Giants ride Bumgarner's arm to World Series title

If you enjoy old-fashioned, gut-it-out baseball, then Game 7 of the World Series was for you.

The San Francisco Giants won their third World Series title in five years Wednesday night, defeating the Kansas City Royals 3-2 behind an incredible pitching performance by Madison Bumgarner. The tall left-hander came out of the bullpen to pitch five scoreless innings just three days after pitching a four-hit, complete-game shutout over the Royals in Game 5 Sunday.

“What a warrior he is, and truly incredible what he did throughout the postseason,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “I just told him I just can’t believe what he accomplished through all this. He’s such a humble guy, and we rode him pretty good.”

In this era of closely watched pitch counts and pampering of starting pitchers, no one expected the 25-year-old ace to go the distance when he came in to relieve in the fifth inning.

“I wasn’t thinking about innings or pitch count,” Bumgarner said. “I was just thinking about getting outs, getting outs, until I couldn’t get them anymore and we needed someone else.”

But the Giants did not need anyone else.

Bumgarner, who also was the winning pitcher in Game 1, was named the named the Series MVP. In his five career World Series outings for the Giants, he has four wins to go along with his save Wednesday night. He has allowed only one run and 14 hits over 36 innings while striking out 31 and walking just five batters. His career Series ERA is a record low 0.25.

“We probably would have won if they didn’t have him,” Royals outfielder Lorenzo Cain said. “But they do have him.”

Kansas City did not go down without a fight and almost pulled even with the Giants in the bottom of the ninth inning. Bumgarner had retired 14 batters in a row, including the first two batters in the ninth, when the Royals’ Alex Gordon hit a line drive toward the gap in left-center. Giants center fielder Gregor Blanco tried to make a play on the ball, but it skipped past him to the wall, where left fielder Juan Perez kicked the ball before getting it back to the infield, holding Gordon at third base.

“When it got by him, I had a smile on my face. I thought maybe I could score, but he got to it quickly enough,” Gordon said.

Bumgarner then faced Salvador Perez, who popped up in foul territory. Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval snagged the final out near the San Francisco dugout unleashing the Giants’ celebration.

Bumgarner’s pitching performance overshadowed several key plays and players earlier in the game. San Francisco’s Jeremy Affeldt pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief after coming in for starter Tim Hudson in the bottom of the second, setting the table for Bumgarner.

Affeldt’s effort was aided by the first-ever reversal of an umpire’s call in the World Series through instant replay, giving the Giants an important double play that stopped a potential Royals rally. With the game tied 2-2 in the bottom of the third, Giants rookie second baseman Joe Panik got the double play started by making a spectacular diving stop on a sharp ground ball by Eric Hosmer and flipping the ball to shortstop Brandon Crawford with his glove hand to get the out at second. On the relay throw to first, Hosmer was initially called safe on his headfirst slide, but replays showed the throw beat him to the bag. The Royals did not threaten to score again until the ninth inning.

Official scorers initially gave Bumgarner the Game 7 win rather than a save but later changed their decision, awarding the victory to Affeldt, who was the pitcher of record when the winning run scored. When Affeldt learned of the change, he embraced his wife and they both began crying. The outspoken Christian now has three World Series rings, one, he said, for each of his children.

“This is probably my favorite,” Affeldt said, his voice cracking. “I started with the Royals, and it was a tough time for me. So to come back here and to feel this—and to have all three of my boys have championship rings—that means a lot to me.”

The Giants become the second National League team to win three World Series titles in a five-year span, matching the St. Louis Cardinals of 1942-46. San Francisco is also the first visiting team to win a Game 7 in the Series since the Pittsburgh Pirates did so in 1979.

The Associated Press and Andrew Branch contributed to this report.