The Kansas City Royals may have found the blueprint to counter the New York Mets’ strong pitching: Hit the ball anywhere and hope for the best.
Through two games of the 2015 World Series, the Royals have done just that. After a thrilling Game 1 that went late into the Kansas City night, the Royals’ bats came alive in Game 2 as the American League champs took a 2-0 lead with a 7-1 win on Wednesday.
As the Fall Classic shifts to Citi Field for Game 3, Kansas City looks to take another step in winning its first World Series since 1985. Here’s all the info you need for the pivotal matchup Friday night in New York.
Game 3 Info
When: Friday, Oct. 30
Where: Citi Field
Time: 8:07 p.m. ET
TV: Fox
Live Stream: Fox Sports Go
Probable Starters: Yordano Ventura (KC) vs. Noah Syndergaard (NYM)
Preview
If you’re a fan of young, stellar pitchers going at it in an all-important playoff game, then this is the game for you.
The Royals will turn to 24-year-old Yordano Ventura, two days after Johnny Cueto pitched the first complete game by an American League pitcher in the World Series since 1991. No pressure, right?
Opposite Ventura will be Noah Syndergaard, the 23-year-old hard-throwing right-hander who is 1-1 this postseason. The last time Thor took the mound, he went 5.2 innings and allowed only one earned run in the Mets’ 4-1 victory in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series. That was back on Oct. 18, so this is the first time in 11 days that Syndergaard will pitch.
Ventura was the Royals’ starter in the Game 6 clincher of the American League Championship Series against the Toronto Blue Jays exactly one week ago. He went 5.1 innings and struck out five while only allowing one run but was awarded a no-decision.
Neither of these two young hurlers has shown any signs that he’s scared of the bright lights of postseason baseball. Although Ventura is 0-1 this postseason and has been involved in three straight no-decisions, he’s struck out 19 batters in the last three games.
But there is good news for the Mets. Ventura allowed seven runs in those three games. He bounced back against Toronto in Game 6 by only allowing one run, but this might be a good time for New York to get its offense back on track.
The Mets only mustered two hits in Game 2 against Cueto. Both of those came off the bat of Lucas Duda, and while he continues to be a hot bat for the Mets (he’s hit .500 in his last four games), New York needs more production at the plate.
MLB.com’s Michael Baron goes a little more in-depth as to how much of a struggle it’s been offensively for the Mets:
In fairness to the Mets, a lot of their struggles can be attributed to dealing with the buzz saws of Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke. Yet, they still went 2-2 in games they pitched and defeated both Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester in the National League Championship Series as well.
But the Mets offense has been missing since the sixth inning of Game 1 of the World Series against Kansas City – they have just seven hits and scored no earned runs in their last 17 at-bats against Royals pitching.
It’s even been a glaring struggle for Daniel Murphy, who had what seemed to be the postseason of his life through the first two rounds. He has hit 2-for-9 in the World Series and went 0-for-2 with two walks in Game 2. If Murphy can’t start any rallies for the Mets like he did in the NLCS, then it’ll be next to impossible for New York to garner any other run support for Syndergaard.
Meanwhile, the Royals are getting contributions from nearly everyone in the lineup. One look at the box score from Game 2 will tell you that. Seven of the nine batters for Kansas City recorded a hit on Wednesday. Eric Hosmer and Alcides Escobar both recorded two hits and two RBI.
That’s the difference in this series at the moment.
Like Baron noted, the Mets have recorded a total of seven hits in the last 17 innings. The Royals have gotten 21 hits and have outscored New York 12-1 since the sixth inning of Game 1. ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark shows just how clutch the Royals have been when they’ve gotten runners in scoring position:
Thirteen games into their postseason, they’re hitting .222 with nobody on base. But guess what they’re hitting with runners on base? How about .330. With runners in scoring position? How about .340. With runners in scoring position and two outs? How about .311.
You can call that luck. You can call that random. You can call that happenstance if you want. But you know what the Royals call it? Winning. And they wonder how long they’ll have to keep winning this way for the world to catch on. This is what they do.
The Royals haven’t faced the caliber of pitching that the Mets have. But even when the Royals faced the San Francisco Giants in the World Series last year, they found ways to score and make contact off the Giants’ strong rotation (with the exception of Game 7 and Madison Bumgarner). The Royals don’t beat teams with power and have shown that once again in this World Series.
Syndergaard is the Mets’ last chance to quiet the Royals’ bats. While Ventura has given up some runs, he doesn’t get rattled. He won twice in the World Series last year, including a seven-inning masterpiece in Game 6 in Kansas City.
While Ventura is the guy the Mets would want to see in this must-win situation, it won’t matter on Friday. Ventura pitches another gem, and the Royals inch closer to ending their 30-year championship drought.
Prediction: Kansas City 6, New York 3
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com