Kansas City Royals vs. San Francisco Giants: Game Three Preview

Oct 14, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Jeremy Guthrie throws a pitch against the Baltimore Orioles during the first inning in game three of the 2014 ALCS playoff baseball game at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

The Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants will square off on Friday night in San Francisco for game 3 of the World Series.

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The Series is tied up 1-1 with the next 3 games in San Francisco’s AT&T Park. Kansas City needs to win at least one game to bring the Series back to Kansas City.

Jeremy Guthrie (13-11, 4.13 ERA) will pitch for Kansas City, while Tim Hudson (9-13, 3.57 ERA) will pitch for the Giants.

Tim Hudson started the season strong, posting a 2.87 ERA before the All-Star break, and a very hittable 4.73 after the break. Hudson has also been more hittable in his home park, allowing a 3.94 ERA at AT&T Park, while holding opponents to a 3.23 on the road.

Kansas City has tended to hit better against left-handed pitchers, putting up a .710 OPS vs. lefties against .682 vs. righties. Expect to see a lot of ground balls from the Royals today. Kansas City hit into the 6th highest number of groundballs in baseball, while Hudson is a ground ball pitcher with a 53.1% grounder rate this season.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Guthrie enjoyed a strong 2nd half with a 3.50 ERA, after a 4.56 ERA 1st half. However, Guthrie has shown a strong righty/lefty split this season. Right handers only hit for a .601 OPS vs. Guthrie, with left-handed hitters smacking him for an .828 OPS—which is good news for Giant hitters like Pablo Sandoval, Brandon Belt, and Joe Panik.

Guthrie has saved his best for the end of the season, putting up an outstanding 2.40 ERA in 5 starts since the beginning of September.

Oct 14, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Tim Hudson (17) pitches during the first inning in game three of the 2014 NLCS playoff baseball game at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

While this matchup would appear to favor Kansas City, the 39-year-old Hudson is pitching on 10 days of rest, which might help the veteran who appeared to wear down late in the year. Jeremy Guthrie is also a seasoned veteran at 35, but has only appeared to get stronger late in the year.

With the tricky right field wall in AT&T Park, Royals manager Ned Yost has opted to put defensive sub Jarrod Dyson in center and move playoff star Lorenzo Cain to right field. That decision puts Nori Aoki on the bench.

That move might weaken Kansas City’s offense, but does improve its team speed and defense. Also, Yost now has a bench loaded with good pinch hitters, with lefty Aoki joining righty power bats Josh Willingham and DH Billy Butler. Guthrie has also been a fly ball pitcher over his career, which might help factor into Yost’s decision.

For the Giants, Bruce Bochy moved Mike Morse to the bench after DH’ing him in Kansas City. Travis Ishikawa will continue to start in left. You can see the lineups and batting order here.

Game time is 7:07 PM CST at AT&T Park in San Francisco.