Royals at Orioles ALCS Game 2 Preview: Ventura vs. Norris

Bud Norris (l.) and Yordano Ventura will be on the mound in Game 2. (USATSI) Kansas City Royals at Baltimore Orioles, Saturday, Oct. 11, 4:00 pm ET on TBS

BALTIMORE - Thanks to some extra innings home runs, the Royals outlasted the Orioles in Game 1 of the ALCS on Friday night to take a one game to none series lead (KC 8, BAL 6). It was very nearly a deflating loss -- the Royals blew a four-run lead and failed to score after loading the bases with no outs in the top of the ninth -- but Kansas City rebounded to win in the 10th.

I'm guessing that if you had given the Royals' players and personnel a truth serum before the series, they would have told you they'd be happy with a split of the first two games in Camden Yards. Now they have a chance to win both games before going back to Kansas City. The Orioles have to shake off the Game 1 loss to avoid failing even further back in the series. Let's preview Game 2.

Pitching Matchups: RHP Yordano Ventura (14-10, 3.20) vs. RHP Bud Norris (15-8, 3.65)

Ventura vs. Orioles hitters: The Royals opted to start the 23-year-old Ventura in Game 2 rather than the veteran Jason Vargas, who will presumably start Game 3. Ventura faced the Orioles twice during the regular season and was very good both times, throwing eight shutout innings in April and holding Baltimore to two runs in 6 1/3 innings in May.

Position players currently on the O's roster only have 44 combined plate appearances against Ventura. They've hit .268/.318/.366 in that small sample. Both J.J. Hardy and Nick Markakis have four hits in six at-bats (.667) against the hard-throwing right-hander. Nelson Cruz, Adam Jones, Alejandro De Aza and Jonathan Schoop are a combined 1-for-18 (.056) against Ventura. Cruz has the hit and it's a home run.

Ventura has appeared in two postseason games in his career, both this October. He allowed two runs in 1/3 of an inning out of the bullpen in the AL wild-card game, then limited the Angels to one run in seven innings in Game 2 of the ALCS last week.

Norris vs. Royals hitters: Orioles manager Buck Showalter did not name Norris his Game 2 starter until after Game 1 on Friday night. There was a chance Norris would come out of the bullpen if Game 1 went deeper into extra innings. In his only start against the Royals during the regular season, he allowed just one run in 7 1/3 innings.

In a limited sample, Kansas City's active position players have hit .224/.274/.224 against Norris in their careers. Alex Gordon is 3-for-6 (.500) and Billy Butler is 2-for-6 (.333), but otherwise Lorenzo Cain, Omar Infante, Alcides Escobar, Norichika Aoki, Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer are a combined 6-for-40 (.150) against Norris. They haven't hit him well at all. (Sample size caveats apply.)

Norris has made just one postseason appearance in his career, shutting out the Tigers across 6 2/3 innings in decisive Game 3 of the ALDS last weekend.

What To Watch

* Even though he has already thrown 190 1/3 innings in 2014 (regular season plus playoffs), Ventura's high-octane fastball has continued to sit in the 97-100 mph range late in the season. Here's his game-by-game velocity chart, courtesy of Brooks Baseball:

According to Baseball Savant, the Orioles hit .147 with a .240 slugging percentage against 97+ mph fastballs this year, the 24th and 21st best marks in baseball, respectively. Despite all their power and offensive capabilities, Baltimore's hitters can be beat with premium velocity.

* Norris has done a nice job improving his changeup the last year or two, but he is still primarily a fastball-slider pitcher and very susceptible to left-handed hitters. He held righties to a .226/.293/.366 batting line in the regular season while lefties tagged him for a .251/.331/.422 line with 12 of the 20 home runs he allowed. Lefties Aoki, Hosmer, Gordon and Moustakas will be extra important to the Royals' offense in Game 2.

* With the off-day looming on Sunday, expect both Showalter and Royals manager Ned Yost to be aggressive with their top relievers. Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis both threw two full innings in Game 1, but they only threw 20 and 18 pitches, respectively. Could two-inning outings be in the cards again in Game 2? Andrew Miller (25 pitches in 1 1/3 innings), Zach Britton (20 pitches in 1/3 innings) and Darren O'Day (18 pitches in one inning) all worked a little harder than their Royals counterparts on Friday.

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