Paul White

USA TODAY Sports

KANSAS CITY – The impact of Monday's rainout of Game 3 of the American League Championship Series might not be known for several days – and the Baltimore Orioles can only hope they make a dent in Kansas City's 2-0 advantage and get to find out.

Day-long downpours bumped back a day the schedule for the middle portion of the series at Kansas City's Kauffman Stadium, making Game 3 Tuesday at 8:07 p.m. ET, followed by games Wednesday and possibly Thursday at 4:07 ET.

Thursday's scheduled off day would be eliminated and the series would continue as planned Friday in Baltimore – if it gets that far.

Both managers will stick with their planned Game 3 starters – Jeremy Guthrie for the Royals and Wei-Yin Chen for the Orioles but neither Kansas City's Ned Yost nor Baltimore's Buck Showalter would commit beyond that.

The postponement would allow the Game 1 starters to pitch Game 4 on their normal rest.

"I wouldn't commit to anything beyond (Chen)," Showalter said. "We'll see where we are."

He could go back to No. 1 Chris Tillman for Game 4 but he'll still need to use all four of his starters to come back and win the series.

Yost said he probably will decide on Game 4 before Game 3 is played but noted that bullpen use becomes every bit as crucial with the potential of games five days in a row.

"We pushed then a number of times late in the season to two and three days in a row and they responded fine," Yost said of closer Greg Holland and key set-up men Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera. "It gets a little more like regular season."

Holland pitched on three consecutive days four times this season and had a blown save in one of those third games. He even had a stretch of five games in six days and did not allow an earned run.

Davis also did three in a row four times, allowing a run in the third game the first time he did it in April but cruising through the other instances. The Royals were more careful with the 24-year-old Herrera. He never was in three consecutive games and had just one stretch in May when he was in four games in five days and five in seven. The most notable effect for Herrera was three walks in the last of those games.

Showalter had spread the workload among his set-up corps but closer Zach Britton, while pitching three consecutive days just twice, had seven instances of three games in four days. Of his four blown saves this season, one came in a third appearance in a row, another at the end of two three-game-in-four-days stretches about a week apart.

For Baltimore, just easing the bullpen role in general will be crucial to staying in this series. Orioles starters have gotten as much as one out in the sixth inning just once in six post-season games and are averaging less than five innings per start.

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The schedule for the remaining three games in Kansas City:

Game 3, Tuesday: 8:07 ET start.

Game 4, Wednesday: 4:07 ET start.

Game 5, Thursday, if necessary: 4:07 ET start.

Major League Baseball announced that fans holding tickets to Game 3 will use them Tuesday, and likewise for Game 4 and 5 ticketholders.

GALLERY: Royals and Orioles in the ALCS