KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Time and again during the second half of this season, Big Game James Shields simply has willed his team to victory.
Since that fateful series in Chicago in late July -- the players-only meeting series -- the Royals are 7-3 in games started by Shields.
And starting with his 2-1 victory there, Shields has posted a 5-2 record himself with a glittering 2.03 ERA.
Lately, when the teetering Royals needed him most, Shields simply has been at his best.
The two starts on the recently completed road trip speak volumes about Shields' worth.
The Royals needed a good start to the trip at Yankee Stadium on Friday night to gain confidence. He delivered 8 1/3 innings of shutout ball in a pulsating 1-0 win.
And again Wednesday night, with his team on the verge of a devastating sweep at the hands of the Tigers and with first place on the line, Shields again lifted his teammates upon his shoulders and carried them to a win, 3-0.
What also impressed was the manner in which Shields beat the Tigers: Unlike Jeremy Guthrie and Jason Vargas on the previous two nights, Shields went right after the Tigers.
Guthrie and Vargas each danced around the strike zone, pitched around hitters and wound up having short nights. Vargas walked three hitters, gave up six hits and couldn't make it out of the fifth inning as his pitch count soared to 99. Guthrie was worse, throwing 76 pitches in less than three innings while giving up 10 hits and eight runs.
Shields, on the other hand, challenged every Tigers hitter, essentially punching the bully in the nose. At one point he retired 18 straight Tigers.
Shields' teammates raved about him afterward. So did his manager, Ned Yost.
"You don't earn a nickname like Big Game James for nothing," Yost said. "And it showed exactly how he got his nickname tonight. Games don't come much bigger than this one."
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Shields has performed at this high level with precious little support -- the Royals are averaging 1.7 runs per game in his last four starts. Amazingly, they've won two of them, both of which required shutouts.
It should be pointed out, too, that each game was finished off by Wade Davis, filling in for injured closer Greg Holland.
Davis hasn't given up a run since June 25 and has a scoreless innings streak of 30 2/3, the longest current streak in baseball.
Together, Shields and Davis are doing all they can to keep the Royals on top of the American League Central.
And while this isn't precisely how general manager Dayton Moore envisioned it (Moore figured Davis for the rotation) when he made the controversial Wil Myers trade, the end result is the same: Moore thought the addition of Shields and Davis would immediately turn the Royals into a contender.
And it did.
Yes, the Royals gave up a potential star in Myers. But no one can argue any longer that the trade wasn't worth it as the Royals now are on the brink of their first playoff appearance in 29 years.
You can follow Jeffrey Flanagan on Twitter at @jflanagankc or email him at jeffreyflanagan6@gmail.com.
