Royals vs. Giants: Game 3 Score and Twitter Reaction from 2014 World Series
A loss in the opening game of the World Series snapped an eight-game winning streak for the Kansas City Royals. On Friday night, they extended a new streak with a second straight win over the San Francisco Giants.
The Royals stymied the Giants' lineup in a 3-2 victory. With the win, the Royals took a 2-1 lead on the road, ensuring two more games in San Francisco before a possible return to Kansas City.
Both starting pitchers had solid outings in Game 3, but neither made it out of the sixth inning.
The Giants' Tim Hudson has been in the postseason multiple times over the course of his career, but he had never started in the World Series. Huddy allowed three runs on four hits in 5.2 innings.
MLB Fan Cave passed along an interesting fact about the veteran hurler:
The Royals' Jeremy Guthrie threw just 77 pitches, 50 of which went for strikes, and allowed two runs in five innings. Kelvin Herrera allowed an inherited runner to score before retiring the side in the sixth.
Before he ever took the mound, Guthrie had a one-run lead thanks to Alcides Escobar starting the game with a double and a run scored. The run held up for the first five innings.
Guthrie's start was one of the best of the postseason for the Royals thus far. His five scoreless innings marked a rare sight for Kansas City, as ESPN Stats and Info pointed out:
Much of Guthrie's success has to be attributed to the outstanding defense from the Royals. The glove work continued in Game 3, particularly from Omar Infante and Jarrod Dyson.
Jorge L. Ortiz noted the outstanding play from the Royals:
Brilliant defense wasn't the only reason for the Royals' victory, as Alex Gordon finally broke through on the big stage. Gordon was hitless in the first two games, but he doubled to bring in Escobar for his second run of the game.
Eric Hosmer notched what would prove to be the game-winning RBI to drive Gordon in. The single was his only hit of the night, but it served as a nice birthday present for the 25-year-old first baseman.
Following the game, Hosmer spoke about the team's performance, per the Fox broadcast:
"We show no fear," Hosmer said. "It's a crazy game. We had our backs against the walls and our season on the line. We continued to battle. ... We know we have a dangerous team, and once postseason baseball comes we're just trying to get leads and hand it off to our bullpen.
"These games are never going easy. That's a tough team and it came down to the wire. ... Hats off to the bullpen for holding it down for us."
In the seventh inning, Herrera had the first at-bat of his major league career. It proved to be an all-time awkward plate appearance.
The relief pitcher backed his front foot out of the box on every pitch, but still fouled off one of Sergio Romo's pitches. Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports and David Cameron of FanGraphs.com shared their thoughts on the at-bat:
After Herrera hit with a runner on and two outs, the reliever allowed a walk and got one out in the seventh. He was replaced by rookie Brandon Finnegan, who recorded two outs to finish the frame.
The former TCU pitcher made history with his first appearance in the World Series, via Ace of MLB Stats:
Thanks to Finnegan closing out the seventh, the Royals were in a comfortable position. With Wade Davis and Mariano Rivera Award winner Greg Holland at the back end, Kansas City had the game all but secured heading to the eighth.
It was an all-too-common situation for the Royals, who have shut the door all season with late leads. Noah Trister of The Associated Press noted the team's record with a lead after the seventh inning:
As they have all season, the Royals closed the game out with the impressive one-two punch of Davis-Holland. The stuff from Davis was so nasty that Jason Catania of Bleacher Report proposed a change in the rotation:
The save for Holland was also a historic one in the playoffs, via MLB Public Relations:
ESPN's SportsCenter indicates this wasn't the only record mark broken in the victory:
A great pitching matchup now gives way to another one, as Jason Vargas is scheduled to face Ryan Vogelsong, per MLB.com. Vargas totes a 2.38 ERA this postseason while Vogelsong is looking to bounce back after allowing four runs in three innings in the NLCS.
Andrew Baggarly of CSN Bay Area revealed Vogelsong will officially start Game 4, despite speculation that Bumgarner may get the nod.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy previously spoke about the possibility of giving Bumgarner the start before Game 3, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle:
“We have really ridden this guy pretty good,” Bochy said. “It doesn’t mean he can’t do it or won’t do it. It’s a little different in today’s game with the wild card (game). Then you have two teams to go through. It is something that Dave Righetti and I have discussed, but right now, Vogelsong is our starter.”
After a thrilling Game 3, the series remains in San Francisco for the fourth and fifth matchups. The Royals may have grabbed the upper hand for now, but the series is far from over.
Game 4 is set for 8:07 p.m. ET on Saturday night when the Giants will be looking to even things up at 2-2. Though the Giants have scored just four runs in the last two games, they still have plenty of firepower to pull out a win.
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