Giants Take 3-2 Series Lead On Bumgarner's Shutout

The San Francisco Giants head to Kansas City with a 3-2 lead in the World Series. Madison Bumgarner threw a beauty of a game, a complete game 4 hit shutout.

This was the first World Series complete game shutout since Josh Beckett, pitching for the Florida Marlins in 2003, shutout the NY Yankees in the series clinching 6th game.

Hunter Pence got things going for the Giants in the bottom of the 2nd with a lead off single. Brandon Belt's sacrifice bunt got past James Shields for an infield single that put runners at first and second with no outs. Travis Ishakawa flew out to center to move the runners up a base. Brandon Crawford grounded out to second as Pence scored. The Giants had all the runs they would need with Bumgarner on the mound, a 1-0 lead.

With Shields still pitching for the Royals in the 4th, Pablo Sandoval singled to lead off the inning. Hunter Pence and Brandon Belt both struck out, but Travis Ishakawa singled to get Sandoval to second and Brandon Crawford singled to drive in Sandoval for the 2-0 Giants lead.

The Giants broke the game open in the bottom of the 8th. Kelvin Herrera, on in relief, gave up consecutive singles to Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence. Wade Davis relieved Herrera. Juan Perez greeted Davis with a full count double that scored Sandoval and Pence. Perez went to third on a throwing error by Alcides Escobar. Brandon Crawford's single plated Perez and the Giants' lead grew to 5-0.

Bumgarner set the Royals down in order in the top of the 9th to pick up his second win of this World Series. In his last 4 World Series starts, Bumgarner is 4-0 with a 0.29 ERA.

The number 7 and 8 hitters in the San Francisco lineup went 5 for 8 with 5 RBIs and a run scored last night.

Game 6 of the 2014 will be in Kansas City on Tuesday night.

Royals Down Giants 7-2 in Game 2

The Kansas City Royals answered the Giants' offensive outburst in game 1 of the World Series with one of their own in game 2.

Game 2 looked as though it might be a continuation of game 1 when Gregor Blanco sent a 3-2 pitch from Yorlando Ventura over the wall in right to lead off the game and give the Giants a quick 1-0 lead. Ventura settled down and got the next three outs to get out of the inning.

The Royals responded in their half of the 1st inning. Alcides Escobar reached on a ball hit deep in the hole to short. Norichika Aoki flied out to center. Escobar was caught trying to steal second for the second out. Lorenzo Cain then doubled to left center and Eric Hosmer walked. Billy Butler followed with a single to score Cain and the Royals had tied the game at 1.

Kansas City scored another run in the 2nd on doubles by Omar Infante and Alcides Escobar that gave the Royals a 2-1 lead.

The Giants would tie the score in the top of the 4th on a double by Pablo Sandoval to lead off the inning, and a double by Brandon Belt one out later that scored Sandoval.

Jake Peavy started the bottom of the 6th for the Giants and gave up a single to Lorenzo Cain and walked Eric Hosmer. Jean Machi relieved Peavy and gave up a 2-0 single to Billy Butler that scored Cain with Hosmer stopping at second. Kansas City had retaken the lead 3-2. Terrance Gore ran for Butler. Javier Lopez relieved Machi and got Alex Gordon to fly out to left for the first out. Hunter Strickland relieved Lopez and threw a wild pitch that moved both runners into scoring position. Hosmer and Gore scored on a double by Salvador Perez. Perez came around to score on a 2 run home run by Omar Infante and the Royals led 7-2. Neither team would score again and the Royals had taken game 2.

Billy Butler was 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs for the Royals while Omar Infante went 2 for 3 with the home run, 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored. Lorenzo Cain was 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored.

Gregor Blanco was 1 for 4 with the home run and a run scored for the Giants and Brandon Belt was 1 for 4 with the other RBI.

Jake Peavy was saddled with the loss allowing 4 earned runs on 6 hits with 2 walks while striking out 1 in 5 innings of work. Kelvin Herrera picked up the win in relief of Yorlando Ventura.

The series now shifts to San Francisco on Friday with games 3, 4 and 5 to be played at AT&T Park. Games 6 and 7, if necessary will be played in Kansas City.

Giants Beat Nationals 2-1 in 18 Innings

The San Francisco Giants and the Washington Nationals played an 18 inning game last night that lasted for 6 hours and 23 minutes. It was the longest game in MLB Playoff history by time and tied the record for the longest game by innings played.

The Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves played an 18 inning affair in the 2005 NLDS that the Astros would win 5-4 on a walkoff home run by Chris Burke. Roger Clemens picked up the win in relief in that game.

Tim Hudson started both of those games, for the Braves in 2005 and for the Giants in 2014. Adam LaRoche, of the Nationals played first base in both of those games.

Wilson Ramos, Nationals, and Buster Posey, Giants, each caught the entire 18 inning game. Tanner Roark, losing pitcher for the Nationals, was 27 when he gave up the home run to Brandon Belt in the top of the 18th but turned 28 before the Nationals would lose the game.

The Nationals 3 through 6 hitters, Jason Werth, Adam Laroche, Ian Desmond and Bryce Harper were 2 for 28 with 9 Ks. The Giants 3 through 6 hitters, Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval, Hunter Pence and Brandon Belt were 7 for 27 with 2 RBIs and 7 Ks.

Read the full ESPN story here

Giants Advance to NLDS With 8-0 Win Over Pirates

Madison Bumgarner pitched the Giants into the NLDS last night with an extraordinary performance over the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

Bumgarner tossed a 4 hit complete game shutout, striking out 10 and walking one. He threw 109 pitches over those 9 innings for an average of 12.1 pitches per inning. Only once did he face 5 batters in an inning. Only once did a Pirate runner reach third base. The Pirates got two runners on base in an inning just once and the Giants committed two errors to make that happen.

The Giant starter faced 33 batters and threw an average of 3.3 pitches to each of them. The Pirates popped up to the infield 5 times and flew out to the outfield 8 times. Only two of those fly balls reached the warning track.

The left handed Bumgarner struck out at least one batter in every inning but the 7th. A majority of those strikeouts came on his sweeping curveballs. He had good command of that curve and wasn't afraid to throw it ahead or behind in the count.

The pitching for the Giants was magnificant but the offense was very productive as they took advantage of every opportunity to score runs. Edinson Volquez of the Pirates came into the game with a 13-7 record and a 3.04 ERA. Volquez held the Giant bats in check for 3 innings on 2 hits and one walk.

Hitters are known to make adjustments after seeing a pitcher for the first time. The Giants adjusted to Volquez in the fourth. Pablo Sandoval led off the inning with a hard single against the shift used against him by the Pirates. Hunter Pence followed with a single to left. Brandon Belt waited out a walk, his second of the night, which loaded the bases for Brandon Crawford. There wasn't a person at the stadium, listening on the radio or watching on TV who predicted what would happen next. 

The left handed hitting Crawford lifted a high fly ball to right that kept going and landed in the first row of seats just beyond the short right field fence for a grand slam.

Crawford hit the 1 ball 2 strike curveball out of the park and into history, becoming the 1st shortstop to hit a grand slam, in any playoff game, in MLB history.

Those four runs were plenty enough for Bumgarner, but the Giants were not through with the Pirates pitching staff. They scored again in the 6th when Hunter Pence led off with a single, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Brandon Belt for a 5-0 Giants lead.

Pittsburgh led the NL in come from behind victories in 2014. 41 times this season they rallied to win games. The largest margin they overcame was 5 runs, so the Pirates weren't out of this game yet.

In the seventh, the Giants loaded the bases again with no outs. Pirate reliever, Jared Hughes got Hunter Pence to hit into a 4-2 fielder's choice that cut down Joe Panik at the plate but Brandon Belt singled to drive in 2 and the Giant lead was now 7-0.

The Giants added another run in the eighth when Gregor Blanco walked, Joe Panik singled and Buster Posey drove in Blanco with a single, giving the Giants an 8-0 lead.

The only Pirate threat of the night came in the bottom of the eighth. After Bumgarner got Brent Morel to foul out to right, Jose Tabata hit a ground ball to short that Crawford misplayed. Josh Harrison then hit a grounder to third. Joaquin Arias, in for Pablo Sandoval, threw too late and too wide to first. The ball got by the first baseman and the Pirates had runners at 1st and 3rd with one out. 

Bumgarner struck out Jordy Mercer and got Andrew McCutchen to ground into a 6-4 fielder's choice to end the threat.

It's on to Washington, DC for the Giants for a best-of-five NLDS series with the Nationals, beginning tomorrow, the 3rd of October.