Orioles at Royals ALCS Game 3 Preview: Chen vs. Guthrie
Let's preview Game 3 of the ALCS, which will be played Monday night as long as it doesn't rain in Kansas City.
By
Mike Axisa
•
3 min read
Baltimore Orioles at Kansas City Royals, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 8:00pm ET on TBS
After getting rained out on Monday, the Orioles and Royals will resume the ALCS with Game 3 at Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday night.
The Royals lead the best-of-seven series 2-0 after a pair of thrilling wins at Camden Yards. They won both games thanks to late-inning rallies. The Royals are now two wins away from their first AL pennant in nearly three decades. The Orioles, meanwhile, have to win four of the next five games to advance to the World Series. Let's preview Game 3.
Pitching Matchup: LHP Wei-Yin Chen (16-6, 3.54) vs. RHP Jeremy Guthrie (13-11, 4.13)
Chen vs. Royals hitters: Chen faced the Royals twice this season and pitched well both times. He held them to two runs in seven innings back in April and then one run in 5 1/3 innings in May. Chen closed out the regular season with a 2.05 ERA in five September starts.
Current Royals position players have hit .314/.328/.525 in 123 plate appearances against Chen since he came over from Japan. (He is from Taiwan but pitched in Japan for several years.) Billy Butler (8-for-18, .444), Eric Hosmer (7-for-17, .412) and Alex Gordon (5-for-16, .313) have all hit him pretty hard. Butler and Hosmer have both taken Chen deep twice.
In the ALDS against the Tigers, Chen allowed five runs on seven hits (including two homers) in only 3 2/3 innings in Game 2. They hit him pretty hard. Chen allowed two runs (one earned) in 6 1/3 innings during the 2012 ALDS, his only other postseason start.
Guthrie vs. Orioles hitters: The Orioles gave Guthrie his first extended opportunity in the big leagues after claiming him off waivers from the Indians in January 2007. He went 47-65 with a 4.12 ERA with Baltimore from 2007-11, which were among the franchise's leaner years. Here's what Guthrie had to say on Saturday about facing his old teammates in Game 3:
I think this is very serendipitous that I leave a franchise that I was a part of for five years and had had a long drought of being in the playoffs, but had a storied history and past, and end up on a team with another rich history, as well, but an even longer drought.
To be in the playoffs with Kansas City is very exciting. And then to come back and play against a team that I played with before makes it even that much more interesting and ironic, I think.
Orioles hitters have a combined .212/.273/.244 batting line in 173 plate appearances against Guthrie. No one on the roster who has faced him at least 10 times has hit higher than .250 or posted an OPS higher than .664. J.J. Hardy (.429 OPS in 14 PA) and Adam Jones (.237 OPS in 13 PA) have had the least success.
Guthrie faced the Orioles twice in 2014: two runs in seven innings in April and four runs in eight innings in May. This will be Guthrie's first career postseason appearance. He did not pitch in the AL wild-card game nor the ALDS, but was on the active roster for both.
What To Watch
• Will the extra day of rest allow each manager to go to his bullpen more quickly if circumstances warrant? The quick hook could be in play for Game 3 (never mind that they lose an off day later in the series -- today is what matters in the playoffs).
• Guthrie has not pitched in a game in 18 days now. The Royals did have him throw an extended simulated game recently to help keep him sharp and stretched out, but any time a pitcher has that long of a layoff, there's always some concern he'll be rusty. Guthrie isn't a huge stuff guy, so if he isn't locating well, he could be in for a short night.
• Chen, mostly because his ALDS start was terrible and the O's rotation has been pretty bad in general in the postseason. Only twice in five games has their starter completed even five innings of work. Buck Showalter can't go to the bullpen in the third or fourth inning again in Game 3, especially if there's a rainout and they'll have to play at least four games in four days to win the series.
