Royals vs. Giants, 2014 World Series Game 3 final score: 4 things we learned in Kansas City’s 3-2 win
The Royals took a 2-1 series lead with strong bullpen work and an unlikely outing from their starting pitcher.
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Alcides Escobar went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored and Jeremy Guthrie tossed five innings of two-run ball to lift the Kansas City Royals to a 3-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants in Game 3 of the World Series on Friday.
Escobar doubled off of Giants starter Tim Hudson on the first pitch of the game and later scored on a groundout by Lorenzo Cain to get the Royals on the board. Five innings later, Escobar hit a one-out single against Hudson and immediately scored on Alex Gordon's double. Eric Hosmer added a run-scoring single later in the inning to extend Kansas City's lead to 3-0.
The Giants rallied for two runs in the bottom of the sixth. Brandon Crawford led off the inning with a single against Guthrie and Michael Morse followed with a double to get San Francisco on the board. Morse crossed the plate on a groundout by Buster Posey to get the Giants within a run, but Pablo Sandoval grounded out with Gregor Blanco on third to end the inning.
Kelvin Herrera and rookie Brandon Finnegan combined for two innings of scoreless relief before Wade Davis' dominant eighth in which he notched a pair of strikeouts. Greg Holland pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to give the Royals a 2-1 series lead.
Pitching entirely to contact rarely works, but it did for Guthrie
It wasn't pretty, but Jeremy Guthrie's first World Series start was a smashing success. He ran into trouble in the sixth inning, but it wasn't enough to prevent him from earning a victory. Guthrie had three things going for him: a strong defense behind him, a lot of weak contact and zero walks. The 35-year-old right-hander became the first starting pitcher since the New York Yankees' Jimmy Key in 1996 to work five or more innings without striking out a batter in a World Series game.
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If that’s not enough, Guthrie is now the only starter in World Series history to throw five or more innings with no strikeouts and no walks. And he’s the first starter to be awarded a win despite failing to strike out a batter since Bob Turley did it for the Yankees in Game 2 of the 1960 World Series.
Basically, before Friday, you had to pitch for the Yankees to do what Guthrie did. Not anymore.
Hudson showed well for his age
Despite allowing a double on his first pitch, Tim Hudson performed well in his first World Series start. At 39 years old, Hudson was the second oldest pitcher -- behind only 45-year-old Jamie Moyer in 2009 -- to make his Fall Classic debut. He allowed three runs in 5⅔ innings but retired 11 consecutive batters at one point, showing that the old guys can hang, too.
Giants tried to slow down Royals’ speed game
One thing was visually evident from the first pitch on Friday: the infield at AT&T Park was soaked. Groundskeepers watered the area so much that it wasn't out of the question for a viewer to think that McCovey Cove was relocated about 400 feet closer to home plate. The strategy kind of worked -- the Royals failed to steal a base and not many of their ground balls got through the infield. In addition, Jarrod Dyson -- who has grounded into 16 double plays in his career during the regular season -- hit into one to end the second inning.
Finnegan makes history
So, @TCU_Baseball's Brandon Finnegan becomes the first player in history to pitch in the @NCAACWS and @WorldSeries in the same year. @Royals
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogersPG) October 25, 2014 See More:
