Not only did the San Francisco Giants win their third championship in the past five years, but they also became the first road team to win Game 7 of the World Series since the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates.
In his third appearance during this World Series, Giants' pitcher Madison Bumgarner earned his third win against the Royals and helped San Francisco preserve their 3-2 lead for the eventual victory. Bumgarner came on in the fifth inning after Tim Hudson lasted 1 2/3 innings and Jeremy Affeldt added 2 1/3 innings. Hudson started the game and surrendered two runs on three hits and one walk before manager Bruce Bochy took him out. Affeldt and Bumgarner delivered 7 1/3 innings and only gave up three hits.
The Royals were silenced after scoring two runs in the second inning thanks to an RBI double from Alex Gordon and a sacrifice fly from Omar Infante. Kansas City got half of their hits in that inning after the Giants scored two runs on two sacrifice flies from Michael Morse and Brandon Crawford in the top of the second. Morse also delivered an RBI single in the fourth to break the 2-2 tie, which was ultimately the difference maker. Third baseman Pablo Sandoval reached base safely in all four of his at-bats (3-for-3 with two runs scored and a HBP). Royals' starter Jeremy Guthrie was handed the loss in his third career postseason start (3 1/3 IP, 4 H, 3 ER).
Unfortunately for Royals fans, the team's World Series drought will continue while the Giants will celebrate their third title since 2010. San Francisco has won all three of those World Series on the road, with the first coming in Texas, then the second in Detroit, and now the third in Kansas City. Bruce Bochy became the 10th manager in the history of baseball to win three World Series rings and Bumgarner has put together perhaps the greatest performance in the history of the championship event. He logged a total of 21 innings and gave up only nine hits and one earned run.
Despite the Giants' victory that silenced the crowd in Kansas City, the game's intense atmosphere had viewers at the edge of their seat for the entire three hours and 10 minutes. The beginning of the matchup looked like it was going to be a high-scoring event, but both Bochy and Royals' manager Ned Yost made the right calls to the bullpen. For Kansas City, Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland finished with 5 2/3 innings pitched and gave up only four hits and struck out nine. Game 7 had a great mixture of solid hitting and lights out pitching.
Madison Bumgarner was voted the World Series MVP and teammates Hunter Pence (.444 average) and Pablo Sandoval (.429 average) were others in consideration for the award.
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