SAN FRANCISCO — Jeremy Guthrie pitched shutout ball into the sixth inning, Lorenzo Cain drove in an early run off Tim Hudson and made a pair of nifty catches, and the Kansas City Royals beat the San Francisco Giants 3-2 Friday night to take a 2-1 World Series lead.

Cain’s RBI groundout three batters into the game put the Royals ahead, and Kansas City expanded its lead to 3-0 in the sixth when Alex Gordon hit an RBI double off Cain and scored on Eric Hosmer’s single off lefty Javier Lopez.

San Francisco finally got to Guthrie in the bottom of the sixth when pinch-hitter Michael Morse hit an RBI double over third base just past the glove of a diving Michael Moustakas and scored on Buster Posey’s groundout against Kelvin Herrera.

Herrera, Brandon Finnegan, Wade Davis and Greg Holland combined for four innings of hitless relief, the longest in a Series game in 22 years.

Game 4 is Saturday night with Kansas City’s Jason Vargas facing San Francisco’s Ryan Vogelsong.

Of the 57 times a World Series has been tied 1-1, the Game 3 winner has taken the title 37 times.

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Guthrie returned to the area where he gained attention pitching for Stanford in 2001-02, becoming a first-round draft pick, and made just his second start since Sept. 26. He allowed two runs and four hits in five-plus innings.

Guthrie gave up an infield single in the second to Hunter Pence, who was caught stealing second by catcher Salvador Perez, followed by Brandon Belt’s single to center. Guthrie retired his next 10 batters in order and combined with Hudson to get out 20 in a row.

At 39 years, 102 days, Hudson became the second-oldest pitcher to make his World Series debut as a starter behind Philadelphia’s Jamie Moyer.

He allowed three runs and four hits in 5 2/3 innings.

With the shift to the NL ballpark, the Royals moved Cain from center field to right to boost defense in one of AT&T Park’s trickiest positions.

Cain made a pair of nice plays early, sliding to grab Posey’s liner to end the first and reaching down for a running grab on Travis Ishikawa’s twisting drive with a runner on to end the second.

Herrera, throwing at up to 101 mph, walked Gregor Blanco and then induced consecutive groundouts from Joe Panic, Posey and Pablo Sandoval to end the game.


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