If you summarized Game 1 of the 2014 World Series in a single thought, it’s fairly simple.
“Big Game” James Shields wasn’t big game. Madison Bumgarner, however, was – leading the San Francisco Giants to a 7-1 blowout win over the Kansas City Royals on the road Tuesday night, tossing seven strong innings of one-run baseball.
The left-hander was utterly dominant in the opening bout at Kauffman Stadium, scattering just three hits and walking only one, while striking out five. The only run allowed by the Giants ace came via a solo blast off the bat of Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez in the bottom of the seventh inning, accounting for the only Royals offense – but it came far too late to make a difference.
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Shields, however, failed to make it out of the fourth inning, surrounding five earned runs on seven hits – with a trio of those runs coming in the top of the first inning before his counterpart ever set foot on the mound.
Gregor Blanco led things off with a single to center, advancing to second on a Joe Panik flyout. Buster Posey then singled to left, but Alex Gordon – one of the premier arms in the game – came up ready to throw, holding Blanco at third with one out. Pablo Sandoval followed with a double to right that should have scored two, but a perfect relay throw from Omar Infante to the plate nailed Posey for the second out of the inning.
However, the chance to escape the first allowing just the one run quickly vanished as Hunter Pence took the Royals right-hander deep on a full-count pitch, giving the Giants an early 3-0 edge.
In the top of the fourth, San Francisco chased Shields when Michael Morse singled to center, scoring Pence and extending the Giants lead to 4-0. Danny Duffy came on in relief of the Kansas City ace, and the first batter he faced, pinch-hitter Juan Perez, advanced runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt. A walk to Brandon Crawford loaded the bases before a bases-loaded base-on-balls to Blanco made it a 5-0 game, closing the book on shields.
In the top of the seventh, the Giants’ offense added its final two tallies of the night, via a Joe Panik RBI triple and an RBI single off the bat of Sandoval past a diving Alcides Escobar into left field. In the next half-inning, Perez answered back with his home run, one of just four Kansas City hits on the night. The only other extra-base hit for the Royals was a Mike Moustakas double in the third, when Ned Yost‘s club had men on second and third with no outs, but failed to score.
With the win, the Giants put themselves in an enviable position, as 10 of the past 11 – and 22 of the last 26 – teams to win the opening game have gone on to win the World Series.