you can say you’ve got three legitimate closers on the back end of the bullpen, plus (Hochevar) can do it and so can Madson,” Yost said. “When you’ve got five guys who could conceivably close for a major league team in your bullpen’s back end, it’s a nice thing to have as a manager.”