O's game blog: Orioles look for first win of ALCS tonight at Kansas City

KANSAS CITY - After Sunday's workout day and Monday's rainout, the Orioles and Royals have had two days without a game in the American League Championship Series. But the weather will finally allow this series to resume tonight in windy and cool conditions in Kansas City. The Royals lead the series, two wins to none. The Royals are two wins away from returning to the World Series for the first time in 29 years. Since baseball moved to the best-of-seven format in 1985, six teams won the first two games of an ALCS on the road, and all six went on to win the series - four won by four-game sweeps. So the O's are looking for a first and it needs to start with a Game 3 win tonight at Kauffman Stadium. In the first two games of the series, Kansas City batters are hitting .329 with 14 runs and 25 hits, including five doubles and four homers. K.C. is batting .316 (6-for-19) with runners in scoring position. The Royals are averaging 6.3 runs per game with eight homers in going 6-0 in this postseason. The Orioles offense has produced a .291 average in this series with 10 runs on 23 hits, including three doubles and one homer. The Orioles are batting .364 (8-for-22) with RISP. The Orioles are averaging 6.2 runs per game while going 3-2 this postseason. Wei-Yin Chen (16-6, 3.54 ERA) gets the start tonight against former Oriole Jeremy Guthrie (13-11, 4.13 ERA). Chen against the Royals: * 1-0 with a 2.19 ERA this season * 1-1 with a 4.17 ERA in six career starts * 1-0 with a 2.84 ERA in two career starts at Kauffman Stadium Chen will make his third career postseason start, tying Chien-Ming Wang for the most playoff starts by a Taiwanese-born pitcher in baseball history. His start today will be the first by a Taiwanese-born pitcher in LCS history. Chen did not receive a decision in his first start of the 2014 playoffs, allowing five earned runs in 3 2/3 innings against Detroit in Game 2 of the American League Division Series. The Orioles are 20-12 in Chen's starts this year counting the playoffs, and are 11-5 in his last 16. Guthrie has not pitched since Sept. 26 when he pitched seven scoreless innings against the White Sox to cap a September where he went 3-1 with a 2.40 ERA. In two 2014 starts against the Orioles, he is 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA, and in four career starts, Guthrie is 2-1 with a 2.67 ERA against the Orioles. This season, left-handed hitters hit him much better than right-handed batters with a .297 average as opposed to a .241 average. Lefty batters had an OPS of .828 against Guthrie. Since 1954, when the Orioles moved to Baltimore, their .584 winning percentage in the postseason (52-37 record) is the second-best in the majors behind the Miami Marlins (.667, 22-11). The ALCS is the Orioles' 21st playoff series as they have played in six World Series (3-3), 10 ALCS (5-4 coming into this one), four American League Division Series (3-1) and one wild card game (1-0). The O's are 19-14 in the World Series, 21-18 in the ALCS and 11-5 in the ALDS all-time. The teams have played 8 hours, 54 minutes of baseball in the first two games of this series, averaging 4:27 per contest. I have a feeling O's fans would be fine with another long game as long as it ends in an Orioles victory. The gusty winds here tonight seem to be blowing from left to right field, which I'm told is often the case here. That could favor the left-handed batters and hurt the right-handed hitters.