The Kansas City Royals will take on the San Francisco Giants this afternoon in the finale of a rematch of the 2014 World Series. Offense has been difficult to come by in this series as the teams split the first two matchups while combining to score nine total runs.
Daniel Lynch IV will “start” for Kansas City. I say “start” because this is likely more of an opener situation for a bullpen game. Lynch has not completed four innings since last June and has maxed out at ten batters faced this season. If all goes well, he could get one time through the order and change before giving way to the rest of the relief corps. Fortunately, it should be all systems go for the bullpen — Carlos Estévez, Lucas Erceg, and John Schreiber all had yesterday off and none of those that pitched last night threw more than 15 pitches.
San Francisco will counter with Logan Webb. Since his breakout 2021 season, Webb has established himself as one of the best and most durable starting pitchers in baseball. Among starting pitchers with at least 500 innings in that span, he ranks second in innings pitched (823.2), sixth in ERA (3.13), and first in FIP (2.92). He is striking out more batters than ever while continuing to pound the zone and keep the ball on the ground with his bowling ball sinker. He has reduced his changeup usage this season in favor of a sweeper, which batters have been unable to hit hard. Webb last faced the Royals in June of 2022, tossing seven shutout innings.
Jonathan India will get the day off today with Maikel Garcia batting leadoff. Mark Canha will bat in the five-hole for the first time this season while making his sixth start in left field in the team’s last 11 games.
First pitch: 2:45 pm CDT
Royals lineup