KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The momentum pivot in World Series Game 2 came fast. Then faster. And faster still.

San Francisco had two on and one out in the top of the sixth. The score was 2-2 and the Royals essentially had to win. They really couldn’t lose both contests at Kauffman Stadium, have the Series shift to San Francisco and expect to take four out of five from a Giant squad this October steeled.

So, who you gonna call? How about Radar Busters?

“If we were going to lose, we were going to lose with our best,” Royals pitching coach Dave Eiland said.

For the Royals that means their late-game trio of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland. And Eiland readily admitted that in his perfect dream no one — except perhaps Brandon Finnegan for a batter, maybe two — would touch the ball in World Series Game 2 except starter Yordano Ventura and the closing threesome.

That is why the rookie, Ventura, had done his job. Yes, he left with runners on first and second and one out in the sixth. But it was the sixth. The Royals did not trail. Cue the Fast and the Furious.

For it takes a lot to find someone who actually throws harder than Ventura, whose 97 mph average was the best by any starter in the majors. But here came Kelvin Herrera, who averages 98.1 — only Cincinnati’s cannon-armed Aroldis Chapman averaged higher.

But this was a Herrera adrenalized by the World Series and coming off six days without action and motivated, he said, by this thought: “They can’t score.”

His first pitch to Brandon Belt was 101 mph. The speed limit was established. In all, he would throw nine pitches to keep those two runners in place — Brandon Belt flying to left, Mike Morse bouncing into a force. Eight of the pitches were at least 100 mph. His soft pitch was 92. The tie was preserved and the speed thrilled, re-energizing the Kauffman Stadium crowd and, in turn, the Royals.

“It really stopped the momentum for them and gave it to us,” Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer said.

By the time Herrera pitched again, Kansas City had scored five runs, the home crowd was bonkers and Giants reliever Hunter Strickland was bonker-ier. Herrera had turned Kauffman into KC Speedway. Fueled up, the Royals blew — and blue — by the Giants, winning 7-2 and tying the 110th World Series at one game apiece.

When these playoffs began, Royals manager Ned Yost was rather intractable about a formula that had Herrera in the seventh, Davis in the eighth and Holland in the ninth. But the urgency of the playoffs demand you ask more of your best players and that late-game trio is Kansas City’s great asset. So Yost — with an assist from Eiland — has altered his strategy.

So with the key moment arriving in the sixth, Herrera was sent in and the Giants were knocked out. The Royals scored the five runs, in part because San Fran manager Bruce Bochy, a renowned pen maestro, continues to believe in Strickland, who has shown a propensity for the long ball and a short fuse. Both were evident again in Game 2.

Herrera wobbled slightly with two walks in the seventh, but got through unscathed. Davis (who averages 95.7 with his fastball) struck out two in a 1-2-3 eighth. Holland (who averages 95.8) gave up a hit, but struck out the side in the ninth on the same day he received the Mariano Rivera Award as the AL’s best closer. The trio now has allowed three runs in 29 ¹/₃ postseason innings (0.92) ERA with 36 strikeouts.

So one night after the Giants won the Series opener behind their pitching strength, ace Madison Bumgarner, the Royals did the same. Herrera put out a fire with triple-digit heat and Kansas City sped its way into a Fall Classic tie.