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World Series Game 2 – Royals Look to Bounce Back

John Benson

by John Benson in News

Updated Jan 17, 2018 · 9:40 AM PST

World Series Game 2: San Francisco Giants at Kansas City Royals (-1.5, 7 o/u)

It was a rude awakening for the Kansas City Royals last night as the American League champs experienced their first loss of the 2014 postseason, a 7-1 drubbing at the hands of Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants.

Royals manager Ned Yost said, “We didn’t expect to come in here and sweep the San Francisco Giants. We knew that this was a series that was going to go deep. We know how tough they are. They swung the bats really well.”

Now the pressure is the Royals to get a victory in Game 2. A 1-0 hole may not look like much, but history has proven that it is deceptively deep; only three teams in the last 18 years have overcome a 1-0 deficit to win the World Series.

The Royals will face veteran Jake Peavy, who is 1-0 with a 1.86 ERA this playoffs. Peavy started one game in last year’s World Series earning a no-decision. Toeing the rubber for Kansas City is rookie Yordano Ventura. In the 2014 postseason, Ventura has appeared in three games (two starts) and has a 4.85 ERA over 13 innings.

Peavy knows he will be facing a motivated Royals team tonight.  “A lot of energy, I think, on both sides. We’ll have our work cut out for us, for sure,” said the veteran righty.

The youngster Ventura will face a Giants team that not only swept the Royals in a three-game regular-season series in Kansas City earlier this year but boasts a dangerous lineup led by Pablo Sandoval, who is batting .400 since the start of the NLCS. Sandoval has also reached base in a club-record 24 straight postseason games, a streak which spans three seasons.

Regarding his powerful offense, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said, “I can’t say I’m surprised by these guys.”

Kauffman Stadium will be rocking tonight with plenty of offense. The over at 7 should be the right move.

(Photo credit: SD Dirk [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/] via Creative Commons.)

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