World Series 3: Royals 3, Giants 2

Royals - 100 002 000 - 3  6  0
Giants - 000 002 000 - 2  4  0

Kansas City manager Ned Yost once again relied on the nearly infallible arms of his bullpen - to the point of letting Kelvin Herrera bat in the seventh inning with a runner on base just so he could stay in the game and pitch another inning - and it paid off. The Royals held on for a 3-2 victory and now hold a 2-1 lead in the World Series.

When KC starter Jeremy Guthrie (5-4-2-0-0, 77) allowed a single and an RBI double to begin the bottom of the sixth, Yost had his hook ready. In came Herrera. The flame-throwing righty had thrown 32 pitches in Game 2 and his velocity was down by 5-6 mph when he began his work. He walked Gregor Blanco on four pitches, though not missing by much on any of them. Herrera then got three groundouts, but another run scored, cutting the Royals' lead to 3-2.

In the seventh, Herrera battled Hunter Pence for eight pitches but lost him to a walk. He struck out Brandon Belt, before handing the ball to lefty Brandon Finnegan, the first man in baseball history to pitch in the College World Series and the MLB World Series in the same year. Finnegan got a fly out and a strikeout to end the inning.

Wade Davis pitched a perfect eighth (K, 2-3, K) and Greg Holland pitched a perfect ninth (7, 1-3, 1-3) and the Royals were victorious.

Kansas City took a quick lead on Tim Hudson (5.1-4-3-1-2, 76) in the first inning. (Hudson was the 3rd oldest pitcher in history to make his first World Series start.) Alcides Escobar whacked the first pitch of the game, a high fastball, to the base of the left field wall for a double. He came around to score as Alex Gordon grounded to first and Lorenzo Cain grounded to shortstop, the Giants conceding the early run.

Hudson allowed a single and a walk to open the second, but was aided by a lunging catch by Travis Ishikawa in left and a double play. Hudson retired 11 Royals in a row before Escobar grounded a single up the middle with one out in the sixth. Gordon crushed a double to deep center and Escobar raced around to score. After Cain grounded to third, the Giants brought in Javier Lopez. Lopez threw 11 pitches to Eric Hosmer (cfffbfbffb) and the Royals first baseman lined #11 into center, scoring Gordon, and upping KC's lead to 3-0.

The Giants' bats awoke from their slumber in the bottom of the inning. Brandon Crawford singled and pinch-hitter Michael Morse doubled down the left field line. That put San Francisco on the board - and that was when Yost leaned on his ever-reliable bullpen.

With the win, Yost became the second manager in MLB history to win 10 of his first 11 postseason games, joining Ozzie Guillen, who went 10-1 with the 2005 White Sox.