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Royals host Mets in Game 2 on Wednesday
By: Zach Cohen - StatFox
Published: 10/28/2015  at  10:51:00 AM
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NEW YORK METS (97-75)

at KANSAS CITY ROYALS (103-71)

First pitch: Wednesday, 8:07 p.m. ET
World Series – Game 2
Line: New York -115, Kansas City +105, Total: 7

The Royals will be looking to take a 2-0 series lead when they host the Mets in Game 2 on Wednesday.

Game 1 of the World Series was a roller coaster of a game and Kansas City ended up winning 5-4 on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 14th inning. Both teams made crucial mistakes in the field and will need to be much more sound defensively moving forward. The starters in this crucial Game 2 are going to be RHP Jacob deGrom (17-8, 2.47 ERA, 232 K) for New York and RHP Johnny Cueto (12-14, 3.75 ERA, 191 K) for Kansas City. The Mets will be extremely confident coming into this one with their ace on the mound and the team is also 53-18 against the money line when the money line is -100 to -150 this season. The Royals, however, are an impressive 31-11 against the money line at home when the total is 7.5 or less on the year. Both teams will be mostly healthy coming into this contest, but the Mets are without SS Ruben Tejada (Leg) for the remainder of the postseason and 2B Omar Infante (Oblique) hasn’t officially been ruled out for the Royals but his postseason return is very unlikely.

The Mets are trailing in this series after a brutal Game 1 loss and will now send their ace to the mound to even things up at one win apiece. Jacob deGrom has been unbelievable for New York all postseason, allowing just four earned runs and striking out 27 batters in 20.0 total innings of work. He will be tasked with putting the Mets on his back once again on Wednesday and the team has all the faith in the world that he will deliver. OF Yoenis Cespedes (.250, 2 HR, 7 RBI in playoffs) made a costly mistake in the field in Game 1 and will be trying to redeem himself with a productive night at the plate on Wednesday. He was just 1-for-6 on Tuesday and has not homered since Game 3 against the Dodgers. 2B Daniel Murphy (.400, 7 HR, 11 RBI in playoffs), however, continues to hit the cover off the ball. He went 2-for-7 in Game 1 against Kansas City and has now racked up multiple hits in five of the past six contests. New York will need him to stay hot, as he is really providing a spark to this team in the postseason. Another key factor for this team will be RP Jeurys Familia’s (0.82 ERA, 5 SV in playoffs) ability to bounce back. Familia blew the save for New York in Game 1, but the team needs him to have a short memory and be reliable moving forward.

The Royals’ postseason experience showed in Game 1, as the team rallied back from a 3-1 deficit and ultimately prevailed in a crazy extra inning affair. Johnny Cueto will now take the mound in what is going to be the biggest start of his career to date. The starter has been wildly inconsistent in the postseason so far, pitching one eight inning gem against the Astros but also allowing 12 earned runs in eight total innings over two other lousy outings. Kansas City will need the guy that allowed just two earned runs and struck out eight batters in Game 5 against Houston in the ALDS. Offensively SS Alcides Escobar (.360, 1 HR, 6 RBI in playoffs) hit an inside-the-park homer in Game 1 against New York. He is fresh off a series in which he was named MVP for Kansas City and is really coming through for his team in the postseason. OF Alex Gordon (.244, 2 HR, 4 RBI in playoffs) was the hero for Kansas City, though. Gordon homered in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at 4-4 and give his team a chance to win.


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