KC Royals vs. SF Giants: Keys for Each Team to Win World Series Game 4

There are no must-win games until one team actually must win, but Game 4 of the 2014 World Series is about as close as it gets for the San Francisco Giants.

After losing 3-2 to the Kansas City Royals at home Friday night, the Giants find themselves in a 2-1 hole. A loss Saturday would mean a true must-win Game 5, and then at best a trip back to Kansas City.

So the Giants, clearly, want to even things up. You might even say they need to. They've been here before, notably in 2012, when they turned several backs-against-the-wall situations into champagne celebrations.

The Royals, meanwhile, have an opportunity to firmly grab control of this Fall Classic, their first in nearly three decades. Certainly the Kauffman Stadium faithful would love to watch their improbable team clinch in Kansas City, but they'd just as certainly take two more wins at AT&T Park and a hometown parade.

Before we talk confetti, though, let's talk Game 4. Specifically, three keys for each club to come out on top in this 8:07 p.m. ET matchup.

Giants: Get the Crowd into It

Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

Fans at AT&T Park aren't starved for postseason baseball like their counterparts at Kauffman Stadium. In fact, if anything they're stuffed, having watched two World Series winners in the past five seasons.

That doesn't mean they want it any less. Every fan knows these chances don't come around often; before their 2010 run, the Giants had gone 56 years between championships—that last one coming when they were still the New York Giants.

So, like any crowd, this one is itching to get into it. The Giants didn't afford them many opportunities to cheer in Game 3, managing just four hits and going 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position (more on that in a moment).

"You've got to give credit to their pitching," Giants manager Bruce Bochy told MLB.com's Chris Haft. "They did a great job tonight...we'll wash this off and come out and be ready to go tomorrow."

Certainly the orange towel-waving faithful will be ready, and it would behoove San Francisco to give them some early excuses to get loud and stay loud. 

Kansas City went 47-34 in away games during the regular season, so the team is comfortable on the road. It's up to the Giants, and their fans, to make sure the Royals are not too comfortable. 

Royals: Alcides Escobar Stays Hot

Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

Drink, meet straw, also known as Alcides Escobar.

Known more for his slick fielding, the Royals shortstop has asserted himself at the plate this October. After going 2-for-4 with two runs scored Friday night, he's hitting .417 in the Fall Classic.

He got Game 3 started with a bang, smacking a high fastball from Giants starter Tim Hudson off the left-field wall for a double and eventually coming around to score.

Kansas City has gotten production from up and down the lineup, but right now it begins with Escobar—the table-setter, the spark plug. 

"You can’t ask for a better leadoff hitter right now than him," outfielder Jarrod Dyson told Vahe Gregorian of The Kansas City Star. 

Manager Ned Yost moved Escobar to the top spot in September, hoping to shake up a moribund offense. It worked, and it's still working.

Keep stirring, straw.

Giants: Ryan Vogelsong Has One More Renaissance

Ben Margot/Associated Press

You know Ryan Vogelsong's improbable story by now: A Giants prospect once upon a time, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2001. A Tommy John surgery and a stint in Japan later, he returned to San Francisco as a minor league free agent in 2011, won a rotation spot and ended up in the All-Star Game.

Then, in 2012, Vogelsong was an October hero, posting a 1.09 ERA in four playoff starts and getting himself a ring.

The 37-year-old right-hander finished the 2014 regular season with a pedestrian 4.00 ERA. It appeared the coach might be turning into a pumpkin, again. 

Vogelsong threw 5.2 gutsy innings in the clinching game of the National League Division Series against the Washington Nationals, but he lasted only three innings in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Giants did win both contests.

If they're going to win Game 4 against Kansas City, a little new-old Vogelsong would go a long way. Which is to say, the guy who overcame impossible odds to reach the pitching pinnacle.

Vogelsong's stuff still looks good in stretches—his fastball has touched the mid-90s this postseason—but he's struggled with command.

Does he have one more magical comeback in him? Manager Bruce Bochy certainly thinks so; he's sticking with Vogelsong rather than starting ace Madison Bumgarner on short rest.

Seems a little crazy. Then again, so is Vogelsong's story.

Royals: Another Bullpen Arm Emerges

Matt Slocum/Associated Press

It's a formula, but it's no secret: Score early, and get the ball to Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland, the trio of dominant relievers that has fueled Kansas City's postseason run. 

But even the best arms can wear down. Herrera, in particular, seems at risk: He threw 1.1 innings in Game 3 (and even took a rare at-bat) and looked erratic at times, issuing two walks. And his normally crackling fastball, as SBNation's Jeff Sullivan noted, dipped into the low 90s.

That's not to say Herrera, or any Royals reliever, is out of gas. This is October, when everyone empties his tank and then runs on fumes.

But Yost may need another option outside of his Big Three, especially if starter Jason Vargas—who has allowed a career .338 average to these Giants hitters in an admittedly small sample, per ESPN.com—doesn't go deep.

One option is rookie left-hander Brandon Finnegan, who made history Friday when he became the first player to appear in a College World Series (for TCU) and MLB World Series in the same year.

More importantly, the 21-year-old southpaw retired both hitters he faced, getting the Royals out of a one-on, one-out situation in the seventh inning.

Expect him to see more action as the Royals tweak their formula. 

Giants: Hit with Runners in Scoring Position

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

The Giants didn't have many scoring chances in Game 3; they managed just four hits against Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie and that shutdown bullpen.

But when they did, they couldn't cash in. Yes, they plated a pair of runs to make it close. But they went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. Going back to Game 2, San Francisco is 1-for-11 in those crucial at-bats.

Not surprisingly, the team hit well with RISP during its Game 1 rout, going 5-for-12 en route to a decisive 7-1 win. It's as essential as it is obvious: Hit the ball with guys on base, good things happen; don't hit the ball with guys on base...not so much.

Take the sixth inning. After a slow chopper by rookie second baseman Joe Panik moved runners to second and third, Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval, San Francisco's middle-of-the-order thumpers, each got a crack. The result? Two groundouts. 

Yes, a run scored. But that's a spot where the Giants need a key knock from a key guy. 

"I thought we hit the ball pretty good, actually," Giants hitting coach Hensley Meulens said after the game, per Carl Steward of the San Jose Mercury News. "We hit some balls right at them. We put the ball in play. That's all you can ask of your guys, and hopefully we can find holes."

They'd better find them soon.

Royals: Keep Picking It Clean

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Whatever the outcome of this World Series, history will remember the gloves of these Kansas City Royals, especially in the outfield.

During the regular season, Royals outfielders led all of baseball in both Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) and Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), per FanGraphs.   

Sam Miller of Baseball Prospectus (subscription required) made the case that they're historically good: "Let’s be clear what we’re talking about here. We’re not just talking about a good outfield, or a great outfield. We’re talking about what one might decide to argue is the greatest defensive outfield of all time."

But you didn't need stats or analysis if you watched Game 3. Playing for the first time at AT&T Park, with its spacious expanses and pinball-esque contours, Kansas City's fleet-footed outfielders picked it clean. Lorenzo Cain made several impressive catches in right, as did Jarrod Dyson, whom Yost inserted into center field for his defense.

The Royals have made better highlight-reel plays this postseason. But that just underscores how transcendent they've been; these guys make the incredible look routine, and the near-impossible look possible. 

If they can keep it up, and there's no indication they can't, they'll take pressure off their pitchers and put it squarely on the shoulders of the Giants' hitters, who can only watch helplessly as another well-struck line drive improbably finds leather.