The student news site of Los Altos High School in Los Altos, California

The Talon

The student news site of Los Altos High School in Los Altos, California

The Talon

The student news site of Los Altos High School in Los Altos, California

The Talon

Giants Ride Bumgarner One Last Time to Take World Series Crown

The game was close. The Giants manufactured runs. Madison Bumgarner was stellar. It was just another postseason game for San Francisco—except this one won them the World Series.

The San Francisco Giants beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 to win the deciding Game 7 of the World Series today, October 29.

Like yesterday, both teams’ starters pitched scoreless first innings. However, the Giants cracked Royals’ starter Jeremy Guthrie in the top of the second.

Third baseman Pablo Sandoval led off the inning being hit by a pitch. The next batter, right fielder Hunter Pence, singled and moved Sandoval to second. First baseman Brandon Belt moved both runners up a base with a single. Designated hitter Michael Morse brought a run home with a sacrifice fly, and the next batter, shortstop Brandon Crawford, did the same. When the half inning ended, it was 2-0.

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The Royals clawed their way back against Giants’ starter Tim Hudson in the bottom of the inning. After a leadoff single, a double by left fielder Alex Gordon brought home the first run. After Hudson hit the next batter, catcher Salvador Perez, third baseman Mike Moustakas moved Gordon over with a flyout and second baseman Omar Infante brought him home with a sacrifice fly to tie the game.

With no tomorrow, Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy pulled Hudson at the first sign of danger, bringing in reliever Jeremy Affeldt in the earliest relief appearance of his career. Affeldt, who usually comes in situationally for a batter or two, finished the inning and then when on to pitch another two scoreless innings.

The Giants used more small ball to take the lead in the fourth. Sandoval led off with an infield single. Pence followed that up with a single of his own, and Belt moved Sandoval over to third with a flyout. That ended Guthrie’s night, and Kansas City manager Ned Yost turned to the first of his three start relievers, Kelvin Herrera. The first batter he faced, Morse, singled to bring home Sandoval and give the Giants a 3-2 lead.

In the bottom of the fifth, Bochy played his ace in the hole.  Madison Bumgarner, who had already thrown a combined sixteen innings in games 1 and 2, came in out of the bullpen with the goal of bridging the middle innings and handing the game off to the late inning relievers with a lead.

He did so much more.

“He just kept rolling,” catcher Buster Posey said to FOX reporter Erin Andrews. “It’s unbelievable.”

Infante led off the inning with a single. After that, Bumgarner retired 14 straight batters.

The only argument was whether Bumgarner, who had already passed the loose 50 pitch limit after the eighth would come back for the ninth or give the ball to closer Santiago Casilla, who had gone 19 postseason games without giving up a run.

“He was throwing so well there was no way I could take him out,” Bochy said to Andrews.

Bumgarner did go out for the ninth. After retiring the first two batters, Gordon singled to center. Center fielder Gregor Blanco couldn’t decide whether or not to dive for the ball and let it get past him and roll all the way to the wall. Gordon ended up a third with a single and a two-base error. With the tying run ninety feet away, Bumgarner got Perez to foul out to Sandoval to end the game.

Bumgarner’s performance this season was one of the best in recent memory. In all, he pitched 52 ⅔ innings, striking out 45 and giving up just seven runs. The innings count broke the previous record set by Curt Schilling in 2001. There was little doubt that he would be World Series MVP.

“We just won the World Series, it’s hard to be tired,” Bumgarner said to Andrews. “Tomorrow I’ll be tired probably.”

The championship is the Giants’ third in five years. The Giants were the first team to win a World Series Game 7 on the road since the 1979 Pirates beat the Baltimore Orioles.

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