Cueto goes from Royal flop to savior

(Reuters) - Johnny Cueto had looked like a Kansas City flop as a trade deadline fix to their starting rotation but the Dominican said the "real" Johnny Cueto showed up on Wednesday for the Royals' biggest game of the season. Cueto rose to the occasion in the climactic fifth game of their Division Series, shutting down the visiting Houston Astros on two hits over eight innings and retiring the last 19 batters he faced in a 7-2 win that gave the Royals a 3-2 Series triumph. "Games like this is where you see the real Johnny Cueto," the stocky 29-year-old said through an interpreter. "I told my team mates I was going to show up today and get this done today." The victory put the Royals into the best-of-seven American League Championship Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, starting in Kansas City on Friday, with the winner earning a trip to the World Series. "You can count on me to show up on games like this," said Cueto, who came over in a trade with the Cincinnati Reds, where he had been an All Star and the ace of their staff. But he struggled with his new team. After logging a 7-6 record with a 2.62 ERA for the under-achieving Reds, Cueto went 4-7 with a 4.76 ERA for the Royals. With the season on the line, however, he changed back into the player Kansas City hoped he would be. Cueto grounded the Astros with a pinpoint fastball and diving slider. The only mistake he made was allowing a two-run homer to Luis Valbuena in the second inning after an infield single by Evan Gattis for a 2-0 Astros lead. After that blast, it was 19 up and 19 set down by the Dominican. "He was fantastic," said manager Ned Yost. "Johnny was rolling." The rest of the Royals were thrilled. "That's the reason why we got him, for games like this," said first baseman Eric Hosmer. Ben Zobrist, another mid-season acquisition by Kansas City, said Cueto was beguiling on the mound. "He was phenomenal. Both sides of the plate, all of his pitches. Just didn’t give them anything to hit," he said. "That’s the Cueto that everyone knew he could be for us and he was that tonight." Last year the Royals got back to the playoffs for the first time in 29 years as a Wild Card team and went all the way to a World Series Game Seven before falling to the San Francisco Giants. Third baseman Mike Moustakas said they had one more series left to win. "This is what we worked for all year," he said. "We got back here and now we’ve got more business to take care of. But we’ll enjoy this tonight." (Reporting by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Peter Rutherford)