World Series 2014: Giants and Madison Bumgarner Upstage Royals
By DAVID WALDSTEINOCT. 21, 2014
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It took nine games and a masterful pitching performance by Madison Bumgarner, but someone finally found a method for beating the Kansas City Royals this postseason. The Royals had rampaged their way through the early and middle rounds by winning their first eight games, and came into the World Series on a seemingly irrepressible tide of momentum.
But so, too, did the Giants, who lost only two games on their way to joining the Royals in a battle of wild-card entries. It has been viewed as a matchup of teams that lay claim a path to destiny. That has yet to be decided, but the first salvo went to the Giants, who rode Bumgarner’s splendid effort and pounded James Shields to a 7-1 win in Game 1, one of this postseason’s only blowouts.
Bumgarner was almost flawless over seven innings, allowing only one run and three hits and striking out five as he continued to save his best pitching for the game’s grandest stage. The Royals had not lost since Sept. 27, and their undefeated streak in the postseason actually extended 11 games, including the 1985 World Series.
“The only difference,” said Shields, “is that we faced a great pitcher.”
Worse, for the Royals, if the Series extends beyond four games, they will most likely have to contend again with Bumgarner, a 25-year-old left-hander who has yet to lose in three World Series appearances.
Covering starts in 2010 and 2012 and on Tuesday, Bumgarner accumulated a stretch of 212/3 straight scoreless innings over his first three World Series games. The only other pitcher to throw more consecutive scoreless innings to begin a World Series career was another Giant, Christy Mathewson, who tossed 28 consecutive scoreless innings, including three shutouts against the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1905 World Series.
With his almost casual crossfire delivery to right-handed hitters, Bumgarner threw eight shutout innings in his only World Series start in 2010, then threw seven more in his one start in the 2012 World Series. The Giants won both those series and are seeking to continue the trend of winning the title every other year, while the Royals seek to win the World Series in their first appearance in the postseason since 1985, when they won their only championship.
While Shields had not pitched in 11 days, Bumgarner was on his normal turn, having pitched the clinching Game 5 of the National League Championship Series on Thursday. While most everyone else on the field was trying to overcome the effects of a lengthy layoff — five days for the Royals, four for the Giants — Bumgarner was synchronized to succeed.
“This is a big stage, a loud crowd,” Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said. “But he just keeps that maniacal focus. He’s as good as anybody I’ve seen at it.”
The only World Series run Bumgarner has ever allowed came in his final inning Tuesday, when Salvador Perez homered with two outs in the seventh. The Royals managed a single in the second inning by Billy Butler and a double by Mike Moustakas in the third, when Kansas City failed to score after getting runners to second and third with nobody out. Omar Infante reached on an error by shortstop Brandon Crawford and held at third when Moustakas doubled down the right-field line.
The announced crowd of 40,459, with most of the fans wearing Royal blue, was loud and relentless for much of the game, and it came to life at that critical moment. Bumgarner never flinched.
“If you’re worried about how loud the crowd is going to be, then you’re in the wrong place mentally and probably the wrong business,” Bumgarner said. “But it makes it a lot easier the fact that every single game we play at home is like this or louder. It’s like that every day for us.”
With the din unable to penetrate his concentration, Bumgarner struck out Alcides Escobar and Nori Aoki, who had struck out only once in 27 postseason at-bats coming into the game. Bumgarner then pitched very carefully to Lorenzo Cain, the No. 3 hitter, with first base open. Cain came into the Series batting .353 with three doubles and four runs batted in, so Bumgarner did not give in. He walked Cain, but then got the left-handed-hitting Eric Hosmer to ground out with most of the fans standing and howling.
“That’s one of my favorite things to be able to do in baseball,” Bumgarner said, “is to work through a situation like that one.”
With Bumgarner on the mound, the Royals seemed to revert to the team they were in the regular season, when they hit only 95 home runs, not the power-charged team of the postseason. The Royals had smashed eight home runs this month. Speed has been another weapon for the Royals, but as they were unable to reach base against Bumgarner for most of the night, that method of attack was muted, while the Giants were merciless against Shields.
Shields, whose nickname while he was in Tampa Bay was Big Game James, gave up three runs in the first inning, the last two on a home run by Hunter Pence. Shields allowed five runs over all in only three innings, being removed after facing three batters in the fourth and not recording an out. Shields came into the game with a 5.63 earned run average in three starts this postseason, and his career postseason record, despite his nickname, dropped to 3-5 with a 5.74 E.R.A.
The game did not begin auspiciously for Shields, as Pablo Sandoval pulled a double into the right-field corner, scoring Gregor Blanco in the first inning, followed soon after by Pence’s two-run homer. Shields had not pitched since Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Oct. 10, and the inactivity may have contributed to his lack of feel on his pitches, although he denied it.
“No, I felt good,” he said. “I threw a couple of bullpens in between. It just wasn’t my night tonight.”
Shields appeared to reassert control after a single to Brandon Belt and retired seven in a row. But in the top of the fourth, the problems returned.
Pence doubled down the left-field line, and Belt walked and went to third when Shields threw a wild pitch. When Michael Morse singled to center, Pence went home to make it 4-0, and Shields went to the dugout, his evening of work done.
There were no such problems for Bumgarner, whose postseason earned run average coming into the game was 2.67 in 11 appearances. He was not an unknown commodity to the Royals, who faced him here on Aug. 8, and beat him, 4-2. But when it comes to the World Series, Bumgarner is on another plateau, and so the Giants, not the Royals, are undefeated in the 2014 World Series.
“It’s been nothing but energy and love this whole postseason,” Hosmer said. “Obviously, it’s not the way you want to start the World Series. But there is still a long way to go.”
