No active pitcher in baseball has made more starts without appearing in a World Series game than San Francisco righty Tim Hudson.

That'll change on Friday when he takes the ball trying to give the Giants a leg up on the Kansas City Royals, as the Fall Classic shifts to AT&T Park for a pivotal Game 3.

"Early in my career, I thought that I'd be here well before now -- there's no question about it," said Hudson, who has started 457 games. "But as your career creeps along and you're not able to get here to this big dance, you realize how hard it is. I've told some of these young guys who are rookies on our club, 'Soak it all in, man. Because you never know when you're going to be back.'"

The 39-year-old hurler has had two starts this postseason and has pitched to a 3.29 ERA without recording a decision. After throwing 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball in the NLDS, the Los Angeles Dodgers banged him around for four runs in 6 1/3 frames.

San Francisco, though, won both of his starts.

Hudson has pitched to a 4.12 ERA in 11 starts against the Royals and allowed three runs and six hits in six innings in a no-decision against them earlier in the year.

However, Kansas City's running game could be a concern for him, as over the past two years, Hudson has allowed 22 steals in 26 attempts, the 10th-worst success rate among big leaguers with at least 200 innings.

"You obviously have to be concerned with it," Hudson said. "That's one of the big strengths of their ballclub. You have to understand how to control the running game."

Kansas City, meanwhile, will counter with righty Jeremy Guthrie, who has won five of six decisions since falling to Oakland on Aug. 12. Guthrie has allowed one run or less in six of those nine starts in that span, including a no- decision against Baltimore in the ALCS that saw him surrender a run and three hits in five innings.

"My goal is to put up zeros," Guthrie said. "If I put up zeros, I have a chance to stay in. If I don't, I'm going to be taken out, whether it's a National League ballpark or not. So that's got to be the focus for me is, what can I do to put up zeros against a good hitting team."

He's also pitched well away from home, going 5-1 with a 2.95 ERA in his last six road starts.

Kansas City evened this best-of-seven set on Wednesday, as Omar Infante's two- run homer punctuated a five-run sixth inning that propelled the Royals to a 7-2 win.

The Royals' bullpen triumvirate of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland continued their domination with 3 2/3 scoreless innings. KC's bullpen has gone 7-0 this postseason with a 1.81 ERA.

Of course, as the set transitions to the NL ballpark, the Royals will lose designated hitter Billy Butler in the starting lineup.

"In the National League, to have a bat like Billy Butler's on the bench coming in a situation, it could be the fourth inning, it could be the fifth inning or the sixth inning with guys in scoring position," Kansas City skipper Ned Yost said. "That could be the difference."

San Francisco's Pablo Sandoval has continued to carve out his own postseason legacy and has reached base safely in a franchise record 25 straight games.

Since the start of divisional play in 1969, the team to win Game 3 in a Series where the first two games were split has gone on to capture the championship 16 of 19 times.

These teams actually met in the regular season, as the Royals completed a three-game sweep at Kauffman Stadium. Friday's contest, though, will be Kansas City's first in San Francisco since 2005.