Indeed, Johnny Cueto is the Kansas City Royal that throws cheese. Cueto had a masterpiece of a night on Wednesday, when he threw a complete game two-hitter to give the Royals a 2-0 lead against the New York Mets in the 2015 World Series. The Royals now look to push the New York Mets to the brink when they fly to Flushing for Game 3 of the series.
Will the Royals come within a win of the title? Or will the Mets cut Kansas City’s lead in half? Read on below for our breakdown of this pivotal Game 3.
[sc:MLBArticles ]Kansas City Royals vs. New York Mets World Series Game 3 Preview
Where: Citi Field, Flushing
When: Friday, October 30, 2015, 8:07 PM ET
Line: Kansas City Royals at New York Mets – view all MLB lines
Broadcast: FOX
Betting on the Kansas City Royals
[sc:MLB240banner ]A four-run fifth inning in Game 2 was all the Royals needed to propel themselves ahead in their World Series with the Mets. The trio of Alcides Escobar, Eric Hosmer, and Mike Moustakas all provided timely RBI singles in the said inning of the Royals’ 7-1 win over New York Wednesday night.
Playing in the pitcher-friendly park of Citi Field on Friday may not be that much of a factor for the Royals’ hitters. After all, they’ve been playing all season long in Kauffman Stadium, which ranks among the least generous to power hitters among all parks in the MLB.
In addition, Kansas City is a team that doesn’t rely too much on power, as it is just 24th in the majors in overall home runs and 21st in homers on the road in the regular season. Instead, the Royals’ offense is feeding off well-placed hits on the field that drives runs. In fact, the Royals are third in the AL in BABIP (.301). Hopefully for Yordano Ventura, those stats translates to some ample run cushion when he takes the hill later tonight.
Ventura, who is getting 5.51 RS/9 this season, is coming off a solid performance in Game 6 of the ALCS. In that game, he allowed just one run on four hits in five plus innings of mound duty of a 4-3 win over Toronto. In four starts thus far this postseason, Ventura is 0-1 with a 5.09 ERA.
Cueto’s complete-game start in Game 2 gave Kansas City’s exceptional bullpen some rest heading into Friday’s contest. The Royals’ relievers have a collective ERA of 2.76 over the last 14 games.
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Betting on the New York Mets
The Mets are going to try another long-locked hurler on the mound later tonight following a letdown outing from Jacob deGrom on Wednesday. This time around, New York will give the ball to Noah Syndergaard, who has made three appearances thus far this postseason—two starts and one in relief.
In his most recent start, Syndergaard was able to hush the Chicago Cubs’ bats, allowing just one earned run on three hits, while striking out nine in 5.2 innings of a 4-1 win back in Game 2 of the NLCS. A strikeout machine, Syndergaard has recorded 39 punchouts over his last four starts. Moreover, he leads the Mets’ rotation with 9.96 strikeouts per nine innings.
With his team trailing in the series, Syndergaard will be pressured to deliver a gem in Game 3 at Citi Field, where the Mets have been nearly unbeatable when Syndergaard is on the mound. The Mets are 10-3 in Syndergaard’s last 13 home starts. The right-hander is also 7-2 with a 2.46 ERA in 12 starts at Citi Field.
Syndergaard, however, needs the offense to step up. The Mets, who only had two hits (both from Lucas Duda) in Game 2, will look to do better when the series shifts to their home field. Juan Lagares is 4-for-9 (.444) thus far this postseason, while Travis d’Arnaud is 5-for-16 with two homers and four RBIs during the same stretch.
Postseason hero Daniel Murphy, on the other hand, was hitless in Game 2, but managed to draw a walk off Cueto. He is now 2-for-9 with two walks since the start of the World Series.
Writer’s Prediction
New York wins 3-2.
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