Matt Kremnitzer: Looking ahead to Game 3 of ALCS

Thanks to a heavy dose of rain, Game 3 of the American League Championship Series was postponed last night. So the series will get back up and running tonight. There are a number of ways the Orioles could get back in this series; they certainly have not played their best. And even though Kansas City leads two games to none, the O's could have pilfered one or both of those games with a key hit or two. Each game has been closely contested throughout.

One simple way for the Orioles to turn things around would be a strong starting pitching effort from Wei-Yin Chen in Game 3.

In the O's three-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers in the American League Division Series, the starting pitching was not fantastic. Chen was knocked out in the fourth inning in Game 2 and Chris Tillman allowed just two runs but lasted only five innings in Game 1. The team's best performance came in Game 3, when Bud Norris threw 6 1/3 innings of shutout ball. But Tillman and especially Norris pitched well enough to at least keep the O's in the game, and Kevin Gausman picked Chen up with his superb relief outing in that thrilling, come-from-behind victory in Game 2.

But in the first two games of the ALCS, Tillman and Norris lasted just 4 1/3 innings each, allowing nine combined runs in the process. More innings overall from the starters would certainly be helpful, but with Gausman, Brad Brach and Andrew Miller available in middle relief, the problem has been getting those effective pitchers (let alone Darren O'Day and Zach Britton) the ball with an actual lead. In fact, the O's have not taken a lead at any point against the Royals.

The Royals seem to be firing on all cylinders. They are getting fantastic performances from batters who haven't hit well all season, and they have been able to hand the ball off to their overpowering relievers either with the game tied or with a lead. An obvious strength for the Royals is their bullpen, but many fans may not have realized the absolute dominance of Wade Davis, Greg Holland and Kelvin Herrera. Out of all major league relievers who threw at least 60 innings, Davis was first with an ERA of 1.00. Herrera (1.41) and Holland (1.44) were third and fourth, respectively; the three were separated by the New York Yankees' Dellin Betances (1.40). In 72 innings, Davis did not allow a single home run. In 70 innings, neither did Herrera. O'Day, Britton and particularly Miller have been excellent this season, but O'Day and Britton have also had their struggles already in this series. The Royals' relief troika has simply been better.

Chen, a lefty, will give the Royals a different look than right-handers Tillman and Norris. During the regular season, though, the Royals actually did a better job against left-handed pitching:

* Royals vs. right-handers: 92 wRC+ (11th in AL)
* Royals vs. left-handers: 100 wRC+ (tied for seventh)

As you'd imagine, Chen fares better against left-handed batters. The Royals are likely to stick with the same lineup, which means Chen would square off against four left-handed batters. Alex Gordon hits left-handers quite well, while Nori Aoka hits lefties better than righties. But Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas do not. And considering Hosmer and Moustakas have been hitting better than any Royals fan could have imagined, the Orioles could use any kind of advantage they can get.

I'm hesitant to apply the must-win tag to any game until it's literally a win-or-go-home situation, but the Orioles do not want to trail three games to none and face a situation where they have to win four games in a row. If Chen starts to falter early, the O's bullpen needs to be ready. And handing the ball off to Miller with an actual lead would be more than welcome.

Matt Kremnitzer blogs about the Orioles at Camden Depot. Follow him on Twitter: @mattkremnitzer. His thoughts on the O's appear here as part of MASNsports.com's continuing commitment to welcome guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.