NEW YORK – Cole Ragans started his AL Division Series with a walk in the park.
On Sunday, the Royals left-hander took a 11-minute stroll from the team’s hotel in midtown Manhattan and played catch in Central Park on the Heckscher Ballfields, just as so many amateur baseball and softball players do each day.
On Monday, he was an 8-mile drive away on the mound at Yankee Stadium and allowed one run over four innings in Kansas City’s 4-2 win over the New York Yankees that evened their AL Division Series at one game apiece.
“Just found a little grass patch there in the middle of Central Park, and me and Sam Long played a little catch there for a little bit,” Ragans said of his teammate. “It was pretty cool.”
Like so many Heckscher hurlers, Ragans had command problems. He needed 87 pitches to get 12 outs against the Yankees, walking three of four leadoff hitters and going to full counts on five of his first 10. He fanned Aaron Judge on a fastball with two on in the first and fellow slugger Juan Soto with a runner on in the third.
“Control was a little erratic,” Ragans said. “Felt like I made pitches when I had to make a pitch.”
The run he gave up came on Giancarlo Stanton’s third-inning RBI single that deflected off the glove of shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and into left field. Ragans struck out five and walked four — among 13 free passes Royals pitchers have issued in two playoff games against the Yankees. He threw 24 pitches in both the first and second inning.
Mostly a reliever with Texas last year, Ragans was traded to Kansas City in late June as part of a deal for Aroldis Chapman. The Royals immediately converted him back to a starter, and he went 5-2 with a 2.64 ERA in 12 outings for them.
“We didn’t know how good Cole was going to be when we acquired him, but it was apparent the end of September he was going to be in our rotation,” general manager J.J. Picollo said.
A 26-year-old first-time All-Star, Ragans went 11-9 with a 3.14 ERA in 32 starts this season, striking out 223 in 186 1/3 innings. Then he pitched six innings of four-hit ball to beat Baltimore 1-0 in last week’s Wild Card Series opener before leaving with leg cramps.
Royals manager Matt Quatraro was pleased with Ragans’ warmup session in the 843-acre urban oasis designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux.
“We encouraged it,” Quatraro said at Yankee Stadium. “We said if we’re not coming in here to work out, if anybody needs to work out, that’s what we’re going to do.”
Ragans got to Central Park about 11 a.m. He threw from 75 feet for around 5-10 minutes.
“Nobody recognized us,” he said. “We just got our stuff done and went back to the hotel.”
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