With a dominant bullpen, a late lead has proved fatal for the Kansas City Royals’ opponents in the postseason this year. Friday night was no different.
The Royals defeated the San Francisco Giants on Friday night by a final score of 3-2 behind another strong performance from their bullpen. The victory gives Kansas City a 2-1 lead in the series.
After taking a 3-0 lead in the top of the sixth inning, the Royals’ bullpen was rock solid as four relievers combined for 3 2/3 nearly perfect innings of work.
Kelvin Herrera relieved Jeremy Guthrie in the sixth inning after Guthrie allowed back-to-back hits by Brandon Crawford and Michael Morse. Morse’s knock was an RBI double that gave San Francisco their first run. Herrera came in and, despite not allowing a hit, gave up a run after a couple of ground outs moved runners over. Buster Posey‘s grounder scored Morse and San Francisco pulled to within 3-2 before Herrera got out of the inning.
That was as close as they would get, however.
Herrera gave up a walk in the top of the seventh to Hunter Pence, but then struck out Brandon Belt. Pence’s walk would be the last baserunner for a Giants offense that struggled, collecting only four hits on the night. Brandon Finnegan retired the next two batters. Wade Davis and Greg Holland pitched perfect eighth and ninth innings, respectively, giving the Royals the pivotal Game 3 win.
Holland, the closer, has been particularly brilliant. It was his seventh save of the postseason and on Friday, he earned it, fighting through the meat of the Giants’ batting order – Posey, Pablo Sandoval, and Pence. In the playoffs, he has allowed only one run and after Friday, has a .90 ERA.
Afterwards, Giants manager Bruce Bochy talked about the Royals’ tough pen, not hesitating to say they’re possibly baseball’s best.
“I don’t know if there’s a better bullpen, because that seventh, eighth and ninth inning, and you get a tough go when you’re facing those guys,”
The Royals got on the board quickly. After a leadoff double by Alcides Escobar, he scored on a ground out by Lorenzo Cain to give the team a 1-0 lead in the first inning. The Royals added two more in the sixth with an Alex Gordon RBI double and a RBI single from Eric Hosmer.
Both starters had some difficulty, failing to complete six innings of work. Giants’ pitcher Tim Hudson was tagged with the loss after his three earned runs in 5 2/3 innings. Guthrie picked up the win after going only five innings, allowing two earned runs.
Saturday night’s Game 4 will feature the Giants’ Ryan Vogelsong opposite Kansas City starter Jason Vargas.
