The San Francisco Giants avoided a loss after a poor start from Ryan Vogelsong and rallied late to take Game 4 of the World Series. The Royals will spend one last night in San Francisco for Game 5 on Sunday before returning to Kansas City.
Prior to the NLCS and World Series, Ryan Vogelsong had made baseball history. He became the first pitcher to surrender two or fewer runs in his first five playoff starts. But since then he's pitched only 5 2/3 innings in two starts and has given up eight earned runs. Bruce Bochy pulled the right-hander after just 2 2/3 innings.
At that point, the Giants were down 4-1 and looked as if they were on their way to dropping two consecutive games at home and falling behind 3-1 in the World Series. But after Jean Machi got the Giants out of a jam in the third, the bullpen followed suit and delivered six scoreless innings, giving up only five hits. The Royals bullpen didn't have such success in relief of Jason Vargas.
Vargas was charged with three earned runs in four innings of work and still held the lead after manager Ned Yost took him out of the game. In just four innings the Royals' relievers gave up eight earned runs on 10 hits and four walks. Giants' second baseman Joe Panik (2-for-4 with 2 RBIs), outfielder Hunter Pence (3-for-5 with 3 RBIs) and third baseman Pablo Sandoval (2-for-5 with 2 RBIs) led the way for San Francisco on offense. Yusmeiro Petit was perhaps the savior of the night for the pitching staff with his strong three-inning relief as he faced the entire Royals lineup and gave up only three hits.
The Giants took Game 4 by the score of 11-4 and will host the Royals on Sunday night for Game 5 and their final home game of the World Series.
Tonight's matchup will feature starters Madison Bumgarner and James Shields, the teams' two aces. They both faced off in Game 1 back in Kansas City during which Shields was roughed up for five earned runs in only three innings of work Bumgarner was once again masterful in the 2014 postseason, giving up just one run one three hits in seven innings.
Shields is 1-0 with a 15.00 ERA in the 2014 postseason compared to Bumgarner's 3-0 record and 1.29 ERA. Tune in to FOX at 8:00 p.m. for coverage of Game 5 of the World Series.