KANSAS CITY -- After closer Wade Davis suffered his first blown save of the season in a two-run ninth, the Royals headed to extra innings against the Braves on Sunday with only two pitchers remaining in the bullpen: Scott Alexander and Chien-Ming Wang.
Even after pitching the day before, Alexander took the mound in the 10th. He recorded three huge scoreless innings in the Royals' 4-2 walk-off win in 13 innings at Kauffman Stadium.
"[He was] absolutely one of the stars," manager Ned Yost said. "We were going to go as far as we could with him and then with Chien-Ming. And Scott gave us three great innings."
Yost credited the relief duo for giving the Royals a chance to win the game and their first series since April 24. Yost mentioned how even though Alexander had thrown 29 pitches the night before, there weren't exactly a plethora of options sitting on the bench as Kansas City used nine pitchers in all.
Alexander, on the other hand, said he wasn't feeling the effects of the night before. He added that he could've kept going if the situation had called for it.
"I think a little bit of adrenaline starting kicking in," Alexander said. "I haven't pitched any kind of situation like that so far up here. It was just a lot of fun."
Alexander exited the game having given up just one hit. His four strikeouts were a career high, making it the second straight day he set a personal best for K's. He kept his pitch count low relative to his body of work with 39.
"You always want to be ready," Alexander said. "It was a great team win. And sometimes you have to go through some of these kinds of games to get going."