This story was excerpted from Anne Rogers’ Royals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here . And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CHICAGO -- The day the Royals knew they had a special reliever occupying the back end of their bullpen came on a day he pitched twice.

Just a few hours after Carlos Estévez recorded a blown save in the Royals’ Game 1 loss against the Cardinals on June 5 at Busch Stadium -- a walk-off single from Willson Contreras in the bottom of the 10th inning -- Estévez was running in from the ‘pen in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 2. He shut down the same part of the order he faced in Game 1, but this time, it didn’t get to Contreras.

Estévez notched his 18th save of the season instead.

“Oh yeah, I remember that day. The whol

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