Weather may have led Yost to turn to Madson

KANSAS CITY -- Royals manager Ned Yost's decision to start the eighth inning of Game 6 of the American League Championship Series with Ryan Madson on the mound, rather than closer Wade Davis while clinging to a two-run lead that was quickly erased, partly stemmed from impending rain, he implied on the FOX Sports 1 broadcast. Kansas City won, 4-3, to advance to the World Series for the second straight year.

The right-handed Madson yielded a leadoff base hit to Ben Revere to bring the potential tying run to the plate. Josh Donaldson stared down a called third strike, but Jose Bautista had no trouble connecting bat to ball, drilling an 0-1 fastball offering into the left-field stands for a game-tying home run while Davis loomed in the bullpen.

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Only after Madson issued an ensuing walk to Edwin Encarnacion did Yost turn to Davis, who had not pitched since Game 2, six days prior. Davis promptly induced a weak popup from Chris Colabello and struck out Troy Tulowitzki to halt Toronto's rally, but a 45-minute rain delay was put into effect thereafter.

Along with Madson, Kelvin Herrera was done for the night, having pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings in relief of starter Yordano Ventura.

"This is kind of what I was hoping to stay away from, getting Wade in the ballgame and then raining," Yost told FOX Sports 1 during the delay. "So it was at a point where we had to do it, so Wade will come in."

The Royals have not lost when leading after six innings in the 2014 and '15 postseasons.