World Series 2014: Schedule and Predictions for Giants vs. Royals Game 2

Nobody needed help hammering down the experience storyline this World Series, but Game 2's pitching matchup further reflects that talking point when the San Francisco Giants send out a former Cy Young winner to face the Kansas City Royals' rookie.

Jake Peavy, who won a ring with the Boston Red Sox last season, can extend the streak to two as the Giants look to snatch their third crown in five years. Meanwhile, Ned Yost has placed his trust in Yordano Ventura, a hard-throwing neophyte who has pitched to mixed results this postseason.

After the Giants took home the series opener on Tuesday night, the pressure is on the Royals to avenge Game 1's blowout and even the score before departing Kansas City. 

Date	Away	Home	Time (ET)	TV	Probable Pitchers
Wednesday, Oct. 22	San Francisco Giants	Kansas City Royals	8:00 p.m.	FOX	Jake Peavy vs. Yordano Ventura

Game 2 Preview

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From working his way through the farm system last season, Ventura now takes the mound in Game 2 of the Fall Classic. He's had an erratic playoff stint so far, which nearly ended when Yost mistakenly used him out of the bullpen during the play-in game against the Oakland Athletics.

Round	Opponent	IP	H	ER	HR	K/BB
ALWC	Oakland A's	0.1	2	2	1	0/0
ALDS	Los Angeles Angels	7.0	5	1	0	5/1
ALCS	Baltimore Orioles	5.2	5	4	1	3/3

Few starters can match Ventura's heat, as only Garrett Richards averaged a higher fastball velocity during the season. He proved especially stingy against left-handed hitters, harvesting a .229/.299/.343 opposing slash line. Should this test Bruce Bochy's willingness to tinker with his starting lineup, which included five lefties during Game 1?

Those splits are atypical from a right-handed hurler, so how did the 23-year-old achieve them? The sample size warrants some skepticism, as he sports a higher strikeout per nine innings rate against righties (8.56 K/9) than lefties (7.30). He also touts an 83.2 percent strand rate and .270 Batting Average on Balls in Play (BABIP) against southpaws.

Yet, his curveball serves as a legit weapon, orchestrating a .290 opposing slugging percentage off lefties, per Brooks Baseball. Like with any other Kansas City starter, Yost will be happy if the young gun keeps the club afloat for five innings before handing the ball to his sensational bullpen.

Nobody should expect much more, as Ventura's workload is already well above anything he has previously experienced. Fox Sports' Jon Morosi broke down his rapid innings increase, which rarely occurs during a time when teams shield young pitching assets as tightly as possible. 

On the other side, Peavy has stumbled upon a World Series for the second straight year, even though he didn't begin the season on either respective squad. Last year, the Chicago White Sox dumped him off on Boston, who won in spite of his 7.11 playoff ERA.

This season, however, Peavy is rolling now that he's back in the National League for the first time since exploiting Petco Park with the San Diego Padres from 2002-09. He's a different pitcher since getting jettisoned by the Red Sox, soaring despite a decrease in punchouts.

Stat	Red Sox	Giants
IP	124	78.2
ERA	4.72	2.17
WHIP	1.43	1.04
K/9	7.3	6.6
BB/9	3.3	1.9

Although the 33-year-old just reached the Promised Land last season, that hasn't eased his eagerness heading into this series, per the San Francisco Chronicle's Ann Killion.

He hasn't surrendered three or more runs in his past 11 starts, which bodes well for another strong performance. Yet he's fortunate to not have snapped that streak during two shaky October outings, during which he has issued six walks with just five strikeouts.

Although the Royals ranked last in free passes during the season, they're demonstrating much greater restraint with a 9.5 percent postseason walk rate. As we all know, you don't want these speedsters roaming the basepaths.

Don't read too much into the experience stuff, as that thinking led Bochy to send out Ryan Vogelsong to get torched in Game 4 of the National League Division Series. If Peavy can't harness his control on Wednesday night, don't be surprised to see the underrated Yusmeiro Petit enter the contest before the fifth inning winds down.

Each side will spring together a few runs off the starters, but look for Kansas City's explosive bullpen to once again shut the door en route to a close victory.

Prediction: Royals 5, Giants 4

Note: All advanced statistics are courtesy of FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.