BALTIMORE — Cole Ragans used to watch Cole Hamels carve up opposing lineups during the Philadelphia Phillies’ deep postseason runs more than a decade ago.
Ragans models his mechanics after the former Phillies left-hander, bringing both hands over his head during his wind-up before slinging the ball toward home plate.
The resemblance was spot-on Tuesday.
Ragans struck out eight over six scoreless innings in his playoff debut, Bobby Witt Jr. drove in the go-ahead run and the Kansas City Royals blanked the Baltimore Orioles 1-0 in their American League wild-card series opener.
Kansas City, which played its first playoff game since winning the 2015 World Series, can clinch the best-of-three series with a win on Wednesday. Game 3, if necessary, would be Thursday in Baltimore.
“This team is special,” Ragans said. “It’s fun to be around. We know what we’re capable of. It’s just, everybody is pulling for everybody. Everybody is pushing everybody, and it’s just so much fun to show up and play for these guys every single day.”
Ragans (1-0) scattered four hits and did not walk a batter while throwing 60 of his 80 pitches for strikes. He exited after the sixth inning with cramping in his left calf.
Royals manager Matt Quatraro said Ragans will be fine.
“He’ll hydrate. Do all the stuff they need to do. It was very mild, but he was being honest with us because we’ve been down that road before and it doesn’t usually go well after that,” Quatraro said.
Witt, also making his first postseason appearance, drove in Maikel Garcia with a two-out single against Baltimore starter Corbin Burnes (0-1) to break a scoreless tie in the sixth inning.
Sam Long pitched a perfect seventh and Lucas Erceg escaped a jam in the eighth and worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth to secure a four-out save.
The Orioles have lost nine straight playoff games since sweeping the Detroit Tigers in the 2014 AL Division Series.
Burnes shined in his Baltimore postseason debut, scattering five hits over eight-plus innings while striking out three. His only walk came with one out in the sixth, issuing the free pass to Garcia, who stole second and advanced to third on a groundout before Witt singled him home through the left side.
“He did his part,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said of Burnes. “Pitched absolutely fantastic. Showed me all year what kind of pitcher he is, and he even stepped up in this game even more today.”
Baltimore squandered a chance to break through in the third after Cedric Mullins doubled off the right field wall to start the inning. James McCann struck out and Gunnar Henderson grounded out before MJ Melendez caught Jordan Westburg’s drive deep to left to keep the game scoreless.
Ragans escaped trouble again in the fifth, fanning McCann and Henderson after the Orioles put runners on first and third with one out.
Baltimore wasted another scoring chance in the eighth after Henderson and Westburg reached against Kris Bubic with two outs. Erceg entered with runners on first and second and retired Anthony Santander on a groundout to Witt at shortstop.
The Orioles finished 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
“That hurt,” Hyde said. “You’ve got to give them credit. I thought their pitchers were absolutely fantastic, and Ragans is really hard to hit and the bullpen guys that came in after, they were really tough on us.”
Burnes, in his first season in Baltimore after being acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers in February, exited to a rousing ovation after Garcia singled to lead off the ninth.
–Tanner Malinowski, Field Level Media
