Kansas City Royals Happy To See Vastly Different Starting Pitching In World Series Game 2

By Doug LaCerte @DLaC on October 22, 2014

The Kansas City Royals took the sports world by storm in recent weeks, breaking records and doing things no club has ever done before in MLB. Game 1 of the 2014 World Series finally brought an end to KC’s winning ways, but how will the Royals react to their first postseason defeat in 29 seasons? Will we remember yesterday’s loss as the beginning of the end of a remarkable season, or just a slight speed bump on the road to a World Series victory?

It will all depend greatly on Game 2’s starting pitching, an area in which KC has a clear advantage. As opposed to just two Royals seeing Madison Bumgarner more than six times in their career, six different Royals have more than 20 at-bats against today’s San Francisco Giants starter, Jake Peavy. Kansas City DH Billy Butler, who singled in Game 1 off Bumgarner in the second inning, has a .424 career average and a .727 slugging percentage against Peavy. Oddly, Royals leadoff batter Alcides Escobar has a higher slugging percentage off Peavy over 22 at-bats (.773), with a .409 career average.

Scoring on San Fran’s starter today seems much more realistic than putting up any big offensive numbers against Bumgarner, so the Royals should only need a quality start from the young flamethrower Yordano Ventura. Bouncing back from disappointment seems to be one of this team’s biggest strengths, and Yo proved recently to be just as integral to that mentality as anyone on the team.

After being questionably thrown into that insane Wild Card game and allowing a mortifying home run that gave the Oakland Athletics the lead, Ventura bounced back in his next start by throwing seven full innings and allowing just one run against the powerhouse Los Angeles Angels lineup. He labored in his next and latest start, allowing four runs to the Baltimore Orioles through 5.2 innings. He left the game at that time due to discomfort in his throwing hand, but all reports say he’s now 100 percent.

The only thing this team hasn’t had to endure during this postseason is actually losing a game. A healthy Yo on the mound at a roaring Kauffman Stadium could mean the beginning of a new winning streak for KC in Game 2.

Doug LaCerte is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @DLaC67, “like” him on Facebook and add him to your network on Google.