The trophy is heading back to the Bay Area once again. The San Francisco Giants beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 in a thrilling Game 7 to win the World Series, their third title in the last five years. Madison Bumgarner won the World Series MVP award and got the save on Wednesday night after tossing five scoreless innings in relief.
San Francisco got on the board in the second inning, loaded the bases against Jeremy Guthrie with none out. Michael Morse and Brandon Crawford smacked back to back sacrifice flies to score Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence, putting the Giants on top 2-0. But the Royals would immediately answer back in the second. After Billy Butler led off with a single against Tim Hudson, Alex Gordon doubled him in to make it a 2-1 game. Three batters later, Omar Infante hit a sac fly to score Gordon and make it 2-2. Alcides Escobar followed up with a single, and Hudson’s night was done after just 1 2/3 innings. Jeremy Affeldt shined in relief of Hudson, allowing one hit over 2 1/3 scoreless frames.
Jeremy Guthrie’s evening lasted longer than Hudson’s. He cruised through the third, but ran into rocky waters in the fourth. Sandoval and Pence began the inning with singles, and the Panda moved up to third after a Brandon Belt fly out. Kelvin Herrera relieved Guthrie, and immediately allowed what would prove to be the game-winning single to Michael Morse.
And then, things got weird. In the fifth inning, Bumgarner took the hill to replace Affeldt, and the Royals offense went dormant. After Infante led off the fifth with a single, Bumgarner proceeded to set down the next 14 hitters in a row. He was simply masterful in his third appearance of the series, finishing his night by allowing two hits, four strikeouts, and zero walks in his five shutout innings.
However, disaster almost struck in the ninth. With two outs and the Giants one out away from the title, Gordon hit a lazy flair into center field. It fell in front of Gregor Blanco…and rolled through his legs, all the way to the wall. When the dust had settled and the smoke cleared, Gordon was on third base and Kauffman Stadium was a madhouse. But Bumgarner induced a pop-up by Salvador Perez to Sandoval, ending the game and the series.
While five of the seven games in this series ended in blowout fashion, Game 7 lived up to all the hype and more. It was a thrilling contest that highlighted why we all love baseball so much. Madison Bumgarner concludes one of the most insane Postseason runs ever by pitching to a 1.03 ERA over a record 52 2/3 innings. He struck out 45 and walked only six. For his career, Bumgarner’s World Series ERA is now down to 0.25. Not bad, kid.
That does it for the 2014 season. We’re already counting down the days til pitchers and catchers report in February.
