Reaction - Royals' Yost errs in committing to Shields for Game 5

The validity of James Shields' oft-repeated nickname continues to crumble as he stumbles through another disappointing postseason. "Big Game James" once again failed to justify his moniker Tuesday night in Game 1 of the World Series, allowing five earned runs while surrendering loads of hard contact to the San Francisco Giants before being lifted with nobody out in the fourth inning.

Mere moments after the Giants breezed to a 7-1 victory, though, Royals manager Ned Yost confirmed that Shields will take the mound in San Francisco should the series require a Game 5. An astute manager knows that publicly endorsing his team's most accomplished starter after a shaky outing is pretty much par for the course, but Yost may have too hastily committed to Shields for Game 5.

Shields yielded five runs over three-plus innings in Tuesday's series opener as he proved unable to locate his pitches, consistently missing either over the plate or well out of the strike zone.

(Courtesy: Brooks Baseball)

Shields' postseason earned run average sits at 7.11 though four starts, and the beleaguered hurler has surrendered at least three runs in six of his last seven outings dating back to Sept. 15. As such, the largely forgotten Danny Duffy might be a more tenable option for a potential Game 5 after the left-hander tossed three innings of relief on Tuesday, allowing two earned runs on one hit and three walks while fanning three.

The substantive differences in their performances during the regular season weren't all that significant. Shields boasted a significant advantage in walk rate, but the two recorded strikeouts with virtually identical frequency while Duffy proved much better at suppressing home runs. Duffy induced fly balls nearly 12 percent more often than Shields, making him an attractive candidate to start at AT&T Park, a spacious ballpark that discouraged home runs more aggressively than any other stadium in 2014.

Duffy vacillated between the rotation and bullpen during the regular season, and made just one postseason appearance before Tuesday's outing. However, the 25-year-old was impressive when pitching on normal rest this season, limiting opponents to a .587 on-base plus slugging while allowing just more than one baserunner per inning.

It'd be difficult for Yost to spurn Shields after publicly committing to the one-time All-Star. (Such a move would probably destroy any chance the club has of re-signing the impending free agent, incidentally). With elimination potentially looming, though, drastic measures are sometimes needed.

And, frankly, is there anything the Royals could do that would surprise you at this point?