Kansas City Royals
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Kansas City Royals OFFICIAL GAME NOTES Kansas City Royals (1-1) @ San Francisco Giants (1-1) AT&T Park - Friday, October 24, 2014 World Series - Game #3 FOX Network, MLB International, KCSP Radio (610 Sports) & ESPN Radio UPCOMING SCHEDULE (Probables with Postseason statistics) Game #4 - Saturday, October 25 @ San Francisco Giants: LHP Jason Vargas (1-0, 2.38) vs. RHP Ryan Vogelsong (0-0, 5.19), 7:07 p.m. (CDT), FOX, ESPN Radio & 610 Sports Game #5 - Sunday, October 26 @ San Francisco Giants: TBA vs. TBA, 7:07 p.m. (CDT), FOX Network, ESPN Radio & 610 Sports Monday, October 27 (if necessary) - Media availability at Kauffman Stadium (Time to be announced) Game #6 (if necessary) - Tuesday, October 28 vs. San Francisco Giants: TBA vs. TBA, 7:07 p.m. (CDT), FOX Network, ESPN Radio & 610 Sports Game #7 (if necessary) - Wednesday, October 29 vs. San Francisco Giants: TBA vs. TBA, 7:07 p.m. (CDT), FOX Network, ESPN Radio & 610 Sports This series is being broadcast on KCSP Radio (610 Sports) and the Royals Radio Network with Royals’ Hall of Famer Denny Matthews, Ryan Lefebvre, Steve Physioc and Steve Stewart, while Don Free controls the dials as the producer/engineer...the World Series is being televised nationally on the FOX Network with Joe Buck, Harold Reynolds, Tom Verducci, Erin Andrews and Ken Rosenthal...each game is also being televised by MLB International with Gary Thorne and Kansas City’s own Rick Sutcliffe...every game is being broadcast nationally on ESPN Radio with Dan Shulman and Aaron Boone, while Jon “Boog” Sciambi and Chris Singleton provide the pre and postgame analysis. THE 2014 KANSAS CITY ROYALS POST-SEASON GUIDE IS AVAILABLE ON-LINE AT MLBPRESSBOX.COM IN THE BIG INNING--The Royals evened the 2014 World Series at a win apiece on Wednesday night, plating five sixth inning runs to cruise to a 7-2 win in game #2 of the Fall Classic...tied a 2-2 entering the home half of the sixth, Lorenzo Cain and Eric Hosmer reached via a single and walk, respectively, which set off a chain reaction of pitching changes, as the Giants used five different hurlers in the frame that featured a run scoring single by Billy Butler, 2-run double from Salvador Perez and then a 2-run homer by Omar Infante...if time of possession were a baseball statistic, the Royals would’ve crushed it on Wednesday as the home half of the sixth took just over 32 minutes to complete...the 5-run inning marked the second highest scoring inning in World Series play for the Royals, a run shy of the 6-run fifth in Game #7 of the 1985 series...Kansas City bullpen tookover for the final 3.2 innings, with the red hot trifecta of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland blanking the Giants the rest of the way to give the win to Herrera, his first career postseason victory...Alcides Escobar joined Cain, Butler and Infante with two hits apiece to lead the 10-hit attack... the win was KC’s ninth in 10 games during this postseason. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOZ--Kansas City first baseman Eric Hosmer turned 25 years old today...the defendingRawlings Gold Glove winner at first base, shares his birthday with fellow baseball player Rafael Furcal (37), NASCAR driver Brian Vickers (32), actor Kevin Kline (67) and former New York Giants quarterback Y.A. Tittle (88). ROAD WARRIORS--The Royals are 4-0 on the road this postseason, posting 2-0 marks in Anaheim in the ALDS and Baltimore in the ALCS...those figures are even better than KC’s solid regular season work, posting a 47-34 ledger away from ‘The K’, five wins better the home ledger during the season (42-39)...the road year turned around in Chicago, as KC entered play on July 22 in Chicago with a 26-25 road mark, but then reeled off a 21-9 record in road tilts, matching the Angels for the most road wins in that span...counting the postseason, KC is now 10-1-1 in its last 12 road series played. A DIFFERENT LOOK--No matter how hard he tries, manager Ned Yost cannot replicate the lineup he’s used the last 18 games that has witnessed an overall 15-3 record...since September 21 in a series finale against the Detroit Tigers, the ninesome of (in order) Alcides Escobar, Nori Aoki, Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer, Billy Butler, Alex Gordon, Salvador Perez, Omar Infante and Mike Moustakas has been the everyday lineup, but tonight the rules change for the next three games as the series shifts to a National League park...tonight’s starting pitcher, Jeremy Guthrie, was 0-for-5 with a sac bunt this year and 5-for-56 (.089) lifetime with five sacrifices...tomorrow’s starter, Jason Vargas, did not bat this year, but was 2-for-5 last season and is an impressive .262 hitter lifetime (16-for-61) with three doubles and four RBI. SOLID VS. SENIOR CIRCUIT--Though the stakes are much higher this week, playing against the National League in 2014 was not an issue for the Royals, especially on the road...Kansas City posted a big league best 15-5 mark against the Senior Circuit, with all but four of those games occurring against the National League West...KC also went 8-2 on the road vs. the N.L., losing their first meeting in San Diego before winning eight in a row and then losing the N.L. road finale in Denver. BEST TRIO EVER???--The Royals are showing the nation what Kansas Citians came to appreciate this summer with one of the top bullpens in the game...the trifecta of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland were the first trio in history to make at least 60 appearances each and record individual ERA’s of under 1.50...in this postseason the trio has combined to work 29.0 innings, allowing three earned runs for a 0.93 ERA while fanning 36. POSTSEASON RECAP--Kansas City’s win on Wednesday evened this series with the Giants, as the postseason has come full circle with the bay area for the Royals...the run to the World Series began with KC coming back from a 7-3 deficit in the eighth inning of the Wild Card Game against Oakland’s Jon Lester to eventually post a 9-8 victory over the A’s in 12 innings...from there, the Royals swept three from the Angels, highlighted by back-to-back 11-inning wins in Anaheim and then kept the dream alive with a 4-game sweeping of Baltimore, taking the first two in Camden Yards and then finishing things off at home with consecutive 2-1 wins. TONIGHT’S STARTING PITCHERS (Postseason stats): RHP Jeremy Guthrie (0-0, 1.80) vs. RHP Tim Hudson (0-0, 3.29) Regular Season 2014 2013 Career 2014 2013 Career Jeremy Guthrie vs. Giants - - 0-1 Major League Record 13-11 (4.13 ERA) 15-12 83-100 Tim Hudson vs. Royals 0-1 - 3-4 Major League Record 9-13 (3.57 ERA) 8-7 214-124 JEREMY GUTHRIE is making his first career World Series appearance and second overall postseason start...he’s faced the Giants three times in his career, including twice in 2012 as a member of the Rockies...he’s in the second year of a 3-year deal after being acquired from Colorado for Jonathan Sanchez on July 20, 2012. SOLID VS. O’S--Jeremy last worked nine days ago, in Game #3 of the ALCS, Jeremy’s 2014 Postseason Starts pitching the first 5.0 innings of KC’s 2-1 win over his former team from Baltimore...the DATE OPPONENT SCORE IP H R ER HR BB SO TP-K LEFT veteran righty allowed a run on 3 hits with 2 walks and 2 K’s...Guthrie’s only hiccup came 10/14 Baltimore ND, 2-1 5.0 3 1 1 0 2 2 94-63 1-1 in the top of the second, when he allowed consecutive one-out doubles to Steve Pearce and 2014 Postseason 0-0 1.80 5.0 3 1 1 0 2 2 94-63 67% 2014 Regular Season 13-11 4.13 202.2 215 100 93 23 49 124 3233-2096 65% J.J. Hardy, staking the O’s to a short-lived 1-0 lead...after a walk to Ryan Flaherty, Jeremy retired 11 of the final 13 hitters he faced...Kansas City tied the score in the fourth inning and plated the winning run with Billy Butler’s sacrifice fly in the seventh, after Guthrie had departed...the start was Jeremy’s first in postseason play, after 275 career regular season appearances (248 starts). DEALING DOWN THE STRETCH--Guthrie was 8-2 over his final 12 regular season starts, with the win total tying him for second in the A.L. from July 26 on, trailing only L.A.’s Matt Shoemaker (9)...he was named the Royals Pitcher of the Month in September, going 3-1 with a 2.40 ERA over 5 outings. LOCAL CONNECTION--Jeremy attended nearby Stanford University, pitching for the Cardinal from 2001-02, helping them reach the College World Series both years...during his junior season, Guthrie went 13-2 with a 2.51 ERA and was named the Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year...he will become the 11th Stanford product to appear in the World Series and the first to start a World Series game since Mike Mussina started Game #3 of the 2003 World Series against the Marlins.